February 22, 2006

NCAA TROTS TO MIDTOWN

JUST in time for March Madness, LLC (NIT), which is managed by the NCAA, has leased a pre-built unit at the Lincoln Building at 60 E. 42nd St. NIT will...

SKYBRIDGE PICKS FIRST MANAGERS

SkyBridge Capital has signed deals to bring the first two money managers under the umbrella of its novel hedge fund financing operation. SkyBridge, which counts Michael Dell's investment fund MSD...

RON IN BUYING MOOD

Revlon billionaire Ron Perelman has tapped former Cendant Corp. executive Sam Katz as his top dealmaker to fire up his acquisition engine amid a smoking merger market. Katz will head...

ON-THE-JOB SHOPPING: WEB ADS TARGET OFFICE SPACES

Savvy marketers - banking on distracted employees who surf the Web instead of working - are targeting office computers to reach an audience of ready shoppers. Progresso just produced a...

FIRM NAILS SUITE DEAL - BLACKSTONE JUMPS AT FIFTH HOTEL BUY

Some of Wall Street's smartest money is gravitating toward hotels, and it's not just for the free continental breakfast. The Blackstone Group, the venerable New York buyout firm run by...

SKILLING COOKED PROFITS: TOP AIDE

Just two hours before addressing Wall Street on Enron's earnings, ex-chief Jeff Skilling allegedly doctored the numbers to boost profit by 2 cents per share. The brash manipulation in 2000...

A ROYAL MESS - ONCE HOPEFUL ASPREY & GARRARD HUNTS NEW $$

With their royal connections and wealthy financial backers, British retailers Asprey and Garrard held all the promise of becoming the next big players in luxury goods. Instead, the A&G Group,...

FITNESS GETS PHYSICAL - EDITOR LISTFIELD GETS BOOT AS LAFAVORE HIRES SELF

MEREDITH Corp. is shaking up Fitness. Emily Listfield, the editor-in-chief for nearly six years, is out. During her tenure the magazine's circulation jumped from 1,050,000 to 1.5 million, but there...

GINA'S NEW CARRIE BRADSHAW

GINA Gershon is going on safari in the "Lipstick Jungle." The sultry brunette has been cast as Wendy Healy, the powerful chief of a movie studio in NBC's pilot based...

DOC GETS OUR VOTE

MARSHALL Curry's "Street Fight" - a tough and brave little documentary about the brutal 2002 Newark mayoral election that's been nominated for an Academy Award - is having a well-received...

KORAN CLASS - FERVOR BEHIND MUSLIM HOLY BOOK

THE History Channel is hoping to help its viewers understand what makes Muslims tick with a new two-part special, "Secrets of the Koran." The special airs March 2 and 9...

SINGERS A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH

THERE is a special passionate surge to Verdi's epic opera "La Forza del Destino," which returned after an absence of 10 years to the Metropolitan Opera House on Monday night...

'HOME' REPAIRS 'CANE TOWNS

ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" is taking its act to the Gulf states affected by Hurricane Katrina. The popular ABC series will air four shows over four Thursdays beginning next...

HEE-HEE ON DEDE - WHY B'WAY IS LAUGHING AT HER

DELIGHT in other people's misfortunes is part of the genetic makeup of most theater people. And so there has been much gleeful cackling over the trials and tribulations of "Grab...

A DIRTY SHANE - NICOTINE ADDICT TURNS INTO 'SURVIVOR' VILLAIN

'Shane Powers is probably scaring every young viewer out of trying cigarettes' THE tobacco-starved brain of Shane Powers is turning him into a "Survivor" allstar. Powers, 35, a grouch from...

STARR REPORT

Just the Baer facts Interesting sidebar to Susan Saint James' gueststarring role next Tuesday on "Law & Order: SVU" (she plays an attorney). Back in 1985, "SVU" executive producer Neal...

RULES TO EAT BY - WHY THESE PLACES WOW YEARS LATER

HAD it with restaurants where you can't get reservations, like Del Posto? Or with highpriced food you can't understand, like Gilt's? Or the sight of Martha Stewart hogging tables everywhere?...

TIME WARNER BECOMING A LANDMARC

IT looks like the Time Warner Center has finally found someone to take over the restaurant space that Charlie Trotter vacated. Chef Marc Murphy and his wife (of TriBeCa's Landmarc...

A FIVE-RING SOAP OPERA

WHO says the Olympics are boring? With "Law and Order"-like police raids on the Austrians (and a ski coach on suicide watch), one skater's comeback after battling eating disorders, gambling...

