Crime ring chief gets 7 years for illegal guns, motorcycle thefts

The kingpin in a massive ring that sold at least 13 illegal guns and stole scores of motorcycles off city streets is going to prison for at least 7 1/2 years.

Tiwane Paul, 31, had asked for less time, arguing through his lawyer that he'd had a tough childhood in his native Dominica.

But prosecutor Diana Florence countered that Paul "was a very, very smart and cunning person," and that hours of wiretaps demonstrated, "Mr. Paul was able to negotiate with people who were very difficult and, frankly, very scary."

Paul, who faces certain post-prison deportation back to his Caribbean homeland, ran his criminal enterprise with Selwyn Mills, 22, who has pleaded guilty and is serving a 5-to-9 year prison sentence.

Of the 33 people originally arrested in Paul's gang, one has been dismissed, 11 are awaiting trial, and the remainder have pleaded guilty.

The case made headlines last July, when prosecutors announced the cycle-snatchers had been caught in the act of reselling more than 50 high-end bikes, including a Dukati Monster and a Kawasaki Ninja.

The case was back in the news just two months later, when seven of the stolen bikes were re-stolen -- from an NYPD lot in the Bronx. The twice-stolen bikes have since been recovered.

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Ian Schrager joins forces with chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten for new Edition Hotel

Two of the best-known names in their respective fields — hotelier Ian Schrager and chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten — have teamed up for the Edition Hotel in Miami Beach, they told The Miami Herald Friday.

The partnership had not previously been officially announced, but the two were set to host a cocktail party Friday night at the site of the old Seville Beach hotel, 2901 Collins Ave.

On Friday at the sales pavilion for the Residences at the Miami Beach Edition, the duo chatted nonstop as they examined an elaborate model of the hotel and grounds.

“We just have a good time together,” Vongerichten said. “He’s excited, I’m excited.”

Vongerichten pointed out a lower-level area on the model building that he described as a grab-and-go food court with a deli, bakery, hot kitchen and raw bar. Schrager referred to it as an “updated Wolfie’s,” referring to the deli eight blocks south on Collins Avenue that closed in 2002.

“It’s not just for the people at the hotel, it’s for everybody,” said Schrager, whose launch of the Delano in 1995 helped bring new life to South Beach.

Plans at the Edition also call for a beach eatery and upscale-but-modern restaurant that Vongerichten said would be “chic and glamorous” and focused on local ingredients. He referred to that restaurant as the Matador Room, a nod to the hotel’s previous life.

Vongerichten said Schrager approached him about the project nearly six months ago; they have worked together since he opened the Pump Room restaurant at Schrager’s Public Chicago in late 2011.

Vongerichten is also behind the lauded J&G Grill at the St. Regis Bal Harbour, which opened in January 2012, but the Edition will be his first foray into Miami Beach.

“You always have to wait for the right project,” Vongerichten said.

A partnership between Schrager and Marriott International, the Edition brand includes one hotel in Istanbul. A site in London is set to debut in August, followed by Miami Beach in early 2014, possibly late in the first quarter. Other locations in New York and Bangkok are scheduled to come online in 2015.

Already years in the making, the Miami Beach project has been closely watched since Marriott bought the property in July 2010. Now, construction at the massive site is well underway, with cranes towering over the gutted existing buildings and a new tower. The finished product will include a hotel with about 250 rooms as well as 26 residences, nearly half of which are already sold. The property also features an ice skating rink, a bowling alley and historic outdoor details including a sundial and diving board.

“It’s a little bit like a bamboo shoot that sits there for 100 years, then all of a sudden it shoots up 50 feet in weeks,” Schrager said. “It’s coming to life.”

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Helen Snapp, WWII pilot, dies

Helen Wyatt Snapp did not want to be called a hero.

“The real heroes are the people who don’t come back” from combat, said the former WASP pilot.

Despite that humility, Snapp was recognized in South Florida and beyond for her contributions to aviation and for helping pave the way for women in flight.

Snapp died Jan. 20 at Memorial Hospital West in Pembroke Pines from complications after a hip fracture surgery. She was 94.

