The NYPD is in boiling hot water after authorizing a police escort to accompany P.Diddy's motorcade from Midtown so the rapper could make it to another concert in New Jersey, right after his Hammerstein Ballroom gig last Friday night. Mayor Bloomberg is furious at the special treatment saying, "The bottom line is the Police Department should treat everybody exactly the same. If you don't get a police escort, P.Diddy shouldn't." Police escorts for stars aren't exactly surprising, but what really got our attention is the fact that it was an Upper East Side dry-cleaner who finagled the arrangement through his pals in the force. Does he give free laundry services? A year's worth of dry-cleaning? Unlimited alterations and repairs for tattered uniforms? A little digging unearthed information that told us said dry-cleaner is actually John Mahdessian, dubbed by the New York Observer as "The Sultan of Stains." With clients ranging from Sotheby's to Christie's (he cleaned Princess Diana's gowns!), to a Saudia Arabian ambassador, Barbara Walters, and Billy Crystal, it's no wonder why he's got the police eating out of his hands. (New York Post)
