You are reading

U.S. Attorney Pays Forest Hills A Visit

Nov. 21, 2016 By Domenick Rafter

U.S. Attorney Robert Capers speaks to the 112th Precinct Community Council meeting last Wednesday in Forest Hills. Photo by Domenick Rafter

U.S. Attorney Robert Capers
(Photo by Domenick Rafter)

The 112th Precinct Community Council meeting got a visit Wednesday from the borough’s top federal prosecutor.

Robert Capers, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, spoke to the council Wednesday night at the 112th Precinct house in Forest Hills and fielded questions on a wide variety of topics from lack of prosecution of bankers responsible for the 2008 financial crisis to working with the NYPD.

Capers succeeded Loretta Lynch as the top federal prosecutor for the Eastern District, which covers Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens and Nassau and Suffolk counties, in December 2015 after Lynch was appointed Attorney General of the United States by President Barack Obama. Capers and his assistant prosecutors try cases in two courthouses, one in Downtown Brooklyn and another in Central Islip in Suffolk County.

Capers told the audience that because of the size and diversity of the Eastern District, a wide array of different crimes come across his desk for prosecution, from terrorism to narcotics, violent crime, corruption and even identity theft.

“There are almost no type of crimes we haven’t prosecuted,” he said.

Keeping on the theme of the identity theft problem discussed earlier in the meeting, Capers said fraudsters have been prosecuted at the federal level as well locally and the feds have a great understanding of how they work. He explained how scam artists are often a network of different people tasked with different jobs both locally and in another location, perhaps out of the country, but some of them operate under our noses.

“There are people in the district who do this,” Capers said.

Capers talked about how his office and federal law enforcement officials work alongside the NYPD to catch folks wanted for federal crimes like identity theft, giving local authorities breathing room to do the investigations they need to do.

“We don’t want to step on anyone’s toes,” he said. “We will continue to work with police and federal investigators.”

One meeting attendee asked Capers why there had been no protection against bankers responsible for the 2008 financial crisis, even while many bankers were found liable in civil court.

“The burden of proof for a criminal case is much higher than a civil case,” Capers explained.

email the author: news@queenspost.com
No comments yet

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Southeast Queens leaders endorse Mark Levine for NYC comptroller

Apr. 17, 2025 By Athena Dawson

Cook cited Levine’s experience and problem-solving skills as a reason for her vote of confidence. “Mark is the clear choice to be our City’s next comptroller, and I am proud to back him today and every day. He has the experience and creative problem-solving skills to tackle some of our city’s most pressing issues while protecting New Yorkers from the dangers of Trump and the federal government,”  she shared in a statement. 

Op-ed: The power of representation in healthcare

Apr. 17, 2025 By Dr. Ifeanyi Oguagha

As physicians of color at Joseph P. Addabbo Family Health Center (JPAFHC), we regularly witness how representation in healthcare can save lives. Our patients – who, like us, are predominantly people of color – walk through our doors not only with medical concerns but also often carrying the weight of generations of inequities that have shaped their health outcomes.

Teen robbed of necklace at gunpoint while waiting for R train at Elmhurst subway: NYPD

Police from the 110th Precinct in Elmhurst and Transit District 20 are looking for a gunman who allegedly robbed a teenager at the Grand Avenue-Newtown subway station.

The 18-year-old victim was waiting for an R train at around 2 p.m. on Friday, April 10, when a stranger approached him, lifted his sweatshirt to show he had a firearm tucked into his waistband, and demanded the victim’s necklace. The teenager surrendered his necklace, and the armed robber fled the station onto Queens Boulevard at Broadway.