LOVIN' SPOONFUL - FOOD TASTES MAY HOLD KEY TO LOVE; APPETITE FOR LOVE

IF you're at a bar and your date orders raspberry-flavored vodka, watch out! While he may be a charmer, he's also likely to be impatient, an aggressive driver and suffer...

'NET TRAPS ARUBA TEEN

New technology and old-fashioned detective work enabled Natalee Holloway's family to slap the main suspect in her Aruba disappearance with legal papers in New York. Her parents had been hoping...

THE COST OF STOPPING IRAN - WITHOUT HONESTY, WE WON'T SUCCEED

'WASHINGTON joined the rest of the world in criticizing yesterday's detonation of a nuclear weapon by Iran, but America's reaction appeared half-hearted to European allies who suspect the U.S. of...

SCHOOL $NIPERS

Thirteen Republican state senators are in the cross hairs of a new political-action committee run by former Democratic operatives aiming to oust them this fall unless Albany delivers $5.6 billion...

SUPREME ABORT TEST FOR ROBERTS & ALITO - NEW COURT WILL HEAR PARTIAL-BIRTH CASE

With two brand-new conservative justices on board, the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday dived back into one of the nation's most contentious debates, agreeing to review the constitutionality of a federal...

DOGFIGHT DEMON HELD IN L.I. PUPPY TORTURE

A Long Island man was charged with neglecting and abusing roughly 20 pit bulls he trained to fight - even baiting one of the vicious animals with an innocent puppy...

MOB-BUSTER MCCABE DIES

Kenneth McCabe - the nation's foremost organized-crime investigator - has died at the age of 59 after a bout with cancer. During his nearly 38 years of working at the...

WRONG ANSWER - JAILING A HOLOCAUST DENIER

THERE is something immensely satisfying in seeing author David Irving being handed a three-year prison sentence in a Vienna court Monday for defying Austrian law that makes it a crime...

MIND YOUR P'S, PARKS

Parks Department managers violated numerous guidelines when they used special credit cards - intended to cut through red tape for small and emergency purchases, Comptroller William Thompson reported yesterday. In...

ILLEGALS CAN SUE BOSSES, JUDGES RULE

ALBANY - Illegal aliens injured on the job can sue their employers for lost wages even though they are not legally authorized to work in the United States, the state's...

DAPPER DON COULD SEE FEDS' TREACHERY COMING

DEFENSE attorney Charlie Carnesi described John Gotti Sr. as "powerful, charismatic, charming, and sometimes harsh." On Feb. 5, 1999, as cancer tore through his body at the jail hospital in...

POLICE SEEK MYSTERY JERSEY GIRL

A young Brazilian woman has mysteriously disappeared in Newark - and cops say they have only a description of a man with whom she was last seen, and an anonymous...

N.Y. IS NEXT N.O.: DEMS

Three lawmakers say Gotham is due for a Katrina-like hurricane, but the president has left the city a Big Easy target. Citing a Weather Channel report, they claim New York...

UZI MAN WANTED PLEA DEAL

The Brooklyn man accused of firing an Uzi machine gun at two cops last month was eager to plea bargain just days after the attack - even though he said...

ROMANCE & RUBOUT OF MAFIA KINGPIN'S MOLL DOLL

Mary Bari loved living in the "Goodfellas" fast lane of New York's 1970s mob underworld. She loved the diamonds and furs. She loved the weekend trips to Vegas. She loved...

FASO GETS MAJOR NOD IN GOV RACE

ALBANY - State Conservative Party Chairman Michael Long endorsed former Assembly Republican Minority Leader John Faso for governor yesterday, dealing a blow to William Weld. Long called Faso, a former...

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

QUEENS * Police are asking for help in identifying a bandit and his female accomplice (above) wanted for a series of gunpoint robberies of Queens businesses over the past three...

NIXZMARY EFFECT SWAMPS COPS

Child-abuse investigations sky rocketed in the wake of the tragic death of Nixzmary Brown, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly (left) said yesterday. "Our already limited resources have been strained by an...

PETER GETS HIS 'WAY'

A portion of an Upper West Side street was renamed Peter Jennings Way yesterday for the ABC News broadcaster who died of lung cancer in August. The city renamed 66th...

