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Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau speaks at a press conference February 27, 2009, where he announced he would not seek re-election in the fall. (Getty)

With this year's retirement of 90-year-old Robert Morgenthau, Manhattan voters will have to pick a new district attorney for the first time in 34 years.

The last time Manhattan voters had to pick a new district attorney was in the mid 1970's. The top song was Barbara Streisand's 'The Way We Were'. New York, teetering on bankruptcy, appealed to President Gerald Ford for a lifeline.

President Ford: 'I can assure you this president will never allow the doors of the United States Treasury to be flung open to every city with a fiscal hole in its pocket.'

In 1975, Morgenthau's first year on the job, there were 648 murders in Manhattan alone. Last year, the borough had only 62. There were 4400 robberies last year, 30,000 in 1975. Morgenthau became a kind of institution, a D.A.'s D.A. The TV show 'Law and Order' is modeled on his office. Morganthau was more than a politician -- he became a brand.

No wonder then, all three of the Democrats who want to succeed him make sure voters know they worked for him.

There are few empty seats at the DA debate at the CUNY Graduate School. On stage, the three candidates exchange pleasantries. The field consists of former judge Leslie Crocker Snyder, former prosecutor Cyrus Vance Jr, and former Handgun Control President Richard Aborn.

Manhattan DA hopeful Cy Vance Jr wins the endorsement of Pamela Bowens. Bowens crossed paths with Vance back when he was a young Assistant District Attorney and decided that Bowens, who was addicted to cocaine, should be given a second chance through an alternative to conventional criminal prosecution.

Vance, son of the late secretary of state won the endorsement of Morgenthau early on. But at the debate, a New York 1 reporter was quick to ask him about his experience in private practice -- 3000 miles away.

Grace Rauh: 'You have spent much of your career, 16 years in Seattle, a city that one local columnist once described as where a weak latte constitutes a major crime.'

Vance quickly pointed out that he has the endorsement not only of Morgenthau, but of three former U.S. attorneys.

Vance: 'They know me and believe I have the best combination of qualities.'

But Vance also has to pivot away from Morgenthau so as to appear to be his own man.

Vance: 'Looking back at Bob's career I think he could have come earlier to his decisions on cases that ultimately were dismissed had he had a convictions integrity unit to evaluate cases like the Central Park jogger case.'

In 2005, Judge Snyder -- who served both Morgenthau and his predecessor Frank Hogan -- made the bold move of running against him. Backed by law enforcement unions and The New York times, she won 42 percent of the vote. She distinguished herself from Morgenthau. She came across as a tough on crime judge who, unlike Morgenthau, supported the death penalty.

Snyder: 'Now I am concerned about protecting the residents of Manhattan. I am concerned about the little guy, the seniors, the most vulnerable. I want to make sure our white collar plan first and foremost protects those people which means the smaller frauds, the internet scams, the credit card scams, the immigration scams, the identity theft.'

Judge Leslie Crocker Snyder wins the endorsement of Ruth Messenger.

She is also now opposing the death penalty. In the forum, opponent Richard Aborn pushed her to explain.

The three Democratic candidates running to succeed long time Manhattan District Attorney Bob Morgenthau faced off at a debate at the CUNY Graduate Center today.

Cyrus Vance, Lesley Crocker Snyder, and Richard Aborn all competed to make their case that they were each "progressive." Topics ranged from alternatives to ...

WNYC's Bob Hennelly discusses the latest in the NJ scandal and what we can expect in the week ahead with Soterios Johnson on Monday's Morning Edition.

Details continue to emerge about the corruption scandal that has implicated the mayors of Hoboken and Secaucus, two state assemblymen, five ...

Along with the various public officials and religious leaders arrested yesterday, 58-year-old Levy Izhak Rosenbaum of Brooklyn was charged with trying to arrange a kidney donation for $160,000. Anthropologist Nancy Scheper-Hughes has investigated the illegal organ racket for almost a decade. She talks to Brian about how she blew the ...

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police are asking members of the public to come forward with any information regarding the theft of $120,000 worth of jewelry stolen in Grand Central Terminal.

Two employees of a jewelry company were passing through the lower level of Grand Central Station one month ago today around 6 p.m. They were transporting about 800 pieces of gold and diamond jewelry including rings, neck chains, bracelets, earrings and pendants, and about $2,000 in cash, in a black duffel bag. The employee carrying the bag set it down momentarily to discard some garbage.

At that moment, the employee’s co-worker was approached by two men who created a diversion by dropping a $10 bill on the ground and informing the co-worker that he had dropped it. As the co-worker was occupied, a third man took the duffel bag and replaced it with a nearly identical bag that was weighted down to appear have the same weight as the bag containing the jewelry. After the bags were switched, the three suspects left the area separately.

