FOR THE RECORD

FOR THE RECORD

It wasn't near the top of the list on numerous blogs that devoted mucho space to the final episode of "The Sopranos," but for us the most intriguing unresolved mystery was what might be called "The Castleman Connection."

Dan Castleman, the Chief of Investigations for the Manhattan DA's Office, was a technical consultant for David Chase's fascinating saga of a man's mob family, his actual family, and his brushes with psychology and the law. Mr. Castleman occasionally turned up on screen as well, playing a character known as, of all things, "DA Castleman."

Midway through the show's run, he rebuffed a request for an interview about how he got involved with the production, claiming that to speak would violate a confidentiality agreement. Last week, when it seemed like the coast would be clear to explain everything, Mr. Castleman was still apparently living by the code of omerta, declining to return phone calls.

Which leaves us to speculate that maybe, since Tony did business with New York mobsters and sometimes left Jersey for the streets of Manhattan, Mr. Castleman was eventually going to help arrange the transfer of the criminal case against Mr. Soprano to the Manhattan DA's Office. If so, it would hardly be the first time that Bob Morgenthau proved jurisdictional boundaries were no obstacle.

Perhaps we'll find out if they ever make the movie.

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Queens Council Member Peter Vallone Jr., like his father the former Council Speaker, is generally a strong advocate for the police who defends them against criticism by some of his colleagues.

It was therefore significant that the head of the Council's Public Safety Committee authored an op-ed piece in the June 15 New York Post questioning the NYPD's failure to alert the public to a series of bodega robberies that hit its nadir with the fatal shooting of Bolivar Cruz last week.

Mr. Vallone, who is a former Assistant DA in Queens, was not satisfied by the Police Department's explanation that it made an "investigative decision" not to publicly disclose that it believed a pattern had emerged in the robberies that suggested the same individuals were responsible.

"Police, sometimes for good reason," the article stated, "have a bias toward keeping their cards close to their vest, and this attitude sometimes restricts their willingness to share information, even when it could be valuable to the public."

It is occasionally understandable, he wrote, that police don't publicize some crime patterns for fear of tipping off the perpetrators and leading them to temporarily suspend activities knowing the chance of being caught has significantly increased. It could also "lead to a prevailing fear among citizens, lowering their quality of life as they look around every corner for a criminal.

"But," his article continued, "there are other strategies that could work. Perhaps, in instances where a small group is targeted, the police should be more open to a system of notifying only the vulnerable population (bodega owners, cabbies), rather than a full-blown media alert."

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"The 2008 Elections: Communicating Labor's Agenda" will be the featured panel discussion during the Metro New York Labor Communications Council's 32nd annual convention June 22.

Held at Musicians Local 802's headquarters at 322 West 48th St. in the ground-floor auditorium, the panel will include Ed Ott, executive director of the AFL-CIO New York City Central Labor Council, and his counterpart at the Working Families Party, Dan Cantor. Also participating will be Sean Sweeney of the Cornell Global Labor Institute, Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel, and Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance.

Metro will present its Distinguished Labor Communicator of the Year award to author and social critic Barbara Ehrenreich.

Registration for the all-day event is $25 for members and $35 for nonmembers, but there will be an additional $5 charge for those who register at the door. You can register by phone at (212) 815-7521, or e-mail by contacting gheires@DC37.net.