Snapp was born in Washington, D.C., and attended Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Va. During one summer break from school, she and her sister Evelyn began taking flying lessons.

Although she had a fear of heights, when World War II broke out, Snapp entered the Civilian Pilot Training program and became a licensed private pilot.

In 1942 she married Ira Benton Snapp, a lieutenant in Company B 30th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division of the U.S. Army during its campaigns in North Africa, Sicily and Italy.

It was while her husband was overseas that Snapp learned about the Women’s Air Force Service Pilots (WASP) training program and began training in Sweetwater, Texas. She became one of the country’s first female military aircraft aviators.

When she graduated, she was sent to Camp Davis in North Carolina, where her duties included radar operations, aerial target towing and search light training. Later, she flew at Liberty Field in Fort Stewart, Ga. Her responsibility there was to fly planes that towed targets, at which male recruits would shoot live ammunition.

Snapp’s final task in active service was a top-secret mission with radio-controlled aircraft, that would later be packed with explosives and used as the first guided bombs.

She also piloted the B17 Memphis Belle, while traveling from Tampa to Jacksonville, when the plane was being used for War Bond promotions.

She was trained to fly both single and multiple-engine planes.

When WWII ended, Snapp returned to the Washington, D.C., area where she and her husband raised three sons. Simultaneously, she worked for the U.S. Post Office.

They moved to South Florida in 1984.

Snapp’s son Jeremy said his mother has served as a source of inspiration for him since he was a child.

“She participated in a piece of history and got to do a lot of things people normally don’t get to do … like fly fighter planes,” he said.

Besides her aviation career, Snapp was known for enjoying life and cherishing time with her family, friends and fellow pilots, he said.

If she saw any opportunity to connect with her contemporaries, she would take it, he said.

Snapp advocated for WASP pilots to be officially recognized as military members and spoke about the discrimination they felt at the time. Although they participated in military activities, they were considered civilians. Now, they are able to enjoy some military benefits, including using VA hospitals and the opportunity to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

“They were doing a man’s job, but they really were kind of played down,” said Suzette Rice, the president of the Wings Over Miami Air Museum, who became a friend of Snapp’s. Rice said Snapp and the other WASP pilots were trailblazers; they were considered civilian pilots, but now women in the military fight in active combat.

Snapp was proud to help make that recognition possible.

“That was the message Helen had,” Rice said. “She would say, ‘We were women doing a man’s job, and nobody had done it before.’”

Snapp and 175 other living members of the WASPs received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2010. She was also active in women’s pilot association the Florida Gold Coast 99s and the Wings Over Miami Air Museum.

Ursula Davidson, a pilot and member of the Ninety-Nines, said she will most remember Snapp as a friend who “was always ready for an adventure.”

“She was a good role model about how to live your life,” Davidson said. “Just to keep doing what you like to do and not to be afraid.”

Snapp is survived by two of her sons, Jeremy and David. She was predeceased by her husband and son Ira Ben Snapp II.

There will be a memorial service for Snapp on at 11 a.m. March 2 at the Wings Over Miami Air Museum.

Her family has requested donations to the Wings Over Miami Museum or the Florida Gold Coast 99s in lieu of flowers.

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Adam Levine Talks Leaving Maroon 5

What with his coaching gig on The Voice, launching his own fragrance line and a recent stint on American Horror Story, it's only natural that Adam Levine's fans have been left to wonder if Maroon 5 will one day take a permanent backseat to his other career opportunities.   

Despite being open to dabbling in various solo projects, Levine says that in the end, he will always stay loyal to his trusty bandmates.

Hot Pics: Hollywood's Sexiest Men -- SHIRTLESS!

"If anything I'll probably make a record on my own with people doing some sort of interesting cover record or something like that, but it won't be me going solo," Levine told ET Canada's Natasha Gargiulo. "It'll be me doing something on my own and then returning to the band."

As for his recent foray into acting, Levine reveals that what started as a side project may very well grow one of his passions.

