The Long History of a Police Precinct and an Ultra-Orthodox Community

The arrest of three high-ranking New York Police Department officials earlier this week continues to reverberate through the city's power centers. As part of a wide-ranging federal probe, they face corruption charges for allegedly accepting gifts from two Brooklyn businessmen in exchange for favors. 

The two businessmen in question have ties to the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Borough Park, the Brooklyn home of the department's 66th precinct. It's there, as The New York Times reports this morning, that many NYPD commanders have made or broken their careers.

According to the Times, the precinct earned the nickname "Fort Surrender" after a 1978 riot ended up in the police station and no one was arrested, despite injuries to dozens of police officers. In another incident, police scuffled with ultra-Orthodox community members over the release of a young man who was arrested when police tried to tow his car. 

But the alleged bribes reflect an outlandish new twist, said Jim Dwyer, a columnist for the Times, to WNYC's Soterios Johnson.

"This is a departure in that there are allegations of gross bribery," said Dwyer. "Crazy stuff like Orthodox businessmen dressing up as elves to deliver bribes disguised as Christmas presents to some of the police commanders involved. That kind of stuff has never surfaced before."