And Now for the Latest Installment of "Jews in Helicopters"
A surreal tale of what happens when a couple of flunkies working for a real estate company take over your village.
Pictured Above: 58 Fort Worth Place in the Village of South Blooming Grove: Mayor George Kalaj claims to live at the property despite no signs of life at the building. Behind it is the construction site for a new Sheri Torah yeshiva, operated by Moshe Ostreicher. 58 Fort Worth Place is also the home of the South Blooming Grove helicopter, which is the subject of this story.
Reader note: This story is incredibly long. Make sure you visit MonroeGazette.com if you’re getting this story delivered to your inbox; otherwise, it’ll get cut off in the email, and you won’t see the whole thing.
I am also going to request you visit The Cake Lady at 88 NY-17M, Harriman, NY 10926, and get yourself some cupcakes or a slice of carrot cake. This isn’t an ad. We just love going there, and this is the kind of article you want to have a snack for as you’re reading it. Maybe even some coffee. You’re not going to make it in one sitting, so pace yourself.
Also, I’m sure there’s stuff in here that I left out, forgot, or didn’t know. If you’d like to contribute, you may contact me anonymously using the free Signal app or by using our P.O. Box. All you have to do is download the Signal app and message me at 646-331-8341 or send us mail without a return address to:
The Monroe Gazette
P.O. Box 5
996 Route 17, Stop 2
Arden, NY 10910
The audio edition of this story will be available next week for paid subscribers.
Everyone’s Buying Everything
I’m a big Mel Brooks fan. That shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone reading The Monroe Gazette. In his “History of the World: Part I,” there’s a bit at the end about what’s coming next for “History of the World: Part II,” a film that was never going to come out. The fictitious trailer includes a bunch of silly bits, one of which is a parody of Star Wars called “Jews in Space,” which is just as brilliant and ridiculous as you think. If you are a fellow Jew and have not seen “Jews in Space,” you are missing out on a cultural touchstone of the 20th century, given to us by one of the century’s best Jewish entertainers. If you’re not Jewish, ditto. Go and watch it. The rest of this story is going to get just as wild.
For the record, Hulu did make a sequel TV series to “History of the World: Part I” called… duh, “History of the World: Part II.” I haven’t seen it because I don’t have Hulu. These streaming services are like weeds; you cancel one and then find yourself subscribed to two others, like Dropout TV, which is very good for comedy, and HBO Max, which you should enjoy while you have it.
Because either Netflix or the Trump regime’s Paramount Skydance will own it soon. Paramount Skydance is owned by Larry Ellison and his son, David. Larry is one of Trump’s largest donors and the fifth wealthiest person on Earth, reminding us that fascist enterprises are usually funded and run by the wealthy to keep the rest of us in check. Remember, many German industrialists funded Hitler and the Nazi party too.
If Netflix buys HBO Max, it will mean Netflix now owns its largest streaming competitor. That means Netflix can continue to gouge you every six months or so with a price increase—forever. Or at least until we have a functional federal government that can break up the company.
AIPAC Ryan, or Congressman Pat Ryan as some of you still insist on calling him, has made a lot of noise about breaking up big businesses. So far, Pat Ryan has said nothing about this potential Netflix-Warner Bros. merger, nor has he said anything about the financial consequences of this merger for consumers or its impact on the entertainment industry, which has a considerable presence here in New York State. On a more local front, Pat Ryan has not commented on the factually rigged Village of South Blooming Grove election this October. Nor has he opined about the helicopter.
Pictured Above: Congressman Pat Ryan’s top contributor is the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a pro-genocide, pro-Netanyahu super PAC that is in direct violation of George Washington’s desire not to allow foreign governments to influence our elections. Our first president, in his farewell address, warned against foreign influence that could worsen political factions in America. In the case of AIPAC, the group is often a front for Trump-backed billionaires to fund Republicans and push out liberal Democrats, leaving Americans with two political parties that are almost identical to each other. One thinks you’re lazy (Republicans); the other thinks you’re stupid (Democrats).
If Paramount Skydance buys the remnants of Warner Discovery (which includes HBO Max), they would also own CNN—which is already bad and will become much worse. *Insert easy joke here about whether it’s possible for CNN to get any worse. The answer is yes; CNN can, and will get worse.
I think at this point we can all agree that 24/7 cable news channels—operating under a for-profit business model—were a bad idea. The United States would be better served with an equivalent to the BBC: a singular not-for-profit, truthful (not neutral), 24/7 news channel. Think: The PBS NewsHour, but broadcasting at all hours of the day. (This is different from something like News 12, which is on the air 24/7, but recycles the same few stories with slightly different versions throughout the day.)
Now imagine one of those channels for each state: a 24/7 not-for-profit news channel focused on covering stories like the ones I’m about to share with you.
Goodbye, news deserts. Hello, lower property taxes.
Good journalism roots out corruption. The kind that often inflates your tax bill—like the Town of Woodbury experienced under Brandon Calore and Kathryn Luciani, and Monroe under Dorey Houle, Tony Cardone, and Sal Scancarello.
And hello as well, to democracy. The more informed people are about what’s happening around them, the less tolerant they are of bullshit.
One more thing, since this is important: Taylor Sheridan, you know, the Yellowstone guy? He left Paramount after Paramount Skydance told him there were new rules—rules that prevent Sheridan from making anything objectionable to the Trump regime.
We all know the ending of Yellowstone sucked, but Sheridan produced a lot of hit shows for Paramount+, including the strangely enjoyable Tulsa King.
Those rules would mean major television and movie studios pump out only material approved by people like Stephen Miller, Russell Vought, and Elon Musk, the three people who make all the decisions for Trump. (Don’t believe that Musk is somehow “gone” from the regime; he inserted his cronies up and down the entire federal apparatus before he “left.” You don’t think those people aren’t talking and sending Musk your data?)
As far as Trump himself goes, his dementia seems to worsen by the day. We still don’t know why he recently underwent an MRI. Don’t you go for MRIs when you’re in perfectly good health? This dictator does.
A big part of the fascist playbook is to capture the government, civic institutions, and the media—something to consider when evaluating the position South Blooming Grove’s "Village Executive” Joel Stern has placed himself in.