Related: Maroon 5 Reflects on 10 Years of Fame

"No one's going to say that guy sucks in that movie," said the star of sharing the big screen with Keira Knightley in the upcoming film, Can a Song Save Your Life?. "I'm really hard on myself so I knew that I would feel that gross feeling of like, 'Oh dude I'm never doing this again, I'm so bad.' And I wasn't. I didn't get that feeling."

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Developers want to raise proposed Brooklyn Bridge Park complex three feet to avoid massive flood damage

These guys want to put their Brooklyn Bridge Park plans on a pedestal.

The developers tapped to bring a hotel and residential complex to Pier 1 near Old Fulton St are planning for a future Hurricane Sandy by raising both buildings up at least three feet to avoid the massive flood damage that devastated the surrounding DUMBO neighborhood during last October’s super-storm.

David Von Spreckelsen, a senior vice president at developer Toll Brothers, said the 159-apartment, 200-room hotel project — which would raise a $3.3 million chunk of the park’s $16 million annual maintenance budget — will now include additional steps and ramps leading to the main lobby and more masonry to ensure the building is above the site’s flood plain set by the feds.

Mechanical systems that normally are in basements will be moved to the roof. A basement will still be built but will be primarily used for parking.

“We want to make our building a structure that can survive any kind of storm,” said Von Spreckelsen, whose company is partnering with Starwood Capital Group in the development.

The development was supposed to break ground in February but is on hold until both Toll Brothers and Starwood complete the redesign.

Regina Myer, president of the city development corp. overseeing the 85-acre park’s construction, said she’s “comfortable” with the developers’ progress and confident that – despite the wrath of Sandy - the park would eventually be able to select a developer and move forward with other high-rise condo complexes planned for Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn Heights and John Street in DUMBO.

Myer said the park suffered about $1 million in damage from Sandy – mostly lighting and other electrical work – that is nearly fixed, adding “the park did very well” considering parks citywide suffered a total of $750 million in damage.

However Cobble Hill Judi Francis said the storm proved just how bad a spot the waterfront park is to build more housing.

“The lesson of Sandy is it will happen again, and when it happens, it will be really bad for those residents who wind up buying condos there,” she said.

rcalder@nypost.com

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National Hotel nears end of long renovation

A panel of frosted glass puts everything in perspective for Delphine Dray as she oversees a years-long, multi-million dollar renovation project at the National Hotel on Miami Beach.

“Chez Claude and Simone,” says the piece of glass stationed between the lobby and restaurant, a reference to Dray’s parents, who bought the hotel in 2007.

“Every time I am exhausted and I pass that glass, I remember why,” said Delphine Dray, who joined her father — a billionaire hotel developer and well-known art collector in France — to restore the hotel after the purchase.

After working with him for years, she is finishing the project alone. Claude Dray, 76, was killed in his Paris home in October of 2011, a shooting that remains under investigation.

In a recent interview and tour of the hotel’s renovations, which are nearly finished, Dray did not discuss her father’s death, which drew extensive media coverage in Europe. But she spoke about the evolution of the father-daughter working relationship, the family’s Art Deco obsession and the inspiration for the hotel’s new old-fashioned touches.

The National is hosting a cocktail party Friday night to give attendees a peek at the progress.

Dray grew up in a home surrounded by Art Deco detail; her parents constantly brought home finds from the flea market. By 2006, they had amassed a fortune in art and furniture, which they sold for $75 million at a Paris auction in 2006.

That sale funded the purchase of the National Hotel at 1677 Collins Ave., which the Drays discovered during a visit to Miami Beach.

After having lunch at the Delano next door, Dray said, “My dad came inside the hotel and fell in love.” The owner was not interested in selling, but Claude Dray persisted, closing the deal in early 2007. Her family also owns the Hôtel de Paris in Saint-Tropez, which reopened Thursday after a complete overhaul overseen by Dray’s mother and older sister.

Delphine Dray said she thought it would be exciting to work on the 1939 hotel with her father, so she moved with her family to South Florida. She quickly discovered challenges, including stringent historic preservation rules and frequent disagreements with her father.

“We did not have at all the same vision,” she said.

