That’s Just Sic

David Chase has a lot to answer for:

He wrote them threatening letters, telling them to stuff a paper bag with $10,000 worth of twenties and fifties and drop it off in a secluded area of Clove Lakes Park.

If they didn’t do as he said, their jewelry stores would be damaged and their families would face the consequences, he wrote.

He signed the letters, “Cosa Nostra.”

The extortionist, police say, was not some mobster or wannabe tough guy.

Instead, they say he was a teen-ager from Sunnyside. The 15-year-old Sunnyside boy allegedly wrote extortion letters to nine jewelry stores, demanding the stores’ owners leave $10,000 in a brown paper bag in Clove Lakes Park or face the consequences, according to authorities. His name is being withheld because of his age.

One letter, sent to Buono Jewelers on Hylan Boulevard in Grasmere last Friday, instructed the owner to drop the cash behind “a rowboat half buried verticaly (sic) opposite the entrance to the lake club” at 9:30 a.m. Sunday.

“If Law Enforcement is notified or intervines (sic) with the exchange you can be sure that not just your store will be harmed but also your family,” the teen allegedly wrote. “If you wish that no damage or harm come to your store or family you will pay.”

But when he showed up at the park, the teen found a paper bag filled with nothing but paper — and the police, waiting for him, according to law enforcement sources.

“I thought it was a joke, and I just handed it to the Police Department,” said the owner of Buono, who spoke on condition of anonymity, saying that he has been robbed in the past and doesn’t want to speak publicly.

The letter arrived in the mail Friday, he said. ‘The letter came, ‘To the owner.’ It wasn’t addressed to anybody,” he said. “The wording was all misspelled.”

The Yankees Are Killing Our Children

The Yankees have always been of the “supersize me” ilk:

Since the New York Yankees, the Baby Bombers’ parent, took full control of the minor league club last year and handed over the team’s day-to-day operation to Mandalay Baseball Properties, the turnstiles have turned at an impressive clip.

Attendance at the halfway mark of the season, a mundane 3,393 per game last year, has spiked 40 percent to an average of 4,763 per contest as of Tuesday, thanks to a stepped-up sales program, a fan-friendly approach and an innovative all-you-can eat ticket package that has customers salivating.

. . .

At each stop, they emphasized wholesome family fun and entertainment at a reasonable price. Tickets range from $5 (reserved grandstand) to $13 (reserved box), and stadium amenities include a picnic area in right field, and a Kid Zone in the left-field stands that features children’s activities. After each game, youngsters get to run the bases.

Yet for all those attractions, nothing, perhaps, has filled the seats more than the alliterative — and wildly successful — Pinstripe Plan.

For $75 — or $15 a seat — fans see five games and get all the hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, soda and water they can scarf down. They also received free admission to a special Yankees Old-Timers game at the Richmond County Bank Ballpark on July 8, plus free tickets to a New York Yankees game in the Bronx later this season that includes a meeting with the big club’s general manager, Brian Cashman.

Location Scout: Richmond County Bank Ballpark at St. George.

There’s Some Local Color For You

The Advance reports that Staten Island tinting technicians will be devastated by politicians clamoring for a crackdown on tinted windows:

The trade in illegally tinted windows — a goldmine for Staten Island’s auto shops — is now in the crosshairs of politicians who are demanding a crackdown and harsher fines for businesses that cater to both style-conscious drivers and those who perhaps have something to hide.

At a press conference in Manhattan, Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum and Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Queens) proposed a state-mandated check on window tint during the annual safety inspections that all New York City drivers must have to legally drive their cars.

. . .

According to New York state law, tints must admit at least 70 percent of available light into the vehicle, but some popular tinting shops in the borough, like Little Vick’s Automotive Toy Store in Eltingville, weren’t even aware of the limit.

“I don’t know if it’s 70 percent,” said John LoPorto, a technician at Little Vick’s.

When asked if he was worried about the legality of the shop’s tinting venture, he replied: “There are no receipts, it just works out for us.”

. . .

Christopher St. Peter, a bookkeeper at General Auto Glass in Elm Park, expressed confusion as to the legality of his newly opened tinting operation.

“My brother takes care of tinting, and he only carries sheets for the legal limit. If somebody comes in and asks for more tint, though, we just apply another layer. Is that illegal?”

You May Be Able To Keep Out NASCAR And Wal-Mart, But Deer Are Another Story

Staten Islanders worry about what everyone would think if they had to put up deer crossing warning signs, but it’s getting harder and harder to ignore:

Yesterday, cops were called to Bulls Head to subdue a frisky deer that had ventured in a backyard on Carreau Avenue, near Signs Road, at about 9:40 a.m.

Eight police officers, including a team of Emergency Service Unit (ESU) cops, tried to corral the deer, but for 20 minutes, the animal proved elusive, according to Advance photographer Hilton Flores, who captured the episode.

. . .

It’s believed that a herd of at least 40 lives in the vicinity of Clay Pit Ponds State Park.

In October 2004, a car smacked into a deer in Travis, killing it — the latest in a series of antler adventures on the borough’s West Shore.

That episode came six months after city officials passed the buck on a controversial traffic issue.

In April 2003, the city Department of Transportation chose not to erect “Deer Crossing” signs — despite increasing evidence a herd of does and bucks occasionally frolics around the Island.

Last January, the DOT said it might reconsider posting such signs on the West and South shores, where the animals have been most frequently seen and where a number of crashes have occurred.

The South Shore’s Community Board 3 advisory panel has also requested the signs. But the city determined the “confirmed sightings are isolated occurrences” and found no pattern of deer crossing Staten Island roads.

At the time, a city DOT spokesman said the agency checked with the state Department of Environmental Conservation and confirmed deer sightings along Arthur Kill Road, Richmond Avenue and the West Shore Expressway. But since the reports covered a wide geographic zone, signs were deemed “inappropriate.”

Over the years, witnesses have sworn they’ve watched deer swim to Staten Island across the Arthur Kill from New Jersey. Some naturalists have estimated that Staten Island is home to as many as 40 deer.

Staten Island Mourns Just Like The Rest Of The Nation

A Lady Bird Johnson local angle? It’ll be difficult but we’ll see what we can come up with:

Though she was overshadowed in recent history by first ladies Jackie Kennedy, Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter, Barbara Bush and Hillary Clinton, Lady Bird Johnson’s quiet activism and devotion to her husband, President Lyndon B. Johnson, left a lasting impression on Staten Island and the nation.

Following her death on Wednesday at age 94, several Islanders praised Mrs. Johnson for the influence she had on the environmental movement, her role in the evolution of women in politics and the way she comported herself and supported her husband during tumultuous times in Washington, D.C.

While Mrs. Johnson didn’t visit the borough during her lifetime, she had a deep impact on more than one Islander.

“I knew her very well,” said former Democratic Rep. John Murphy. “She was a lovely lady.”

. . .

Ellen Pratt, second vice president of Blue Heron Park and an assistant corresponding secretary of Protectors of Pine Oak Woods, remembers Lady Bird Johnson as a strong woman who helped open the door for women in politics.

“She took a very active role in the presidency of her husband; she had a big hand in the evolution of the role of the first lady,” said Ms. Pratt. “She was a peacemaker. She helped her husband to function.”