DE NIRO'S RAIDER MAID GETS 3 YRS. - FACES DEPORTATION TO POLAND

The thieving maid-to-the-stars - who brazenly swiped the $95,500 diamond earrings Robert De Niro gave his wife for their wedding - was sent up the river without a feather duster...

3 YRS. FOR B'KLYN STEROID SMUGGLER

A Brooklyn man convicted of smuggling illegal steroids into the country and selling them to bodybuilders nationwide was sentenced to more than three years in prison yesterday. Luk Tam pleaded...

FEDS SMASH U.S. ZARQAWI TERROR CELL & NAB UNHOLY TOLEDO TRIO

WASHINGTON - Three Ohio men were indicted yesterday for plotting attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq, in a disturbing new case that revealed efforts by master terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi...

SCHOOL TRAILERS TRASHED

Plans to build a portable high school on a Bronx elementary-school playground have parents crying for a recess bell. Citing a funding and space crunch, the Department of Education has...

MYSTERY OF 'MOLESTED' SCHOOLGIRL

A young girl told cops a pervert stalked and groped her while she was on her way to a special winter-recess program at a Brooklyn school yesterday, officials said. The...

'DUBAI DUBYA' IN DOCK SHOCK - THREATENS 1ST VETO ON BILL TO NIX PORT TAKEOVER

President Bush strongly defended his administration's plan to let a United Arab Emirates company take over ports in New York and elsewhere - vowing to veto any bill that undoes...

CHUCK & HILL VIE FOR BIGGEST SPLASH

WASHINGTON - The simmering rivalry between New York Sens. Chuck Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton has surfaced as the two Democrats take competing tacks on how to stop an Arab...

GOV HAS SURGERY FOR INTESTINAL BLOCKAGE

ALBANY - Gov. Pataki yesterday underwent his second emergency surgery in less than a week, this time to remove a blockage in his digestive tract. "Gov. Pataki is recovering in...

BOSNIAN 'RAT' IS FINALLY TRAPPED - BUTCHER BEHIND SERB MASSACRES

The Bosnian Serb butcher accused of ordering Europe's worst massacre of civilians since World War II, has been found in Serbia and authorities are negotiating his surrender, security officials said...

HANDY VID-VOYEUR SUSPECT IN 'SORRY' STATE

The peeping-Tom handyman accused of taping women at two Brooklyn high schools and several private homes was aware he had a serious problem. "I like to watch women dressing and...

MTA BONDS SIDETRACKED

The MTA yesterday suddenly slammed the brakes on today's expected $450 million bond sale - which involves a bank tainted by money laundering and illegal dealings with terrorist countries. The...

CROOK IS IN A FIX - 363G HOME DEPOT SCAM

An Upper West Side man was sentenced yesterday to one year in jail for tricking Home Depot into giving him $363,000 worth of free renovations to his apartment. David Chass,...

DEAR MARTHA, DONALD SCORCHES DIVA WITH 'LIAR FIRE' OVER FAILED-'APPRENTICE' HISSY DISS

A fuming Donald Trump hit Martha Stewart where it hurts yesterday - comparing her recent talk of almost "firing" him from "The Apprentice" to the lies she told federal investigators...

COP & HORSE ON THE MEND

The mounted police officer injured when his spooked horse was clipped by two cars in a Chelsea traffic accident is expected to be back in the saddle again - and...

4 INDICTED IN 'BODY-SNATCH'

The four ghouls who allegedly ran a body-snatching ring were indicted yesterday by a Brooklyn grand jury, The Post has learned. Michael Mastromarino, a former dentist from Fort Lee, N.J.,...

JUDGE CLEANS MAID'S CLOCK - 3 YEARS IN JAIL FOR THIEF-TO-THE-STARS

A furious judge yesterday blasted a thieving maid for "cleaning out" her celebrity employers - and sent her up the river without a feather duster. "You worked not only by...

B'KLYN PERV-PRIEST LAWSUITS TOSSED

ALBANY - More than three dozen alleged victims of clergy abuse lost their bid yesterday to seek damages against the Brooklyn Diocese, because too much time has passed since the...

DAPPER DON COULD SEE THE FEDS' TREACHERY COMING

DEFENSE attorney Charlie Carnesi described John Gotti Sr. as "powerful, charismatic, charming, and sometimes harsh." On Feb. 5, 1999, as cancer tore through his body at the jail hospital in...

JUDGES TOSS OUT ARMED MAN'S GUN CONVICTION

The state's highest court yesterday threw out the conviction of a Brooklyn man serving 10 years for weapons possession, ruling the cops who stopped him did not have probable cause,...