For example, she said: “I was preparing mojitos for the Winter Music Conference.” Her father, on the other hand, famously once unplugged a speaker during a party at the hotel because the loud music was disturbing his work.

“We were fighting because that is the way it is supposed to be,” she said. “Now, I understand that he was totally right.”

She described a vision, now her own, of a classic, cozy property that brings guests back to the 1940s.

Joined by her 10-year-old twin girls, Pearl and Swan, and 13-year-old son Chad, Dray pointed out a new telephone meant to look antique mounted on the wall near the elevators on a guest floor. She showed off the entertainment units she designed to resemble furniture that her parents collected. And she highlighted Art Deco flourishes around doorknobs and handles.

“It’s very important for us to have the details,” she said.

With those priorities in mind, she is overseeing the final phase of the renovation, an investment that general manager Jacques Roy said will top $10 million. In addition to the small details, the renovation includes heavier, less obvious work: new drywall in guest rooms, for example, and new windows to replace leaky ones.

Painting of the building’s exterior should be finished in the next two to three weeks, Roy said. Dray compared its earlier unfinished state to resembling “a horror movie — the family Addams.”

And the final couple of guest room floors, as well as the restoration of the original Martini Room, should be done by the end of April.

“At the end, I will be very proud,” Dray said.

The National’s renovation wraps up as nearby properties such as the SLS Hotel South Beach and Gale South Beach & Regent Hotel have been given new life. Jeff Lehman, general manager of The Betsy Hotel and chair of the Miami Beach Visitor and Convention Authority, said the National has always been true to its roots. He managed the hotel for 10 years, including for a few months after Dray bought the property.

“I think historic preservation and the restoration of the hotels as they were built 70, 80 years ago is such a huge piece of our DNA,” he said. “It’s a lot of what sets us apart from any other destination on the planet.”

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Man set ablaze Christmas night dies; family files suit

A man who was doused in gasoline and set on fire at a gas station Christmas night died Friday after being in and out of a coma since then.

Darrell Brackett, 44, walked to the U-Gas Station at 4700 NW 27th Ave. shortly before midnight night while his girlfriend waited in their van. They were returning from dropping off family members after a Christmas gathering when they ran out of gas near Northwest 49th Street and 23rd Avenue.

Brackett made it to the gas station and paid for his gas.

While there, he encountered several drug dealers, according to the Brackett family’s attorney. They asked Brackett if he was interested in purchasing from them, and when he said no, they took offense, the attorney said.

They threw a lit cigarette at cigar on him, which in combination with the gasoline he had just purchased made him go up in flames.

Brackett ran into the street, where a woman passing by directed him to a median where he rolled on the ground in an attempt to put out the flames. “Why did they do this to me?” he asked at the time.

He was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he was treated in the burn center until he died Friday.

Although for the first part of his recovery Brackett was unable to communicate, he was doing well enough about three weeks ago that he could nod and use hand movements to speak with his family and Michaels. It was during those conversations they were able to learn better what happened that Christmas night.

Then, after that one week when he could communicate, Brackett took a turn for the worse, fell back into a coma and died.

Brackett’s mother, Bridgett Brackett, said her son would be remembered as “a people person.”

“Everybody loved him,” she said Wednesday. “He had a sweet personality and was just a fun-loving guy. Every time you saw him, he had a nice smile. He was a great child.”

Brackett’s family has filed a lawsuit against Urbieta Oil Inc. and HDEZ Oil Corp., which own and operate the U-Gas Station. Trial is scheduled for Aug. 12.

The family’s attorney, Todd Michaels of the Haggard Law Firm, a Coral Gables firm that specializes in personal injury cases, said the companies’ gas stations in South Florida have operated negligently for too long, without proper security measures in place.

The Haggard Law Firm previously represented the family of Trinard Snell, who was killed in 2009 while working at a Valero gas station in Liberty City. Snell’s family won a $5.7 million lawsuit in that case on Dec. 2 after expressing their concern that the station did not sufficiently protect its employees, according to Miami Herald news partner CBS4.

“There is a staggering amount of crime going on in these premises, and pretty much nothing going on in terms of security,” Michaels said. “Security can’t be something you put on the back burner . . . It’s happening too much that [gas stations] are throwing caution to the wind as far as securing their premises goes. People are being attacked and robbed.”

