2013 New York Consolidated Laws
PEN - Penal
Part 3 - SPECIFIC OFFENSES
Title J - OFFENSES INVOLVING THEFT
Article 155 - (155.00 - 155.45) LARCENY
155.05 - Larceny; defined.

 
  § 155.05 Larceny; defined.
    1.  A  person steals property and commits larceny when, with intent to
  deprive another of property or to appropriate the same to himself or  to
  a  third person, he wrongfully takes, obtains or withholds such property
  from an owner thereof.
    2. Larceny includes a wrongful taking,  obtaining  or  withholding  of
  another's  property,  with  the  intent prescribed in subdivision one of
  this section, committed in any of the following ways:
    (a) By conduct heretofore defined or known as common  law  larceny  by
  trespassory  taking,  common  law  larceny  by  trick,  embezzlement, or
  obtaining property by false pretenses;
    (b) By acquiring lost property.
    A person  acquires  lost  property  when  he  exercises  control  over
  property  of  another which he knows to have been lost or mislaid, or to
  have been delivered under a mistake as to the identity of the  recipient
  or  the  nature  or  amount  of  the property, without taking reasonable
  measures to return such property to the owner;
    (c) By committing the crime of issuing a  bad  check,  as  defined  in
  section 190.05;
    (d) By false promise.
    A  person obtains property by false promise when, pursuant to a scheme
  to defraud, he obtains property of another by means of a representation,
  express or implied, that he or a third person will in the future  engage
  in  particular  conduct,  and  when he does not intend to engage in such
  conduct or, as the case may be, does not believe that the  third  person
  intends to engage in such conduct.
    In  any  prosecution  for  larceny  based  upon  a  false promise, the
  defendant's intention or belief that the promise would not be  performed
  may  not  be  established  by  or inferred from the fact alone that such
  promise was not performed.  Such  a  finding  may  be  based  only  upon
  evidence  establishing  that the facts and circumstances of the case are
  wholly consistent with guilty intent or belief and  wholly  inconsistent
  with innocent intent or belief, and excluding to a moral certainty every
  hypothesis  except  that of the defendant's intention or belief that the
  promise would not be performed;
    (e) By extortion.
    A person obtains property by extortion  when  he  compels  or  induces
  another  person to deliver such property to himself or to a third person
  by means of instilling in him a fear that, if the  property  is  not  so
  delivered, the actor or another will:
    (i) Cause physical injury to some person in the future; or
    (ii) Cause damage to property; or
    (iii) Engage in other conduct constituting a crime; or
    (iv)  Accuse  some  person  of a crime or cause criminal charges to be
  instituted against him; or
    (v) Expose a secret or publicize an asserted  fact,  whether  true  or
  false,  tending  to subject some person to hatred, contempt or ridicule;
  or
    (vi) Cause a strike, boycott or other collective  labor  group  action
  injurious to some person's business; except that such a threat shall not
  be  deemed  extortion  when the property is demanded or received for the
  benefit of the group in whose interest the actor purports to act; or
    (vii)  Testify  or  provide  information  or  withhold  testimony   or
  information with respect to another's legal claim or defense; or
    (viii)  Use  or  abuse  his position as a public servant by performing
  some act within or related to his official  duties,  or  by  failing  or
  refusing  to  perform an official duty, in such manner as to affect some
  person adversely; or

    (ix) Perform any other  act  which  would  not  in  itself  materially
  benefit  the  actor  but  which  is  calculated  to  harm another person
  materially with  respect  to  his  health,  safety,  business,  calling,
  career, financial condition, reputation or personal relationships.