With Warner Bros. and Paramount under one roof, that also leaves you with fewer and fewer news outlets exercising any sort of independence. If you’re reading something like The Monroe Gazette, that means you’re smarter than the average bear, but most people won’t realize what’s happening until it’s too late. You shouldn’t be getting your news from CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News in the first place. Now you can add CBS News to that list, in addition to the Bezos-owned Washington Post, the Soon-Shiong-owned Los Angeles Times, and the cheese-eating surrender monkeys at the New York Times.
No word yet on how the Ellisons plan to alter future editions of Star Trek, but I fully expect Mr. Spock to start telling people that a war in Venezuela is “highly logical” given their vast supply of natural resources.
For the record, there have been a number of highly successful Jewish astronauts, or “Jews in Space,” including the first person to ever travel into outer space, Yuri Gagarin.
Yuri didn’t come to mind when I started working on this story, but I did wonder how good we are as a people at flying helicopters. It’s not something one thinks about at shul.
When I learned about the fakakta helicopter situation in South Blooming Grove, the first thing that popped into my head was the theme song to “Jews in Space.”
The second thing was, “Oh right. Joel Stern has been offering helicopter rides around Passover for the last couple of years—a fundraiser for a nonprofit organization that had its 501(c)(3) status revoked in 2022 for failure to file the appropriate forms for three consecutive years.” What’s a little FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) violation when you’re already sticking it to the IRS?
Pictured Above: Video recorded by South Blooming Grove residents shows Joel Stern and Yitzchok “Isaac” Ekstein’s United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove offering helicopter rides to celebrate Passover in April 2024. Similar helicopter rides were also offered by the organization in 2023. Both helicopter rides took place at 58 Fort Worth using an illegal helipad.
Nobody—including me—ever put two and two together about there being a helipad in a residential neighborhood. We assumed the helicopters taking off at 58 Fort Worth were an annual thing, a special event. Not a regular thing. But here’s the helicopter again on December 1, 2025:
It wasn’t until the News 12 story broke, that I realized something bigger was happening here.
Wherein Tony Cardone Covers Up the Existence of the Helicopter
According to News 12, Monroe resident Javier Dam has had a helicopter landing and taking off behind his property for over a year. Dam informed Monroe Town Supervisor Tony Cardone, who proceeded to do nothing about it.
Can you believe this guy was in charge for nearly a decade? It’s not clear what exactly he accomplished other than potentially embezzling thousands of dollars.
We know Tony Cardone did nothing to help Mr. Javier Dam. We can state that factually. The Monroe Gazette reached out to Monroe Town Building Inspector Ben Maldonado. Mr. Maldonado told us that he only became aware of the situation with the helicopter behind Mr. Dam’s property after the News 12 story broke in November 2025.
That was well over a year since Monroe Town Supervisor Tony Cardone claims to have been made aware of the situation, according to what he told News 12 anyway. Given that Mr. Cardone is factually a serial liar, we may never know the truth. Mr. Cardone did not reply to requests for comment from The Monroe Gazette. He was too busy exacting vengeance on the Smith Farm neighborhood, instructing Dial-a-Ride drivers to drop off residents in the middle of the street instead of entering the Village of Kiryas Joel. Why? Smith Farm’s Satmar population did not support Cardone’s bid for re-election this Fall. So Cardone decided to screw with the riders and tried to cancel that Dial-a-Ride route entirely, despite it having been offered for many years. As controversial as the Smith Farm property may be — it is being developed by Ziggy Brach, who has a majority stake in Clovewood’s Keen Equities — This is no way to treat anyone. Especially after Mr. Cardone recently started a town meeting by reminding residents that he’s no bigot.
Outgoing Monroe Town Councilwoman Mary Bingham also told The Monroe Gazette that she was unaware of the helicopter situation until News 12 broke the story. Outgoing Councilwoman Dorey Houle did not reply to requests for comment. She was probably still busy crying about losing three straight electoral campaigns. Two of which involved running for the state Senate while employing lots of dog whistles for lonely white supremacists.
Pictured Above: As we’ve said before at The Monroe Gazette, every chance we get to share these ridiculously bad Dorey Houle campaign spots, we absolutely will. She’s a cop’s wife, everyone! That means she’s totally qualified to… uh. Well, I guess she had almost a decade in office between the Monroe Village and Monroe Town Boards. Dorey had to have accomplished… what’s that? She did nothing. I guess that explains the near half-million dollars spent on racist dog whistles.
Councilwoman Maureen Richardson didn’t know anything about the helicopter, either. She will be replacing Cardone as Town Supervisor on January 1.
We asked Walking Phallus — and the sole surviving Cardone crony on the Town Board entering 2026— Monroe Town Councilman Sal Scancarello — if he was aware of the helicopter situation. However, Mr. Scancarello has not replied to requests for comment from The Monroe Gazette.
So, for the record, Tony Cardone withheld information concerning the helicopter behind Mr. Dam’s property from the Town Building Department, his fellow board members, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the New York State Police. More on that in a moment.
Now, you might say, “I thought the helicopter was a South Blooming Grove problem. Why does Tony Cardone need to do anything?”
Because Mr. Dam’s property is in the Town of Monroe, something like a helipad, which was constructed on the South Blooming Grove side, would still require notifying the neighboring municipality, Monroe, if the helipad is within 500 feet of the town border.
Therefore, Tony Cardone should have instructed Town Attorney Brian Nugent to reach out to the property owner at 58 Fort Worth Place. He did not do this.
Tony Cardone should have notified the Town Building Department, he did not do this either.
This is the minimum of what his responsibility was as supervisor. You want to document everything. For example, let’s say the helicopter were to fall out of the sky and hit Mr. Dam’s home or another home in the Town of Monroe—that’s the kind of thing the FAA would want to know about.
Another issue is that Mr. Javier Dam’s neighbor, an LLC known as 232 SS Mountain LLC, had previously been cited by the Town of Monroe Building Inspector for illegal clear-cutting and electrical work. This electrical work was, as revealed later, used in conjunction with the helipad.