CARS KILL PEDESTRIAN IN B'KLYN

A leader of Brooklyn's Bangladeshi community died yesterday when he was hit by two cars as he left a restaurant at a busy corner. Abdul Rob came to America 12...

'FAMILY' PORTRAIT - FEDS SHOW JURY GOTTIS TOGETHER

An eerily fascinating "family" photo album featuring John "Junior" Gotti secretly huddling with his notorious dad surfaced at the start of Junior's racketeering retrial yesterday, as the feds painted him...

GAY-RIGHTS HONCHO $HOWS BIG CHILL FOR HILL

The head of the state's largest gay-rights organization is urging his members not to throw their financial support behind Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton because of her "disappointing" stand on marriage...

MIKE TO ALBANY: JU$T DO IT, DAMMIT

It's no more Mr. Nice Guy when it comes to Albany, Mayor Bloomberg declared last night as he tore into legislators who won't cough up school aid for the city....

THE N.Y. DIET

City health officials are sending letters to more than 4,000 new moms who have gestational diabetes, to give them tips on how to lose weight. Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden...

B'KLYN 'ROID SMUGGLER JAILED

A Brooklyn man convicted of smuggling illegal steroids into the country and selling them to bodybuilders nationwide was sentenced to more than three years in prison yesterday. Luk Tam pleaded...

SILVERCUP BUILDER GOING FOR E. RIVER GOLD

Manhattan's skyline is about to get a run for its money. Rising up out of the industrial waterfront overlooking the East River in Queens will be a $1 billion complex...

DOUBLE SHOT OF JR. GOTTI - 2 SIDES OF JOHN FOR JURY

A federal jury was introduced to two John "Junior" Gottis yesterday - the ruthless mob boss who capitalized on his notorious father's reputation, and the devoted family man who turned...

CITY GIVING MOMS WEIGHT-LOSS TIPS

City health officials are sending letters to more than 4,000 new moms who have gestational diabetes to give them tips on how to lose weight. Officials were able to identify...

PATIENT MOOSE WAITING IT OUT

YANKEE NOTES TAMPA - Mike Mussina and Gary Sheffield have one thing in common: The Yankees hold options on them for 2007. However, that's where it ends. While Brian Cashman...

LET'S GO, METS: GO GET MANNY

PORT ST. LUCIE - Manny Ramirez is at it again with the Red Sox and will not be in camp today when position players report. The Mets need to take...

DAYTONA VICTORS HIT WITH BAN, FINE

NASCAR yesterday announced a four-race suspension and a $25,000 fine for Chad Knaus, the crew chief for the No. 48 car driven by Daytona 500 winner Jimmie Johnson. Knaus served...

BOSS WON'T GO AWAY

TAMPA - George Steinbrenner told a fib yesterday. Asked about the Yankees picking up Gary Sheffield's $13 million option for 2007, Steinbrenner said this before driving away in a golf...

CINCY COACH BIGGEST IN EAST

College NotesTHE BIG EAST Conference coach of the year award has always been a curious - in some minds, cynical - honor. Some say the coaches have circled the wagons...

JETS ALMOST CERTAIN TO DEAL ABRAHAM

John Abraham has likely played his last game as a Jet. Yes, the Jets, for the second consecutive year, placed the franchise tag on their star defensive end yesterday. And,...

SOMETHING TO PROVE - BELTRAN MUST SHOW WHY METS GAVE HIM $119M

PORT ST. LUCIE - More than anything else, Carlos Beltran sounded confident yesterday. He didn't come across as a player who seemed shaken by his performance last season or one...

THOMAS: DON'T BLAME BROWN FOR THIS FIASCO

KNICK NOTES Isiah Thomas raised the thorny issue yesterday that Larry Brown and his players aren't meshing - but the Knick president was careful not to criticize his coach. It's...

HOT FOR FRANCIS - KNICKS CLOSE TO MAGIC DEAL

The Knicks were zeroing in on a trade for Orlando guard Steve Francis yesterday as the Magic sifted through at least two separate offers made by Isiah Thomas. The Knick...

RICE GETS HOT IN OVERTIME

CHSAA SEMIS: Rice 86 - Farrell 77 For all the talent that he gets to put on the court, things are still never too easy for Rice head coach Mo...

WILPON EXPECTS BIG THINGS

MET NOTES PORT ST. LUCIE - Mets principal owner Fred Wilpon said yesterday that he believes the team has upgraded its talent from last year and that he joins those...

