Earlier this month, Seventh Precinct police made an undercover bust of a Lower East Side psychic reader who was allegedly bilking customers on Rivington between Orchard and Ludlow Sts. According to a source at the precinct, police received a tip that some people going for readings were told by the fortuneteller, “I see something in your palm,” but that in order to reveal it they would have to come back with more money. Undercover police officers were sent in to confirm the story. Deputy Inspector Brian McCarthy, the precinct’s commanding officer, oversaw the bust. Fortunetelling for a small fee is considered entertainment, but when the amount runs into large sums of $100 or $1,000, police can enforce a section of the penal code under which fortunetelling is illegal.