Mr. Dam told News 12 that South Blooming Grove “Village Executive” Joel Stern approached him about acquiring some of his property, that would have been used as a potential shortcut to get to the helipad, but Dam declined. The Monroe Gazette is waiting to speak with Mr. Dam about the exact dates of his interactions with Joel Stern. Mr. Stern does not reply to requests for comment from The Monroe Gazette. We guess he’s mad. We recently told Joel Stern that we’re getting him an orange prison jumpsuit for Hanukkah.
So, even if the helicopter isn’t exactly the Town of Monroe’s problem, the fact is you have a Monroe home and Monroe infrastructure being used to provide power to an illegal helipad. You also have a potential threat to the health and safety of Monroe residents with a helicopter being operated in a residential neighborhood.
The Monroe Gazette has requested all files pertaining to 232 SS Mountain LLC from the Town of Monroe Building Department, as well as all communications between Tony Cardone, the Building Department, and anyone else regarding the operation of the helipad and related electrical work.
As for the helicopter itself, it is registered as VP-CZS. As far as we’ve been able to determine, Lions Air Skymedia AG, a Swiss company, is the registered owner of the helicopter. (The person operating the helicopter, which we’ll get to later, has much of his flight info blocked as part of the FAA’s LADD program (Limiting Aircraft Data Displayed.) That’s why we haven’t been able to track all of the helicopter’s flights. Just some of them.
What we do know is that this vehicle has taken off from JRB (The Downtown Manhattan Heliport, located in the Financial District) and when it comes in our area, it’s listed as landing at SWF (New York Stewart International Airport.)
What appears to be happening is that, instead of landing at Stewart, the helicopter is landing at South Blooming Grove’s 58 Fort Worth Place instead, which is not a known or registered helipad. We have requested via FOIA (Freedom of Information Act, which is the federal equivalent of New York’s FOIL, Freedom of Information Law) for all flight records involving this helicopter.
Lions Air Skymedia AG is known for operating medical and private helicopter transports. The allegation is that the helicopter’s owner is flying under the guise of being associated with Joel Stern’s fake Blooming Grove EMS. What lends credence to this suggestion is the statement from the New York State Department of Health sent to The Monroe Gazette.
Let’s back up for a second.
Blooming Grove EMS vs. Blooming Grove EMS
Back in October of 2024, residents of Blooming Grove (the town) and South Blooming Grove (one if its villages, the other is Washingtonville) reached out to The Monroe Gazette about Joel Stern and Isaac Ekstein setting up their own emergency medical services department within the Village government. This was back when they still operated a Rapid Care next door to South Blooming Grove’s Village Hall. (We’ll talk about that place later.)
We reached out to Brian Bates, the chief at the Blooming Grove Ambulance, about the situation and then sent several FOIL requests to the New York State Department of Health. According to Bates and residents, Stern and Ekstein’s Blooming Grove EMS utilized the same name and was showing up to calls without being properly dispatched. Stern and Ekstein’s Blooming Grove EMS claimed that they received a direct call to explain how they arrived first.
At the time, Mr. Bates told us, “There have been multiple instances where our agency was dispatched through its normal means (Orange County 911) only to find SBG EMS already on the scene. This creates issues with additional unknown units responding; it creates confusion for our providers, as they have no idea who these people are operating at the scene of an incident they thought they were the only units responding to, and it creates confusion for the residents who see a vehicle marked as Blooming Grove EMS and think it is their local ambulance corps coming to pick them up.”
We also learned that Laura M. Gulfo of Monaco Cooper Lamme & Carr, PLLC—the law firm that represents South Blooming Grove, since Scott Ugell can’t be bothered to do any actual work—was allegedly pressuring Orange County Emergency Services to dispatch Stern and Ekstein’s EMS instead of the Blooming Grove Volunteer Ambulance Corps.
At one point, Stern and Ekstein’s EMS was operating with a type of license that Department of Health officials told Mr. Bauer could not be renewed, but then that certification was unexpectedly renewed. This is similar to how the DEC gave Stern and Ekstein their Clovewood permits, despite a long and factually documented history of malfeasance at the project site by Keen Equities LLC. We reached out to Frank Cassanite, who was in charge of Emergency Medical Services, but never heard back on this issue. Cassanite retired in early 2025.
We asked Mrs. Gulfo whether Stern and Ekstein were actually dispatched to the scenes they appeared at or if they were listening for emergency calls and arriving on their own. We also inquired about the cease-and-desist letters sent to Stern and Ekstein from Blooming Grove Ambulance due to their use of the same look, design, and name as the actual Blooming Grove EMS. Lastly, we asked Mrs. Gulfo about the expired license. Stern and Ekstein’s EMS license expired in May 2024. NYS DOH stated that there was no plan for an extension and no application for permanent certification. However, DOH later extended the certification to Nov. 21, 2024. Mrs. Gulfo did not respond to requests for comment at that time.
For over a year, the New York State Department of Health has repeatedly delayed responding to our FOIL request from The Monroe Gazette for all records concerning Joel Stern and Isaac Ekstein’s Blooming Grove EMS.
But. We did write to the Department of Health and mentioned that the helicopter could be flying into South Blooming Grove under the illusion that it’s part of the medical transportation services provided by Stern and Ekstein’s fake Blooming Grove EMS. The DOH told The Monroe Gazette, “The Department cannot comment on matters that may or may not be subject to an open investigation.” A day later, the FOIL request, first filed on October 1st, 2024 (FOIL# R004081-100124) finally received a response. The New York State Department of Health said:
“In response to your follow-up, the NYS Department of Health has reviewed your request and determined that the records requested continue to be exempt from disclosure under FOIL for the following reasons:
NYS Public Officers Law §87(2)(e), because disclosure would interfere with an ongoing investigation. You may resubmit your request when the investigation is complete.”