SUPER VINCE SAVES NETS - 45 POINTS KEY COMEBACK WIN

Nets 89 - Bucks 85 MILWAUKEE - Midway through the first quarter, Vince Carter went on one of his soaring adventures. Jason Kidd flipped an underhand lob, and Carter, starting...

BREAKING THE ICE - OFFENSE AWAKENS, BUT U.S. LOSES AGAIN

MEN'S ICE HOCKEY: Russia 5 - U.S. 4 TURIN, Italy - Finally, the Americans scored four whole goals that could have given them reason to feel good as the Olympic...

WHERE THERE'S A WILLIAMSON . . .

All Hallows 59 - St. Raymond 58 Darryl Crawford saw that junior David Williamson was bothered by how he was playing in the first half. "I went over and told...

STORM FERTILIZE GARDEN SEEDS - WIN SUSTAINS TOURNEY HOPES

St. John's 58 - Seton Hall 47 Make no mistake, this is Norm Roberts' St. John's program. But it is not run in Bill Parcells mode, where assistant coaches are...

CUNY FINAL ALL SET

Baruch College, the top-seeded team of the 2006 CUNYAC Men's Basketball Championship, defeated Lehman College, 86-80, in the semifinals at the College of Staten Island last night, sending the Bearcats...

VINCE HITS 45 TO SAVE NETS

Nets 89 - Bucks 85 MILWAUKEE - Midway through the first quarter, Vince Carter went on one of his soaring adventures. Jason Kidd flipped an underhand lob and Carter, starting...

DON'T LOOK FOR NETS TO SWING DEAL

NET NOTES MILWAUKEE - Don't expect help for the Nets by tomorrow's trade deadline. But don't think that's a bad thing; at least, that's what Jason Kidd says. "If we...

MEISSNER IN MEDAL CONTENTION

TURIN, Italy - In all the hype surrounding Sasha Cohen and Emily Hughes, the third member of the American women's figure skating team got lost. But last night, Kimmie Meissner...

SASHA STARS TO TAKE LEAD - DYNAMIC SKATER REAL SHOW-STOPPER

TURIN, Italy - It was just before midnight last night when the first American star of these Olympic Games finally shot across the Turin sky. Sasha Cohen delivered the kind...

SHEFF STAYS - YANKEES LIKELY TO PICK UP GARY'S 2007 OPTION

TAMPA - A signed document doesn't exist. Nor has Brian Cashman told Gary Sheffield the Yankees are definitely picking up his $13 million option for the 2007 season. However, Sheffield...

WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU NET - DON'T EXPECT DEADLINE DEAL

MILWAUKEE - Help in the form of a beat-the-deadline trade does not appear to be on the horizon - so, like it or not, the team the Nets have is...

RED STORM RUE ONE THAT GOT AWAY

What a wonderful opportunity. What an unusual chance. Graduate student Phil Missere and senior Ryan Williams walked into the Garden last night as St. John's players for possibly the last...

JAX PRAYS DEAL STILL IN WORKS

NET NOTES MILWAUKEE - No news isn't always good news. At least not to Marc Jackson. As tomorrow's trading deadline approaches, Jackson, the Nets' reserve center-forward, has heard little about...

FOR RICE, BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

CHSAA SEMIS: Rice 86 - Farrell 77 For all the talent that he gets to put on the court, things are still never too easy for Rice head coach Mo...

EMILY OFF TO GOOD START

TURIN, Italy - Emily Hughes stands seventh today, and awfully tall for having the toughest act of all to follow in her sport in her own family, for being in...

LET'S NOT PUT MUCH STOCK IN HIS SMILE

TAMPA - Gary Sheffield did the equivalent of buying his own car yesterday. Brian ashman offered the Yankee right fielder what amounted to a sales pitch and Sheffield sure reacted...

ISIAH'S PUSHING HARD FOR FRANCIS

The Knicks continued to move toward a trade for the Magic's Steve Francis yesterday, as team president Isiah Thomas finally admitted publicly his current cast of players and Larry Brown...

STORM FERTILIZE GARDEN SEEDS

St. John's 58 - Seton Hall 47 Make no mistake, this is Norm Roberts' St. John's program. But it is not run in Bill Parcells mode, where assistant coaches are...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

A female preacher is spreading the word of God to California strippers by going to topless clubs and talking to them as they give her lap dances. Heather Veitch, a...