All three suspects were wearing light blue uniform-type shirts and dark colored work pants. The two suspects who created the diversion are described as being Asian or Hispanic men and in their mid to late twenties. The prime suspect, who is believed to have taken the bag, is described as a white or Hispanic male with dark crew-cut hair and a thin to medium build. Surveillance video images of the prime suspect taken shortly before the theft appear in the attached wanted poster, which also contains images of examples of some of the stolen property.

A group of unidentified handcuffed men are walked outside FBI offices Thursday, July 23, 2009, in Newark, N.J.. to a waiting bus for transport to court hearing as part of a major corruption and international money laundering conspiracy probe. (AP/Mel Evans)

Federal officials announced further details of a major investigation into corruption and money laundering in New Jersey and Brooklyn.

As part of an ongoing, 10-year investigation, FBI agents arrested dozens of people this morning, including the mayors of Hoboken and Secaucus, as well as the deputy mayor and council president of Jersey City.

A federal prosecutor says the money-laundering arrests include several rabbis in Brooklyn and New Jersey. A congregant of a synagogue in Deal, New Jersey, says he witnessed FBI agents removing boxes from the Deal Yeshiva this morning.

In addition to the corruption and money laundering charges, is one detailing a kidney-trafficking racket. The accused trafficker, Brooklyn-based Levy Rosenbaum, allegedly obtained kidneys from Israeli donors at the cost of $10,000 apiece and sold them for as much as $160,000.

A cooperating witness who had been charged with bank fraud in May 2006 was named in all 29 of the criminal complaints released by the U.S. District Court.

WNYC reporter Bob Hennelly discusses the arrest on All Things Considered.

A group of unidentifed men are walked outside FBI offices Thursday, July 23, 2009, in Newark, N.J.. to a waiting bus for transport to court hearing. (AP/Mel Evans)

U.S. Attorney's Office Press Release (PDF)

Some of those charged:

• Peter Cammarano III, the newly elected mayor of Hoboken and an attorney, charged with accepting $25,000 in cash bribes, including $10,000 last Thursday, from an undercover cooperating witness.

• L. Harvey Smith, a New Jersey Assemblyman and recent mayoral candidate in Jersey City, charged along with an aide of taking $15,000 in bribes to help get approvals from high-level state agency officials for building projects.

• Daniel Van Pelt, a New Jersey Assemblyman, charged with accepting a $10,000 bribe.

• Dennis Elwell, mayor of Secaucus, charged with taking a $10,000 cash bribe.

• Anthony Suarez, mayor of Ridgefield and an attorney, charged with agreeing to accept a $10,000 corrupt cash payment for his legal defense fund.

• Louis Manzo, the recent unsuccessful challenger in the Jersey City mayoral election and former state Assemblyman, and his brother and political advisor Robert Manzo, both with taking $27,500 in corrupt cash payments for use in Louis Manzo’s campaign.

• Leona Beldini, the Jersey City deputy mayor and a campaign treasurer, charged with taking $20,000 in conduit campaign contributions and other self-dealing in her official capacity.

• Eliahu Ben Haim, of Long Branch, N.J., the principal rabbi of a synagogue in Deal, N.J., charged with money laundering of proceeds derived from criminal activity.

• Saul Kassin, of Brooklyn, N.Y., the chief rabbi of a synagogue in Brooklyn, New York, charged with money laundering of proceeds derived from criminal activity.

• Edmund Nahum, of Deal, N.J., the principal rabbi of a synagogue in Deal, charged with money laundering of proceeds derived from criminal activity.

• Mordchai Fish, of Brooklyn, N.Y., a rabbi at a synagogue in Brooklyn, charged with money laundering of proceeds derived from criminal activity. His brother, also a rabbi, was charged as well.

Names, ages, charges for each defendant (PDF)

Complaints: (PDFs)

U.S.A. v. Daniel M. Van Pelt

U.S.A. v. Peter Cammarano III, Michael Schaffer

U.S.A. v. Jack Shaw, Edward Cheatam, Leona Beldini

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Protesters rally against New York\'s Rockefeller drug laws outside Governor David Paterson\'s office on March 25, 2009 in New York City. (Getty)

Governor Paterson and legislative leaders have announced an agreement to ease New York’s decades-old Rockefeller drug laws, once among the harshest in the nation. Speaking at a news conference in Albany, the governor says they are rolling back many of the mandatory prison terms for low-level, non-violent drug offenders.

“Where people are addicted and have committed crimes because of their addiction, we are going to shift our services from punishment to treatment, we are going to eliminate in most cases and severely reduce in other cases, the mandatory minimums that were set by the Rockefeller drug laws.”

The governor further explained the goal to reduce addict recidivism, shown to currently stand at 50 percent. He called the current legal system unjust and ineffective, creating “a revolving door for offenders mired in a cycle of arrest and abuse.”

The new plan to go before the state legislature will shift the sentencing of convicted abusers to new “drug courts” that will oversee their treatment rather than their punishment.

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