Crime does pay — for the victims, finally.
Under its little-known Son of Sam program, the city has written checks totaling $215,659 to victims of nine convicted criminals who won claims against the city, mostly for injuries while in jail, officials told The Post.
Another $207,400 awarded to eight other criminals — including sicko Daniel Santana, who set a woman afire and tortured her two friends — is frozen, pending suits by their victims.
While at Rikers Island, Santana tripped getting off a bus and broke his thumb, whining that “no one helped him.”
The city awarded him $15,000, but now he can’t touch it pending suits by the sister of the woman he burned to death.
“It makes you feel better that the system protects the crime victim in addition to the perpetrators,” said Manhattan lawyer Brian Burstin.
Burstin represents a wheelchair-bound Staten Island man who was slashed in the face by two thugs and now is suing one of them, Timothy Palmer, who was awarded $10,000 by the city for an alleged beating by guards on Rikers Island.
The payouts irk victims.
“These motherf- -kers get locked up and lie about all kinds of s- -t,” said retired Detective Henry Walburger, whose nephew, Michael Helferty, 20, was stabbed to death by Reginald Bell in 2008.
Bell, sentenced to 20 years for manslaughter, won a $20,000 settlement for a jailhouse injury.
“Why is he entitled to anything? He’s a stone-cold killer, a coldblooded killer,” Walburger said, blasting the city for paying out instead of fighting the claims.
He said his sister, Michael’s mom, should fight for the funds.
“If they don’t want to give it to her, it should go to a charity. As long as [Bell] doesn’t get it.”
The state’s Son of Sam law — named after serial killer David Berkowitz, who terrorized New York in the summer of 1976 — was created to prevent notorious criminals from profiting from book or media deals. But it was expanded in 2001 to let victims sue criminals for funds in excess of $10,000 from various sources, including civil damages, malpractice suits, gifts and inheritance. Earned income and child-support payments are exempt.
In recent years, the city Comptroller’s Office started doing what is required under the law — notifying the state before it pays a convicted criminal a settlement or judgment. Officials last week revealed the victim payouts, giving The Post the first public accounting of the Son of Sam Collection Program.
When a convict in jail or on parole is poised to win a claim of more than $10,000 against the city, the comptroller alerts the state Office of Victim Services, which then notifies that criminal’s victims and goes to court to freeze the funds. The victim can then sue the criminal for damages and get some or all of the cash.
In 2010, the comptroller cut the first check, for $95,000 to Terrance Cooper, who was stabbed in 2005 on a basketball court in Springfield Gardens, Queens, by Dupree Youngblood.
The money came out of a $240,000 city settlement Youngblood won in 2009 after claiming excessive force by Rikers guards.
Another victim, Lilliana Cascio, of Queens, recovered $12,000 for the diamond engagement ring stolen three months before her wedding by Charles Nielsen, who was part of a house-painting crew.
Nielsen won a $19,998 settlement against the city, claiming he was punched, kicked and dragged by plainclothes cops in 2008 and suffered an asthma attack in the police van. Cascio settled for $12,000, which is what her husband had paid for the princess-cut stone, she said.
Checkbook Justice
Inmates are making money from lawsuits against the city — but thanks to the state’s Son of Sam law, victims are claiming part of the cash settlements:
Dupree Youngblood, 34
Crime: Arrested in January 2007 for two robberies and assaults, including the 2005 knifing of a 23-year-old man during an altercation at a basketball game in Springfield Gardens, Queens.
City Settlement: $240,000 after Youngblood claimed he was beaten on Nov. 30, 2007 by Rikers guards and captains, who allegedly hit him on the head with a baton and helmet, and punched him in the nose, causing cuts and fractures.
Victim’s take: When notified that Youngblood had won a personal-injury claim against the city, his victim sued Youngblood in Queens Supreme Court in March 2010. The victims settled for $95,000.
Daniel Santana, 38
Crime: Ringleader of a botched 1997 home invasion in Harlem in which he and his robbery crew tortured three and killed one. They pressed a heated iron on man’s back, terrorized a woman, poured acetate on her sister, and burned her to death. Sentenced in June 2011 to 25 years to life in prison.
City settlement: $15,000 for claim that, while shackled and carrying legal papers, he tripped and fell off a Rikers bus when going to court on June 9, 2011, breaking a thumb. “No one helped me,” he complained.
Victim’s take: the $15,000 has been frozen pending a lawsuit by the surviving sister.
Alex Ocasio, 34, attempted burglary
City settlement: $20,000 for injuries in a fight with another inmate.
Victim’s take: $4,500
Marcos Delacruz, 23, robbery
City settlement: $12,000 after claim he slipped and fell near the showers in Rikers.
Victim’s take: $1,000
Kyle Birch, 28, rape, robbery
City settlement: $20,000 after claim he was assaulted by another inmate who bit off part of his right ear.
Victim’s take: $7,500
Charles Nielsen, 49, burglary
City settlement: $19,998 after claim he was beaten up by plainclothes cops; suffered an asthma attack and seizure in custody.
Victim’s take: $12,000
Darren Jordan, 35, assault
City settlement: $15,000 after claim he was falsely imprisoned at Rikers and Spofford in 1994-95.
Victim’s take: $3,000
Huston Belvett, 27, burglary, attempted robbery
City settlement: $350,000 after claim Rikers guards broke his wrist and bruised his ribs.
Victim’s take: $25,000
Bryan McFadden, 35, robbery, attempted robbery
City settlement: $38,000 after claim he was beaten up by other Rikers inmates
Victim’s take: $2,200
Luis Rodriguez, robbery
City settlement: $110,000 after claim of excesive force, assault and battery Bellevue Hospital’s prison ward.
Victim’s take: $65,459.74
Brandon King, 26, murder, weapons possession
City settlement: $12,500 after he was targeted by the Bloods gang at Rikers.
Victim’s take: pending
Guillermo Lopez, sex abuse
City settlement: $17,500 after claim that guard at Manhattan Detention Center closed a cell door on his right hand, crushing it.
Victim’s take: pending
Timothy Palmer, assault, robbery
City settlement: $40,000 after claim of excessive force and assault and battery at Rikers.
Victim’s take: pending
Reginald Bell, manslaughter
City settlement: $20,000 after claim an accident at Rikers knocked him out for two minutes and left him with neurological damage and two herniated discs.
Victim’s take: pending
Eric Raosto, 24,,manslaughter
City settlement: $17,500 after claim he slipped and fell on a mopped courtroom floorl, breaking a knee cap.
Victim’s take: pending
Raquieth Johnson, manslaughter
City settlement: $147,900 after claim he was slashed by another inmate while shackled and unsupervised.
Victim’s take: pending
Mauricio Munoz, 32, burglary
City settlement: $105,000 after claim he was injured on a Rikers bus that struck another bus.
Victim’s take: pending