James Fanelli
The Archive
Met 'mob' contracts
The Mets shelled out $51.6 million in taxpayer money to contractors shunned by the city for their ties to the Mafia, labor corruption or bribery, The Post has learned. At...
Weird but true
Even more reasons to drink. A North Dakota man used empty beer cans to set up a makeshift alarm against his apartment door and then thwarted an intruder who tripped...
2 new Woods gals, S&M bombshell revealed
Tiger Woods avoids the rough on the golf course, but not in the bedroom. "Sometimes, I looked like a rag doll after we'd made love," said Mindy Lawton, 33, a...
Judges charge taxpayers for frivolous expenses
Objection, your honor! State judges are using taxpayer money to buy everything from spa trips to self-portraits to electronics, The Post has learned. On Nov. 1, New York Chief Judge...
Pug of war: SI exes fight for dog custody
It's the struggle for the puggle. The breakup of a Staten Island couple has unleashed a legal dogfight over the ownership of an adorable 1-year-old pug-beagle mix named Benjamin. Audrey...
Weird but true
A group of bumbling German thieves stole a circus van -- not realizing a lion was sleeping in the back. Police in Wuppertal said the car snatchers later turned into...
One New York small business' tax burden
Experts say the city’s rising levies and property taxes have taken their biggest toll on its nearly 200,000 small-business owners. “The city extracts a very high cost on small businesses,”...
One New Yorker's tax burden
While tax-paying New Yorkers are leaving the state in droves for cheaper pastures, Big Apple public-school teacher Katie Strauss (pictured ) is sticking it out for now — even though...
SI Dem in the 'no' on party's bill
Staten Island Rep. Michael McMahon defiedhis Democratic colleagues last night, voting against President Obama's health-care reform bill. Before the vote, McMahon, citing the cost to taxpayers, announced that he intended...
Weird but true
What was he smoking? A dopey 21-year-old Oregon man was arrested after calling 911 to report his pot had been stolen. Calvin Hoover told dispatchers that someone had broken into...
Costly 'trips' on High Line
Money had better grow on trees in the High Line Park, because the city’s newest greenway is also its latest liability. Less than five months old, the elevated promenade has...
Weird but true
The Fighting Irish are fine tippers. A woman who worked a catered event at the University of Notre Dame has agreed to pay $17,000 back to the Indiana school after...
Crime spike's no walk in the park
Crime is up in 20 of the city's biggest parks over the last year, including three in Queens, according to NYPD data. The number of major crimes counted in the...
A beastly voodoo to-do
An emaciated goat wandering Pelham Bay Park. A pig's head placed on a desolate street near the Green-Wood Cemetery. A dead rooster lying near a tree in Forest Park in...
Sheriff to file charges in hot-air hoax
It was just a bunch of hot air. A Colorado sheriff plans to file criminal charges against the family of a 6-year-old boy whose televised fictional hot-air balloon escapade captured...
Halal to pay over battlin' bros' feud carts
O brother, where cart thou? A sibling rivalry has turned into a turf battle to sell street meat, with the younger brother of a prize-winning Midtown food vendor setting up...
City politics is in pol's blood
A pagan politician whose religion practices animal sacrifices hopes he's more than a sacrificial lamb at the polls. Queens attorney Dan Halloran, 38, is a Republican candidate for the City...
Receipt deceit
I'll have some fraud with those fries. A Midtown steakhouse that's a popular spot for power lunches and business dinners has cooked up a scheme to help customers sneak their...
Activists, pols 'Square' off over café in park
Bidding on the right to run a controversial new restaurant in Union Square Park is set to begin in the next two months. The city plans to issue a request...
Fat cats turn park-keeper groups into their 'shady' money trees
Green acres is the place to be. Nonprofit park "conservancies" have raised $90 million to spruce up the city's natural spaces -- and in the process have sown a cottage...