Where there’s smoke, there is fire. But we’re getting too far ahead of the plot. Since August of 2025, Stern and Ekstein’s fake Blooming Grove EMS has not been seen, and the Rapid Care was converted over into an office for Blooming Realty. The NYS Department of Health informed Blooming Grove EMS — the real one — that it was allowing Stern and Ekstein’s EMS to operate because it was waiting for a ruling by Hudson Valley REMSCO. In August of 2025, the Hudson Valley REMSCO ruled in an 18-0 decision that Stern and Ekstein did not demonstrate a need for an additional ambulance certification for the area, and their request was denied. (REMSCO stands for Hudson Valley Regional Emergency Medical Services Council.)
Game of Schmucks
So, with all that said, let’s go back to Seven Springs Road and the border between South Blooming Grove’s helipad and the Town of Monroe. It’s good to understand the area that we’re talking about so you get a sense of things. Because there’s more going on with this property at 58 Fort Worth beyond the helicopter. It also ties into Joel Stern’s quixotic quest to build a short cut known as the Mangin Bypass, which would make the people owning real estate near and around that bypass very wealthy.
It’s also the subject of an ongoing lawsuit between Orange County and the Village of South Blooming Grove, where Stern was accused of trying to build an illegal road through Gonzaga Park that would connect South Blooming Grove to Kiryas Joel.
Pictured Above: Seven Springs Mountain Road runs through the Town of Monroe, briefly enters Woodbury, and continues into the Village of Kiryas Joel / Town of Palm Tree. The Mangin Bypass is the subject of an ongoing lawsuit known as The County of Orange v. Cioffi 1, Inc. et all. and has the index number EF000367-202 if you’d like to look it up.
A quick search for 232 SS Mountain LLC (State DOS ID #6507955) reveals that the single-family home was sold by Edline Walters on or around June 2022 to 232 SS Mountain LLC. This was three months after 58 Fort Worth Place was acquired by Moshe Ostreicher vis his LLC, Fort Worth Holdings, and two months before the site plan for 58 Fort Worth was submitted to the Village of South Blooming Grove by Arden Consulting Engineers PLLC, represented by Michael A. Morgante.
At the time of this writing, Mr. Morgante did not reply to requests for comment to explain why the helipad is absent from the plans he submitted. South Blooming Grove Village Planner Tom Shepstone also did not respond to our request for comment. South Blooming Grove Village Planning Board Attorney Daniel N. Kraushaar, the only honest person working for the village, stated that going back to 2023, there is nothing in any plans he saw for 58 Fort Worth that depicted a helipad.
Al Fusco Jr.’s Fusco Engineering & Land Surveying provides engineering and code enforcement services to the Village of South Blooming Grove. Although they often pretend they don’t. Especially when residents call them with issues. The game is that when you call Al Fusco Jr, he is never around to answer the phone himself. But he does have someone tell you to call the village of South Blooming Grove. Pretending that Code Enforcement is a different department run by different people. This is despite the fact that Al Fusco Jr. and his business is contracted to provide code enforcement services to the Village of South Blooming Grove at a total rate of $200,000 per year for engineering services, an an additional $150,000 per year for code enforcement services, according to the final adopted 2025 South Blooming Grove Village Budget.
So, if you live in SBG, and you have something to report — like say, an illegal helipad and helicopter at 58 Fort Worth Place — you should call Al Fusco Jr.’s office at 845-344-5863 and don’t let Al Fusco give you the run around about calling the Village for Code Enforcement. It’s literally his job.
Fusco employee, and SBG Code Enforcement Officer Todd Maurizzio told residents who called Fusco Engineering about the helipad: “It’s not a code enforcement issue. It’s a planning and zoning issue.” He added that the village approved the zoning for the helipad. “The village makes the rules and regulations. They approved the location for that.” However, as Mr. Kraushaar noted, the village most certainly did not approve a helipad at 58 Fort Worth Place. And like I said, Mr. Kraushaar is the only honest person who works for this village based on our experience speaking with him for nearly two years.
Now you’ve had a taste of what the secular residents of South Blooming Grove have dealt with since Joel Stern and Isaac Ekstein literally stole the village from them. The government only works if you’re Satmar, and even then, only if you’re pals with Stern, Ekstein, and Avrum bur Jacobowitz (sometimes reported as Avrom Bur Jacobovitch or Avraham Ber Jacobowitz.)
I mention this for many reasons, but chief among them, it’s a mistake to think this is a story about religion. It’s actually a story about real estate and how money warps our government, turning it into a tool to make the wealthy wealthier, while robbing you of basic services like clean drinking water.
Pictured Above: At 58 Fort Worth Place, just behind the mayor’s alleged residence, is a building that reads “Avraham Jacobavich Building” at the top in white lettering. When you are alleged to pay all of Joel Stern and Isaac Ekstein’s bills through the United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove, you get to put your name on things in South Blooming Grove.
The Village of South Blooming Grove only communicates with you through Joel Stern’s newsletter, distributed by his United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove, and only in Yiddish. For example, here is an entire section dedicated to Stern and Ekstein’s friendship with Congressman Pat Ryan.
If Stern has his way, only his firefighters, his police, and his EMS will provide you with service—but only if you’re deemed “good.” Because like Santa Claus, Joel Stern is a spiteful son of a bitch.
According to at least one open database, the filer name for 232 SS Mountain LLC will sound familiar to Monroe Gazette readers: Independent Capital Solutions Corp.
Once again using the address of 13 Apple Hill Drive, Highland Mills, NY 10930. If you’re new here, that is the same filer name and address used for Fort Worth Holdings LLC, which is operated by Moshe Oestreicher. That’s the man who runs the Sheri Torah school and entity that owns 58 Fort Worth Place, where the helipad is located.
So to be clear: The person who owns 58 Fort Worth is the same individual who owns 232 Seven Springs Mountain Road in Monroe, which was providing power illegally to the helipad and other structures at this location.
Don’t go thinking Tony Cardone was fine in not acting on this shit.
Mr. Ostreicher purchased 58 Fort Worth Place just before George Kalaj’s re-election as mayor in South Blooming Grove in February 2022. For 890% of the property value. Ostreicher then appears to have purchased 232 Seven Springs Mountain Road later that same year.
In February 2023, Moche Halpern, a fellow board member of Joel Stern and Isaac Ekstein’s United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove, purchased 226 Seven Springs Mountain Road, and Prodep LLC purchased 285 Seven Springs Road in September 2023.