It is too early in litigation to determine how much the suit will amount to, but because of Brackett’s two months of medical bills, Michaels said the number will likely be high.

“The family just wants to see they achieve some sort of justice for him,” Michaels said.

Ignacio M. Urbieta, an attorney for Urbieta Oil Inc., said safety has always been the company’s top priority.

“The Haggard Law Firm alleged unsubstantiated facts about the incident and made dishonest statements disparaging our personal ethics,” Urbieta wrote in a statement to The Miami Herald. “We vehemently deny their version of events and will address their accusations at the appropriate time and place.”

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School janitor gets 20 years for raping 12yo student

A Brooklyn school janitor convicted of raping a 12-year-old girl in his middle school was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison today as his family sobbed in the back of the courtroom.

Ambiorix Rodriguez, 34, had sex with the girl in the basement and stairwell of the East Flatbush school but was busted when she told school officials.

Rodriguez did not force the girl to have sex but was charged with rape and other crimes because of her young age.

Prosecutors asked for a sentence of 74 years to life and read a statement from the victim’s aunt.

“She was and is still a child. How could you do this to her? How could you possibly think this is okay?” the aunt said.

Judge Sheryl Parker slammed Rodriguez before sentencing him.

“In this case the defendant repeatedly took advantage of a young girl in a place, her school, that should have been her safe haven.”

Parker also issued an order of protection forbidding Rodriguez to contact his victim for 75 years. Rodriguez, in grey prison sweats and hand cuffs, blew a kiss to his teary family when he walked into court, but did not turn to look at them when he was lead out.

jsaul@nypost.com

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Architectural advisory panel rejects design plans for Midtown Miami Walmart

Controversial efforts to build a Walmart in Midtown Miami hit an unexpected roadblock Wednesday when members of Miami’s architectural advisory panel rejected the latest version of the plan.

The unanimous vote to deny a permit application was unusual for the Urban Development Review Board, which functions as an advisory group to the city planning director, and rarely takes a hard stand against projects.

The response from Walmart was unusual, too.

The board offered Walmart a chance to rework its plans and return for a later hearing. But the Walmart team declined.

“We’re just at a point where the project is taking way too long,” Walmart attorney Alfredo Gonzalez said, adding that contractual obligations demand the project move forward immediately.

The Midtown Walmart project has garnered intense opposition from neighborhood activists, who worry the big-box store will destroy the character of the up-and-coming neighborhood. Proponents say the Walmart would create as many as 750 construction and retail jobs and be a source of fresh produce and affordable consumer goods.

Last month, to make its 156,000-square-foot store blend in better with the district, Walmart revised its plan to include an adjacent building with pedestrian-friendly, street-level shops. Zyscovich Architects, the firm that drew up the master plan for the Midtown district, is designing that portion of the project.

On Wednesday, members of the development review board sharply questioned whether the latest plans comply with two key features of the special zoning plan that governs development in Midtown. Like the city’s Miami 21 zoning code, which was written after the development of Midtown, the rules are meant to ensure that buildings in the district foster active pedestrian traffic and avoid blank walls and exposed parking garages.

One guideline calls for the top decks of parking garages to be screened or covered. Walmart’s plan for rooftop parking includes decorative planters but not a cover or screen.

“The code requires that you incorporate trellises or other design features to conceal the parking spaces,” Urban Development Review Board member Robert Behar said. The Walmart plan “needs to be more elaborate.”

A second rule requires “liners” — typically residential or commercial space — to conceal garages on principal streets like Midtown Boulevard and North Miami Avenue. If a garage doesn’t have liners above the ground floor, it’s supposed to be set back 85 feet from the street.

While Walmart’s plans show ground-floor retail stores, there are none on the second and third stories of the three-level garage. Those floors are instead covered with glass façades.

The garages are set back roughly 25 feet on Midtown Boulevard and 50 feet on North Miami Avenue.

