Luis A. Olmedo (born 1935) was a New York City Councilman from 1973 to 1984. He represented the Bushwick section of Brooklyn in the city council, as a Democrat.
Luis Olmedo was of Puerto Rican descent. After graduating from college Olmedo was employed in New York City as an anti-poverty worker. He worked as chairman of Los Sures to create, and then headed up the Southside United Housing Development Fund Corporation. [1] [2] He organized a number of protests against the racially biased allocations of public housing. [2]
Olmedo was first elected in 1973 to the New York City Council from the newly redrawn 27th District, which included major portions of the Williamsburg and Bushwick sections of Brooklyn. [1] The district as drawn was predominantly Puerto Rican. [1] Over the course of his decade on th Council, became vice chairman of its Black and Hispanic Caucus, as well as chairman of the Council's Youth Services Committee. [3]
Council member Olmedo was arrested in 1983, and charged with extorting money from two food production companies. In evidence, it was alleged that he received $12,000 from an undercover investigator. [4] It was alleged that Olmedo and his assistant, Carlos Castellanos, had demanded the $12,000 before approving plans by a Brooklyn fish-processing company to move to a city-owned site in Mr. Olmedo's district. He was tried the following year [5] and convicted in federal court of conspiracy and attempted extortion. [3] Olmedo received a sentence of a year and a day in prison. [6]
Olmedo was automatically expelled from his councilman's seat upon conviction. [3] He was succeeded by Nydia Margarita Velázquez, who was appointment by the Council. [7]
Nuyorican is a portmanteau of the terms "Nueva York", the Spanish name for "New York", and "Puerto Rican" and refers to the members or culture of the Puerto Ricans located in or around New York City, or of their descendants. This term is sometimes used for Puerto Ricans living in other areas in the Northeastern US Mainland outside New York State as well. The term is also used by Islander Puerto Ricans to differentiate those of Puerto Rican descent from the Puerto Rico-born.
Miguel Piñero was a playwright, actor and co-founder of the Nuyorican Poets Café. He was a leading member of the Nuyorican literary movement.
Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordered by Greenpoint to the north; Bedford–Stuyvesant to the south; Bushwick and East Williamsburg to the east; and the East River to the west. It was an independent city until 1855, when it was annexed by Brooklyn; at that time, the spelling was changed from Williamsburgh to Williamsburg.
Bushwick is a neighborhood in the northern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by the neighborhood of Ridgewood, Queens, to the northeast; Williamsburg to the northwest; East New York and the cemeteries of Highland Park to the southeast; Brownsville to the south; and Bedford–Stuyvesant to the southwest.
Nydia Margarita Velázquez Serrano is an American politician serving in the United States House of Representatives since 1993. A Democrat from New York, Velázquez chaired the Congressional Hispanic Caucus until January 3, 2011. Her district, in New York City, was numbered the 12th district from 1993 to 2013 and has been numbered the 7th district since 2013. Velázquez is the first Puerto Rican woman to serve in the United States Congress.
The Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation is one of the largest Carribean and Latino street and prison gangs worldwide. The gang was founded by Puerto Ricans in Chicago, Illinois in 1954.
Herman Badillo was an American politician who served as borough president of The Bronx and United States Representative, and ran for Mayor of New York City. He was the first Puerto Rican elected to these posts, and the first Puerto Rican mayoral candidate in a major city in the continental United States.
The Genovese crime family, also sometimes referred to as the Westside, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City and New Jersey as part of the American Mafia. They have generally maintained a varying degree of influence over many of the smaller mob families outside New York, including ties with the Philadelphia, Patriarca, and Buffalo crime families.
Paul Vario was an American mobster and made man in the Lucchese crime family. Vario was a caporegime and had his own crew of mobsters in Brooklyn, New York. Following the testimony of Henry Hill, Vario was convicted in 1984, of fraud, and sentenced to four years in prison, followed by a conviction for extortion in 1985, and an additional sentence of 10 years in prison. He died on May 3, 1988, of respiratory failure in prison.
The Colombo crime family is an Italian American Mafia crime family and is the youngest of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City within the criminal organization known as the American Mafia. It was during Lucky Luciano's organization of the American Mafia after the Castellammarese War, following the assassinations of "Joe the Boss" Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano, that the gang run by Joseph Profaci became recognized as the Profaci crime family.
Vito Joseph Lopez was an American politician from New York. He was a member of the New York State Assembly, and chairman of the Democratic Party of Kings County.
Malcolm Anthony Smith is an American politician from New York who was convicted of public corruption. A Democrat, Smith was a member of the State Senate, representing the 10th district in the New York State Senate from 2000 to 2002 and Senate District 14 from 2003 to 2014. Smith served as New York State Senate Majority Leader in 2009 and served as Temporary President of the New York State Senate from 2009 to 2010; he is the first African-American to hold those leadership positions.
Operation Bid Rig was a long-term investigation into political corruption in New Jersey conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, and the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey from 2002 to 2014.
Robert Garcia was a United States representative who represented New York's 21st district. He was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1965 and the New York State Senate in 1967, and then served in Congress from 1978 to 1990.
The Bonanno crime family is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, and in the United States, as part of the criminal phenomenon known as the American Mafia.
Rafael L. Espinal Jr. is an American politician and non-profit executive. A Democrat, he represented the 37th district of the New York City Council, which includes portions of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brownsville, Bushwick, Crown Heights, Cypress Hills, and East New York in Brooklyn.
Michael D. Nieves is the president and CEO of Hispanic Information Television Network (HITN), the largest non-commercial, Spanish language television network in the United States. Since taking the role in 2015, HITN has added over 10 million new Latino households to its viewing audience and secured a partnership with Sprint Communications that will support HITN’s mission for at least the next 30 years.
Antonio Reynoso is an American politician and community organizer currently serving as Borough president of Brooklyn since 2022. He is a member of the Democratic Party, and was elected Brooklyn borough president in the 2021 election. He previously was a member of the New York City Council for the 34th district from 2014 to 2021. The district included portions of Bushwick, Greenpoint, and Williamsburg in Brooklyn and Ridgewood, Queens.
Maritza Davila is an American politician from the state of New York. A member of the Democratic Party, she represents the 53rd district in the New York State Assembly.
Angel Rodriguez was a Democratic New York City Councilman representing District 38 in Brooklyn. In 2002, he was arrested on corruption charges for allegedly shaking down “more than $1.5 million in payoffs in exchange for his stamp of approval on a major building project.” At the time of his arrest, he was co-chairman of the Black and Latino caucus, and headed the subcommittee on Revenue and Forecast.