294 Seven Springs Mountain was purchased by 294 Seven Springs Mtn LLC.
And almost a year later, Salem Acquisition LLC purchased 260 Seven Springs Mountain Road.
Now go back and look at the Google Map of Seven Springs Mountain Road, and consider Joel Stern’s plan to build a connector road, the Mangin Bypass, that would run through Gonzaga Park and into Kiryas Joel.
To be fair: It’s unclear if all the LLCs are connected to Avrohom Bur Jakowbowitz and Joel Stern and Isaac Ekstein’s plan, or if they’re all owned or associated with Ostreicher. Or both.
Jacobowitz’s plan, dating back to 2017 according to posts on Ivelt.com, suspected to have been revealed by Joel Stern under the name Written and Spoken, was to quickly turn South Blooming Grove into a city—one large enough to encircle the Village of Kiryas Joel, thus cutting off the power of the rival Grand Rebbe Aaron Teitelbaum.
Stern, Ostreicher, Jacobowitz, and the Keen Equities people are all supporters of Grand Rebbe Zalman Teitelbaum. Zalman wants to relocate his people to a new city, leaving New York City behind.
Of these characters, Ekstein is related to David Ekstein in Kiryas Joel, a member of Hanhalla (administration or leadership). It’s been said that if push to came to shove, Isaac would side with Grand Rebbe Aaron Teitelbaum, not Zalman. However, Mr. Ekstein has not factually been an innocent bystander in all this. He’s been at the center despite the dual loyalties. This is because, while the Satmar may fight with each other constantly, to the secular residents surrounding them, our Haredi brothers and sisters like to show a united front.
That is, whether you or I like it or not, good strategy.
For the purpose of this part of our story, I want to highlight Moche Halpern’s ownership of 266 Seven Springs Mtn Rd, along with Wolf Wercberger’s ownership of 148 and 168 Seven Springs Mtn Rd, over on the Kiryas Joel side. One of Wercberger’s properties is at the beginning of Kiryas Joel in our Google Map above.
This is a little bit of a tangent, but again, it’s important to demonstrate that not all of these LLCs may be working together, and they may even be at cross-purposes.
James G. Skoufis’s Big Fat Payday
Mr. Wolf Wercberger owns nine properties—eight in Kiryas Joel and one in South Blooming Grove. I mention Mr. Wercberger here because he donated $22,000 to State Senator James G. Skoufis’s Protect Monroe-Woodbury Independent Expenditure Committee on August 28, 2025.
This committee was established by State Senator Skoufis to run attack ads against incoming Monroe Town Supervisor, Maureen Richardson and to bolster the campaign of far-right MAGA bigot Brandon Calore, in his bid to become mayor of Woodbury. The logic is fairly simple: Skoufis wanted to install David Rabbitts in Monroe as Supervisor and Brandon Calore as Mayor in Woodbury, alongside Kathryn Luciani as Town of Woodbury Supervisor, to help push through the ACE Farm annexation for additional land into Kiryas Joel. As well as two other annexation requests that are currently circulating.
We suspect this is what Mr. Skoufis offered in exchange for the backing of the Village of Kiryas Joel in his 2024 State Senate race against Dorey Ghoul. (Not a typo.) Mr. Skoufis would not reply to requests for comment on this matter.
For reasons I hope are now clear — that a rival faction is trying to encircle Kiryas Joel — the Town of Palm Tree / Village of Kiryas Joel is very eager to expand its borders to prevent such a thing from happening. It’s my hope that Hanhallah has figured out Mr. Skoufis can get nothing done for them — all of his bills were vetoed by Kathy Hochul this year — and Mr. Skoufis was just clobbered in both Woodbury and Monroe, with David Rabbits losing badly in his primary, and Katrhyn Luciani and Brandon Calore losing their races. (Next time, Mr. Skoufis, don’t start fights with people that you can’t finish.)
Whether Mr. Wercberger’s $22,000 campaign contribution influenced State Senator Skoufis’s “sudden concern” over electoral issues in South Blooming Grove is a question Orange County residents should pose to State Senator Skoufis.
Skoufis did not express any concern regarding the Village of South Blooming Grove’s illegal bypassing of their March 2024 and March 2025 village elections. Something his office was well informed about, because I happen to know exactly where Mr. Skoufis gets all his South Blooming Grove information from.
That is what makes the timing suspect of Wercberger’s donation and Skoufis’s “sudden” concern over those missed elections two months later.
What lends credence to this hypothesis is that Moshe Ostreicher donated $5,000 to State Senator Skoufis less than a month after Joel Stern, Ostreicher’s longtime friend according to Ostreicher’s testimony, concocted a scheme to move the March 2026 village election to October 2025.
A few days after Ostreicher’s donation, Skoufis received another $5,000 from Cheskel Swimmer, although it’s not clear if he is related to Mendel Swimmer, whom we’ll get to in Part 2.
Jacob Weiser, who owns seven properties, one in Woodbury and the rest in Kiryas Joel, is alleged to have countered by donating $10,000 to State Senator Skoufis’s Protect Monroe-Woodbury committee. (We have attempted to reach both Mr. Weiser and Mr. Wercberger, so far without much success.)
The other individual donor to Skoufis’s Protect Monroe-Woodbury was Douglas S. Land. A board member of the Scenic Hudson Land Trust and an investment banker in New York City. The Cornwall-on-Hudson resident donated $2,500 to State Senator Skoufis’s Independent Expenditure Committee. As a reminder, Independent Expenditure Committees are the equivalent of federal Super PACs and have very few rules and regulations concerning how much money they can spend and utilize.
Why a board member for Scenic Hudson would contribute to Mr. Skoufis’s committee—backing pro-real estate developer candidates in Brandon Calore in Woodbury and David Rabbitts in Monroe —is a question to be raised with Scenic Hudson. We reached out to Scenic Hudson for comment on Mr. Land’s contributions. They stated, “Scenic Hudson does not comment on board member contributions made in their private capacity.” Mr. Skoufis, as usual, did not comment on any of these contributions when asked.