Miami Assistant Planning Director Carmen Sanchez said she believes the Midtown regulations don’t specifically require occupied spaces in the upper stories, but just “an articulated building façade” like the glass panels Walmart has proposed.

But members of the panel said they read the code differently to require habitable space on the upper stories as well as the ground floors of garages.

“Either you include liner uses in the second or third level, or you set the building back 85 feet,” architect and developer Willy Bermello said.

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More state spending on roads, ports

TALLAHASSEE --
If you think there’s too much road construction now, just wait.

The state plans to increase transportation spending by 11 percent in an effort to boost jobs, build more roads, and get the state’s ports ready for the expansion of the Panama Canal. For motorists, that means navigating through more orange cones and thicker clouds of construction dust throughout the state.

Florida’s proposed $9.1 billion budget was released Tuesday. On tap in Tampa Bay, $420 million of additional lanes on Interstate 75 in Pasco, Hernando and Sumter counties; $27 million for the expansion of Bruce B. Downs Boulevard; and $69 million to add lanes on the Veterans Expressway in Hillsborough County. In South Florida, new construction would include $112 million for new lanes on I-75 in Broward County; $154 million to add lanes and reconstruct the Homestead extension of the Florida Turnpike and $25 million to add lanes and reconstruct State Road 823.

An unprecedented flood of money is getting steered to ports in an attempt to get them primed for the Panama Canal expansion, which should be completed in the next two years. The proposed budget includes $30.6 million for the Port of Miami, $26.7 million for the Port of Tampa, $19.5 million for the Port of Manatee and close to $100 million across the rest of the state.

“We’re leveraging what’s going to happen with post-Panama Canal expansion,” DOT Secretary Ananth Prasad recently told a House transportation committee. “Florida’s truly going to be the gateway to the Americas.”

Gov. Rick Scott was in Jacksonville on Tuesday to tout the proposed budget as an economic tool. He estimates the $917 million increase in spending from this year will help create 500,000 jobs, one third related to highway construction — employment opportunities that would be on line as he gets ready for re-election in 2014.

While Scott claimed credit for the budget, about two-thirds of it is the work of regional metropolitan planning organizations staffed with local elected officials, and port and airport authorities that he only partly controls through appointments. But the proposed transportation plan, which will be included in the larger $74 billion budget bill during the upcoming legislative session, reflects a consensus among lawmakers and local leaders that an increase in transportation spending will spark the economy.

“The construction industry was the most hurt by the recession,” said the chair of the House transportation appropriations committee, Rep. Ed Hooper, R-Clearwater. “So the industry will only be helped by more spending.”

In many ways, it’s an approach that’s a throwback to 20th century road politics, where highway construction was viewed as a job creator and a solution to gridlock. While other states have moved to road alternatives like transit and rail, Florida’s spending includes only about $400 million in direct spending on transit, or less than 5 percent. Scott is still remembered for rejecting $2.4 billion in federal dollars that would have paid for a high-speed rail link between Tampa and Orlando.

“You can’t construct enough highways to build our way out of congestion,” said Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, a Democrat. “Tampa Bay is the only area of our size without mobility options, be it light rail, bus rapid transit or high occupancy vehicle lanes. This puts us at a competitive disadvantage.”

Buckhorn said he and several other cities, such as St. Petersburg and Miami, will lobby the Legislature this year to get permission to ask voters for approval of light rail projects without having to appeal to county voters as well. In 2010, Hillsborough voters rejected a proposed light rail system in Tampa that city residents supported.

Scott sees roads as not just creating jobs, but accommodating growth for a state with a population of 19 million that’s projected to grow past 26 million by 2040.

To the chagrin of environmental activists, Scott has resurrected a project of toll roads that former Gov. Jeb Bush supported but his predecessor, Gov. Charlie Crist, rejected. The toll roads would be built in rural areas and help bring development to landlocked parts of the state.

“Under Crist, transportation dollars were spent in areas where there already was congestion, not where they thought growth would go,” said Charles Pattison, President of 1000 Friends of Florida. “The interesting thing about this budget is that the governor has put about $1 billion more than he did last year, and it’s going to one agency for roads. But are roads going to be the solution in 2040?”

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