​A word of advice: if a stranger approaches you, flashes a "badge," starts a conversation about counterfeit money -- and tries to go back to your house with you -- you should probably be a little suspicious. He probably is not a police officer, and he probably is not very nice, either.

Alas, cops say that this guy -- a suspected scumbag by the name of Larry Thomas -- struck up a convo with an elderly man about phony dough and went back to his house. When he was in the home, he showed the victim several pictures of a fake fugitive.

Then, the supposed perp asked the victim and his daughter if they had any money in the house because "it might be counterfeit."

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​Hey, New Yorker! Yeah, YOU! Now you finally have good reason to be that asshole -- you know, that guy or gal who doesn't want to give directions. It could be dangerous!

Cops say the four scumbags pictured here are preying on the city's good Samaritans -- they'll stop and ask you for directions and rob you while you're distracted.

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​Reggie Allen is no criminal mastermind.

Cops say that 34-year-old Allen brought two loaded firearms -- including a Tec-9 semi-automatic pistol and a .45 caliber semi-automatic handgun -- into a crowded Times Square subway station on New Year's Day.

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​Three lowlifes turned a verbal altercation into a shootout in the Bronx this weekend, and cops want your help getting them off the street.

Around 1:50 p.m. on Sunday, the suspected perps got into an argument with the 28-year-old victim, police say. One of the accused crims took out a gun and fired, hitting the man and two bystanders. The three thugs then fled south in Fordham Manor, into 2570 Briggs Avenue.

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​Roy Huntley died at the hands of a gang of thugs during a grisly robbery-turned-slaying that took place on Sept. 28, 2008.

Michael Smith, Anthony Smith, and Melvin Peters roughed up the 24-year-old husband and father of two in 2050 Eighth Avenue, stealing his watch and other small property before dragging him outside, where Anthony then shot him in the head. Two other men are said to be involved in the crime.

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​Looks like the hip thing to do is to make non-profits even less profitable.

For the third time in a week, a New Yorker has been accused of illegally pocketing megabucks from a non-profit.

The Manhattan District Attorney says that Jeffrey Bernstein swindled more than $2,500,000 from the Albert Ellis Institute, a psychotherapy charity, between January 2010 and February 2011.

Bernstein, 62, worked as director of administration at the org, which offered affordable therapy to the public.

The D.A. indicted Bernstein today, claiming that he conned the group out of money by sending some 80 unauthorized wire transfers to his own business accounts.

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​A Sunset Park man was recently shot and killed outside his home, and cops want your help bringing in the scumbag who gunned him down.

Cops say that 20-year-old Jairo Aguilar was standing at the corner of 54th Street and Fifth Avenue on January 24, around 7:41 p.m., before things took a turn for the worse.

Neighbors heard gunplay and called 911.

By the time paramedics arrived, Aguilar was already dead.

Cops have pointed at 18-year-old Jose Ortiz (pictured here) as a suspected perp.

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​Money can't buy happiness -- but it might buy you time behind the steering wheel if you're a felon who has been kicked out of the U.S.

The Manhattan District Attorney says that Clarence Jenkins, a 56-year-old DMV clerk, sold three fraudulent drivers licenses to New Yorkers -- including "at least one deported felon who illegally returned to the country."

The D.A., which announced Jenkins's indictment today, said that the ruse worked like this: Jenkins would process fake IDs from Puerto Rico -- which he knew were bogus -- and use them to issue valid New York drivers licenses.

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​Daniel Phillips must been a little confused by party etiquette: If you go to a fiesta, do bring a bottle of wine -- do not set the host's house on fire.

Some of us are flummoxed by even the most basic manners, and Phillips is apparently no exception: The Manhattan District Attorney announced today that the 32-year-old just got a 10-year prison sentence for starting a fire at 410 West 48th Street, a six-floor apartment building with 71 residents, after a party in November 2009. Nobody was hurt by the blaze, but the building got stuck with $320,000 worth of damage.

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​Joe Paterno has now been gone a week, and it would be nice if we could simply honor his memory without reservation.  I can't. And frankly, it troubles me that so many want to bury Paterno's faults along with the man.
 
Maybe it isn't the time to talk about such things so close to his death, but when exactly will the right time be?  Anyway, there's the story by Sports Illustrated's Tim Layden in the current issue. Paterno, he writes, "sought to transform the phrase student-athlete from an increasingly belittled oxymoron to the essential truth of his program. Football success would only come hand-in-glove with academic excellence."

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