In July of 2025, and less than a month after Stern plotted to steal the Fall 2025 election, Skoufis also received $5,000 from Mayer Gross, $5,000 from Herman Goldberger, $5,000 from Moses Jacobowitz (note the last name), and $5,000 from Isaac Walter. That’s $40,000 within a couple of weeks of Stern’s illegally held “referendum” at the Blooming Realty offices — not village hall — to move the March 2026 Village election to October of 2025.
Isaac Ekstein has stated that he texts with Mr. Skoufis on a regular basis. In fact, The Monroe Gazette has viewed texts from Isaac Ekstein where he claims Skoufis was only mad about the illegal election because nobody gave him a “heads-up” that it was being held. Raising the possibility that Skoufis was aware of the scheme to move the March 2026 election to October of 2025 well in advance.
This, again, could explain Skoufis, for the first time since Stern and Ekstein’s White Collar Crime Spree got started in 2021, using his role as Chair of the New York State Senate Investigations and Government Operators Committee to look into the hijacked October 2025 election. He didn’t want to look like he was in on it.
One other thing: A few years back, State Senator Skoufis asked New York Attorney General Letitia James to investigate the purchase of the 58 Fort Worth Property by Fort Worth Holdings LLC. Letitia James, to nobody in Orange, Sullivan, or Rockland County’s surprise, did nothing. Letitia James thinks she’s going to be Governor some day. She’s counting on the support of our Orthodox and Haredi brothers and sisters to help her get there.
But we asked Skoufis if, given that we now know Fort Worth Holdings is his $5,000 donor, Moshe Ostreicher, if he would follow up with Letitia James’s office on the purchase of the mayor’s property.
As always, Skoufis did not respond to requests for comment on the matter. Mr. Skoufis previously blocked The Monroe Gazette from his official State Senate Facebook Page after we helpfully reminded constituents that both Joel Stern and Isaac Ekstein contributed $10,000 each during his 2022 election campaign
Moche Halpern, as mentioned, sits on the Board of Directors of Joel Stern’s United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove. Alongside him—according to the Certificate of Incorporation filed with the New York Department of State on November 21, 2019—are Joel Stern, Yitzchok “Isaac” Ekstein, Hershel Lowly, Shia Bittman, Chaim Gluck, South Blooming Grove Deputy Mayor and Village Board Trustee Abraham Weiss, Mordechai Holtzer, and David Krauss. All of them used PO Box 808, Monroe, NY 10949, for their addresses. This PO Box is also utilized for Five Star Closing Agency LLC and United Jewish Community of Orange County, Inc. (The latter was set up in 2021 by Isaac Ekstein and remains active with the EIN #87-1109865.)
So, it’s worth flagging here that Stern’s RSBM Party, which Mr. Weiss ran on for “re-election” in October of 2025, and whom Mr. Stern gathered signatures for at two locations that are yeshivas, and not actual residences, is also a Board member of Stern’s organization.
Additionally, Samuel Holtzer is the owner of RSBM Excavating and RSBM Management LLC, both entities are being sued — alongside the Village of South Blooming Grove and Fort Worth Holdings LLC (Ostreicher) by Orange County. It’s not clear if Samuel Holtzer is related to Mordechai Holtzer. So we asked Joseph J. Haspel for comment, since he is the attorney defending Mr. Samuel Holtzer in the Orange County case.
First we pointed out that Stern’s party, RSBM, and Samuel Holtzer’s company, RSBM Excavating, share the same initials (standing for Rabbi Shaya Ben Moshe) and that RSBM Excavating started operations not long after Stern and Ekstein took over the village. Haspel told The Monroe Gazette:
“I don’t know what you are talking about. Mr. Stern has no relationship to my clients. I have no clue who or what is the RSBM party. Yet, your indication of what RSBM stands for may indicate that the use of those initials has some meaning to some. Frankly, I don’t follow South Blooming Grove politics, nor the politics of any other local government. So don’t assume that I am aware of any of the politics..”
So we followed-up and asked:
“If Mr. Holtzer doesn’t have a relationship Mr. Stern, or Mr. Ekstein, can he explain why Mr. Stern and Mr. Ekstein would choose to call their political party, RSBM, around the same time Mr. Holtzer started his excavating business, RSBM Excavatng LLC? (2021.) See case index #EF005187-2020”
Haspel responded, “I don’t know, nor do I care. From your e-mail it seems that there is a name of religious significance. I don’t inquire into people’s religious beliefs.”
Finally, we asked Mr. Haspel, “You stated your client has no relationship with Mr. Stern. So I was hoping you could explain Mr. Stern’s newsletter, linked below, where he praises RSBM excavating for its work. Specifically Mr. Stern states that your client, “It should also be praised the RSBM Excavating company, which has provided more than their ability to make sure that the project is completed on time and also participated in the cost of the project.”
Joseph J. Haspel replied, “I don’t read Hebrew, or Yiddish. Your question was whether Mr. Stern was affiliated with my client. I answered that there was no relationship. I don’t know who my client performs services for, nor do I ask my clients its financial arrangements with its customers.” [Emphasis Added.]
It sure sounds to us like Orange County needs to ask some follow-up questions of Mr. Samuel Holtzer. (For the record, Mr. Haspel has formally represented Convicted Felon Tim Mitts and Wayne “Woodbury Has Unlimited Water” Corts. Do with that information what you will.)
You might also remember Mr. Moche Halpern—and Whiteman Osterman and Hanna LLP—from such classic hits as suing the neighboring Village of Washingtonville over specious claims of anti-Semitism. This followed Halpern being caught as a slum lord and getting sued for negligence in both Rockland and Orange County. Moche Halpern is also identified as the CEO of Blooming Realty. His business partner, Lazer Schwimmer / Schvimmer, lived in the top half of 2 Arlington Drive, lending the bottom half to Isaac Ekstein while Ekstein’s home at 40 Virginia Avenue was under construction. You may remember 2 Arlington Drive as the address used to request hundreds of absentee ballots, which triggered the first FBI investigation into South Blooming Grove.
Blooming Realty’s new headquarters, located at the old Rapid Care site, was the subject of a scandal involving Stern, Ekstein, and Joel Landau. (Note: Not the same Joel Landau as the one you’ll meet later.)
