
“Insiders say Daskal has friends in high places and claim his political largesse got him in tight with elected Āofficials.
āHeās a well-connected guy. In Borough Park, heās a big deal ā a macher,ā or important person, said one insider who requested anonymity, noting that Daskal is particularly close to retiring Assemblyman Dov Hikind.
āIt comes a complete shock. This is nuts. Yanky Daskal has grandkids.ā
Campaign-finance records show he wasnāt afraid to splash cash for his favorite Āpolitical causes.
He dropped $1,000 on Mayor de Blasioās 2009 public-advocate bid and has given nearly $9,300 to Hikind since 2004, according to state campaign-finance records listing his name and Borough Park address.
He tossed $1,000 to corrupt former state Sen. Malcolm Smith in 2008 and has lavished a little over $4,500 into state Sen. Simcha Felderās campaign coffers since 2007, the records show.
Someone named Jacob Daskal also gave $250 to de Blasioās 2003 City Council campaign, according to city records listing a name but no address.
Meanwhile, pols were funneling cash into the Boro Park Shomrim volunteer safety group over which he presided.
The organization reaped $425,708 in eight city contracts alone between 2010 and 2015, according to Politico New York.”
“Does New York City ā with its once-unimaginable record-low crime rates ā still need private (but city-funded) citizen-patrol groups?
The question became more pressing with the arrest Thursday of Jacob Daskal, politically wired president and co-founder of the Boro Park Shomrim, on charges he repeatedly raped a 15-year-old girl over a period of months in his home.
Itās not the Brooklyn groupās first brush with the law, either.
Last year, Shomrim official Alex āShayaā Lichtenstein was sentenced to 32 months in prison for bribing cops on a regular basis to get hard-to-obtain full-carry handgun permits for paying clients, including some with criminal records.
The group itself has been accused of violently beating suspects it apprehends. And Daskal reportedly was able to arrange for Orthodox Jews arrested for minor crimes to avoid being booked through the system.”