A woman was raped March 27 by the same man police believe has victimized nine women since May 1994, said Police Officer Kathleen Kelley, a spokeswoman.
Of the nine attacks on the women aged 13 to 43, six were rapes, said Kelley.
The crimes occurred in Gunhill, Tremont, Pelham and Soundview. Seven were in housing projects in or near elevators, said Capt. James Campbell of the 48th Precinct.
The rapist wears a green jacket and a ski mask or scarf, police said. He is 20 to 30 years old, stands 5-foot-4 to 5-foot-9 and weighs 120 to 140 pounds.
Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers at (212) 577-TIPS.-- Mark Reynolds
The city's bus department has been poorly run by senior management, resulting in an unsafe fleet of over-age buses prone to breakdowns, according to a report issued Wednesday by the inspector general of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
"Bad management coupled with inadequate maintenance and inspection procedures have robbed NYCTA's Department of Buses of its ability to deliver reliable bus service and keep defective older buses off the road," Inspector General Henry P. Flinter said.
Among the report's findings:
*More than one third of the buses are older than the 12-year useful-life standard.
*Corrosion causes bus engines to separate from fames and can result in accidents.
*Officials ignored corrosion and failed to make bus manufacturers replace defective parts.
The report recommends that the bus department make corrosion maintenance a priority, establish a schedule for buying new buses, and create clear procedures for identifying and removing defective buses from the fleet.
"The report won't affect service in the Bronx at all," said Charles Seaton, a Transit Authority spokesman, saying that the department had met the recommendations before the report was released, and that the fleet has a reserve of buses to allow for regular maintenance. -- C. J. Chivers
The rapper William Drayton, who performs as Flavor Flav with the group Public Enemy, will be sentenced on May 18 for illegally possessing a gun.
Drayton, 36, was convicted three weeks ago in Bronx Supreme Court.
The conviction stems from a November 1993 incident outside Drayton's apartment building at 1020 Grand Concourse in which he waved a gun at his neighbor and fired a shot.
Justice Martin Marcus could sentence the rapper, now free on bail, to up to a year in prison.
Battiste clubbed Doll Mamie Johnson with a metal pipe in 1993 as she walked to the Salvation Baptist Church in Morrisania. He fled with her purse, but after discovering that it contained no money, returned and killed her. -- Anna Snider