Stern owns this building through his LLC, Five Star Property. There are currently plans before the Village of South Blooming Grove that would knock down the current village hall and the Stern owned building in order to make room for a new municipal complex. So, not only would Mr. Stern own the fire department, the ems, the police, and the only news outlet, he’d also literally own Village Hall too.
With me so far? I know. I am throwing a lot at you. Let’s take a quick break.
The Photo-News: Regurgitation of meeting minutes, selective editing of stories to make their friends in power look good. Advertisements on behalf of the American Chemistry Council, and telling you that grocery prices aren’t going up.
The Monroe Gazette: Long ass investigative reporting. Truthful, not neutral. No ads.
Both are asking you to contribute $120 a year.
But only one of them actually serves the community.
So, you can light your money on fire, or you can subscribe to The Monroe Gazette using the button below.
*deep breath* Still with me? Good. I told you to go get a piece of cake or cupcake for a reason, you know?
Before we move on, you might be asking, “Didn’t Governor Kathy Hochul pass a law where the LLCs all needed to be in a publicly accessible registry?” You are thinking of the The LLC Transparency Act. This a long, long story. But basically the answer is: The State Senate and Assembly passed the bill. Hochul, under pressure from real estate groups — remember, the real estate industry, which includes some of our Haredi brothers and sisters, owns the New York State Democratic Party — took out the provision in the bill that would have created a publicly accessible LLC database. Hochul limited the database to only be accessible for law enforcement. It is supposed to be active as of January 1st, 2026.
But now, the Trump Regieme is trying to curtail laws exactly like the LLC Transparency Act. So, for you Trump people thinking he’s your guy that’s going to “fix them” (“them” being our Haredi brothers and sisters), you’re flat out wrong. Due to Trump’s actions specifically, the State Senate and Assembly worked to revise the LLC Transparency Act, which is now before Hochul to sign. As of this writing, it’s not clear what Hochul will do, but the smart money seems to be on her vetoing the new bill, which will set the stage for the original LLC database bill to be killed by the Courts.
That means, for people like your friendly neighborhood news reporter, much more work in trying to connect the dots behind these companies. That means, for all people reading this, you just got Trump’ed. (That is, “to be fucked over in a new and unimaginable way,” according to Urban Dictionary.)
Moche Halpern Has a Petting Zoo
815 State Route 208, as mentioned, is currently home to Blooming Realty. It is also the place where Joel Stern and Isaac Ekstein allegedly held both the referendum to change the date of the March 2026 South Blooming Grove Village election to October 2025; and the fictitious election held in October 2025. We can say this with certainty for the June 2025 referendum, because of a series of sketchy fliers that appeared the day before. Although we can’t prove it, we’ve been told by South Blooming Grove residents that Stern and Ekstein put up these signs, took a picture, and then immediatley took them down. (I am currently on the hunt for survielance camera footage at one of these locations to confirm this.)
After all, why else would you take a picture of these notices at all? Is it standard practice in the Village of South Blooming Grove for Deputy Clerk Isaac Ekstein to photograph himself after posting something for the village? The answer is no. Mr. Ekstein, like Mr. Stern, does not reply to requests for comment from The Monroe Gazette. Mayor George Kalaj and Village Clerk Kerry Dougherty, have also declined to explain when Mr. Yitzchok “Isaac” Ekstein became a Deputy Clerk. But. It appears to have happened—conveniently—just in time for Joel Stern and Isaac Ekstein to swindle an election.
Pictured Above: Photos provided by Nora M. Murphy and Laura Gulfo of Monaco Cooper Lam and Carr PLLC to State Senator Skoufis’s investigation into the fradulent 2025 Village of South Blooming Grove election. You’ll note that all of the pictures submitted came the day before the referendum in quesiton.
Not to be left out of potential scandal, Chaim Gluck’s name appears on at least one of the signature ballots submitted as a member of the RSBM committee, alongside Joel Stern’s wife, Malky, and Isaac Ekstein’s wife, Tzipora. The signature ballot below was signed by Joel Stern, Chairmen of the RSBM Party according to court filings, using an address that is not an actual residence: 17 Sleepy Hollow. Note below how fellow United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove Board member, Abraham Weiss, has his name and information written in, and how Mayor George Kalaj is listed as still living at 58 Fort Worth Place.
Mr. Moche Halpern is worthy of an article all his own, but in the interest of time, I need to flag just a few more relevant things to demonstrate this gang’s continued noncompliance with the law. Mr. Halpern owns 443 Clove Road in the Town of Blooming Grove, which hosts a petting zoo, golf cart riding, and more:
Pictured Above: A 20-minute promotional video, in Yiddish, for 443 Clove Road in the Town of Blooming Grove. The property is currently before the Town of Blooming Grove Planning Board to get permission to operate as a bed-and-breakfast. Below is a super sketchy ownership history depicting Moche Halpern and his business partner, Lazar Schvimmer, flipping the property back and forth to each other and to LLCs they own. Remember that Schvimmer lived on the top floor of 2 Arlington Drive while letting Isaac Ekstein live at the bottom.
The property at 443 Clove Road is often claimed by Town of Blooming Grove residents to not be operating with appropriate permits and licenses. For example, are the animals properly registered with the Department of Agriculture? I wrote to them and asked. I’ll let you know what they say.
Is the Department of Health involved concerning the sale of food in close proximity to the animals? Or is this another South Blooming Grove thing they are going to stall on answering for over a year? I’ll let you know.
We have also reached out to the Town of Blooming Grove’s building inspector, Jeann Ovensen, for comment to clarify those concerns and will update this story if we hear back from her. Numerous residents have alleged that Mr. Halpern has been paying Mrs. Ovensen to look the other way on these and other issues involving Halpern’s property.
Mr. Halpern also owns numerous properties in the Village of South Blooming Grove and is often represented by Michael A. Morgante in business before the Village Planning Board—the same Planning Board that rubber-stamps any project involving United Jewish Community Board members and their funder, Avrum Ber Jacobowitz. Notably, fellow United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove Board member Simon Schwartz sits on the Blooming Grove Town Board. Whether or not he has recused himself from business involving Moche Halpern is unknown. (Mr. Schwartz has not replied to requests for comment on this matter.)
