Free Republic

An appeals court affirmed a 55-year prison term Tuesday for a member of the MS-13 gang who organized the killings of four teenagers in a Long Island park when he was 15 — but it also expressed regret that the end of parole for federal prisoners means he won’t have incentive to reform. A panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the prosecution of Josue Portillo, now 19, is a “classic illustration of the unfortunate consequences” of a decision by Congress that eliminated parole for federal prisoners sentenced in or after 1987. The ruling, written by...

Waving signs and banging sticks on plastic buckets like drums, about 200 people, mainly undocumented Mexican immigrants, marched through Farmingville yesterday demanding the right not to be evicted without notice and thrown into the street.'snip'The immigrants and their supporters, including priest and activists, were protesting the eviction by authorities last week of at least 28 Mexican day laborers from an overcrowded Farmingville house, leaving them homeless.'snip'[Steve] Levy shot back yesterday, saying his campaign is supported by wide swaths of people fed up with overcrowded houses in Farmingville. "The 99 percent of the county that supports the closing of this hellhole...

A retired city police officer was found dead in his Long Island home on Sunday, apparently slashed to death by a samurai sword, authorities said. The former policeman, Scott Nager, 51, was found dead by his wife, Laura at about 1 p.m., said Officer Al Prim, a spokesman for the Suffolk County police. Nager served on the city police force for 15 years, working as a patrolman in the 34th precinct, which includes Washington Heights and Inwood. He retired in July, 1996 because of a service-related injury, The New York Times reported. Suffolk county police said Laura Nager's son, Zachary...