Additional Halpern properties include 520 Route 208 and 2, 4, 6, 7, and 8 Kingsville Drive, which borders the area around 58 Fort Worth Place.
Mr. Halpern also built and later sold 52 Fort Worth Place to another realtor, Joel Basch, on one side and Jacob and Gitty Stern on the other. Whether Mr. Jacob and Gitty Stern are related to Joel M. Stern, “Village Executive,” is unknown.
There have been a number of mysterious fires along Fort Worth Place, including one in May of this year at 14 Fort Worth Place that left ten people homeless.
There was also one at 52 Fort Worth Place in February 2021, a month after Joel Stern and Isaac Ekstein came to power in the Village of South Blooming Grove, and not long after they became acquainted with George Kalaj at 58 Fort Worth Place, according to court testimony.
Sadly, one person, Sue Campo, lost her life in this fire.
Pictured Above: Video from the 2021 fire response at 52 Fort Worth Place.
The Chutzpah of Pyromaniacs
1 Fort Worth also happened to have a major fire recently. That property is owned by Saul Falkowitz and is listed as 555 Bedford Ave., Unit C1, Brooklyn, NY 11211, according to Orange County’s Real Property Database. It’s not known what, if any, conneciton exists between Mr. Falkowitz and Mr. Stern and Ekstein.
In fact, on the morning I edited this section, a fire was reported at 5 Fort Worth Place, just down the road from 58 Fort Worth Place. It turned out to be just an oven fire, but the owner of 5 Fort Worth Place? Shages Arye LLC, which uses the address of 10 Apple Hill Drive—an address you’re going to see in Part 2. Hint: It may be owned by a guy who’s last name starts with O. Speaking of which, we contacted Mr. Ostreicher’s attorney for comment on this story, but did not hear back in time for publication. We will update this story if we do.
So, in terms of mysterious South Blooming Grove fires, there have been a lot of them since Joel Stern and Isaac Ekstein came to town.
Another example: There was a fire at 1 Treza Lane by 7 Timothy LLC, which is also known as Galaxy Developers, a division of Simon Dushinsky and Rafael Rabinowitz’s Rabsky Group. The same week as the fire, Positive Developers LLC bought the property for $7.5 million.
Positive Developers is owned by Shimon Weiss, ironically enough, the principal of All in One Fire Protection.
(No word on whether or not Shimon Weiss is related to the Deputy Village of South Blooming Grove Mayor, Abarham.)
That brings us back to the police and Tony Cardone.
A lot of you have asked me, “What are the police doing about the illegal helicopter that shakes our homes every time it flies over?”
Mr. Cardone has repeatedly told Town of Monroe residents that he has a good relationship with the state police and that he is in regular contact with them. FOIL records reviewed by The Monroe Gazette reveal that Mr. Cardone went nearly three years without speaking with the New York State Police via email, from 2022 to 2025.
Mr. Cardone has also claimed to be on a regular text thread with the NYSP; however, he did not produce any sort of record of these text exchanges as part of our recent FOIL requests.
Recently, there was an incident involving the trooper barracks on Nininger Road in the Town of Monroe, which is owned by the Town of Monroe and leased to the New York State Police. A trooper reached out to incoming Town Supervisor Maureen Richardson, asking for assistance in removing the ice that had gathered on the stairs. Mrs. Richardson asked the Highway Department to take care of the issue. After the Highway Department arrived, Mr. Cardone called them to scream and demand they stop working because he was still in charge. The work on the trooper entranceway was not completed. So, when Mr. Cardone told Town residents that he had a good relationship with the New York State Police, we can factually say he was lying.
Since the New York State Police provide coverage to Town of Monroe residents—the subject of its own ongoing saga—Mr. Cardone was obligated to inform the state police of an illegally operating helicopter and helipad.
The operation of the helicopter violates a number of New York State laws, including criminal trespass (the helicopter flying over private property without consent or permission, especially depending on its altitude, which we’ll get to in Part 2). The operation of the helicopter also poses a risk to public safety, which qualifies as reckless endangerment in New York State. Finally, the operation of the helicopter could be considered a public nuisance, as it is causing significant noise and disturbance in the residential area (which includes the Monroe homes on the border of South Blooming Grove, as well as reports from South Blooming Grove residents that the helicopter is close enough to shake their homes). Mr. Dam’s description of the helicopter to News 12 meets the minimum criteria for all three.
Town of Blooming Grove Supervisor Robert Jeroloman stated to News 12 that the Town of Blooming Grove, where the Village of South Blooming Grove resides, has no jurisdiction over the helipad. The Monroe Gazette followed up with Supervisor Jeroloman and asked him what, if anything, the Town of Blooming Grove Police Department has done concerning the helipad. He said he was looking into it. If we receive an update from Mr. Jeroloman, we will go back and revise this part of the post. We reminded Supervisor Jeroloman that while the Town may not have jurisdiction, the Town police would because the helicopter is violating a number of state laws and potentially putting Town of Blooming Grove residents in danger.
A spokesperson for the FAA told The Monroe Gazette, “The FAA has not been notified about this project. Under federal law, developers must give the FAA the opportunity to evaluate proposed landing and takeoff areas to determine whether they could pose a hazard to aircraft or interfere with navigation aids.
The FAA’s determination is a recommendation and is not binding. The decision to issue a building permit is up to the local government. Although the FAA does not issue or deny building permits, it encourages those with land-use authority to consider the agency’s determinations in making zoning and permitting decisions.”
As it turns out, this is not the first time the FAA may have tangled with this specific helicopter. On Sunday, May 25, 2025, it’s alleged that the same helicopter, owned by Joel Landau, flew well below the legal limit, with a Ramapo detective named as part of a federal task force to investigate.
The Monroe Gazette has reached out to the Ramapo Police Department for comment and placed a FOIL request for all documents pertaining to this helicopter incident. Landau purchased a home in Monsey back in July 2022, and if you don’t know who Joel Landau is, hold on to your ass.