INCOME TAXES (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010
Current Income Tax Expense (Benefit) [Abstract]
Federal	$ 21,607	$ 25,580	$ 22,129
State and City	7,351	7,231	7,469
Current Income Tax Expense (Benefit), Total	28,958	32,811	29,598
Deferred Income Tax Expense (Benefit) [Abstract]
Federal	(1,395)	(1,145)	(522)
State and City	(673)	(78)	(215)
Deferred Income Tax Expense (Benefit), Total	(2,068)	(1,223)	(737)
Federal, Total	20,212	24,435	21,607
State and City, Total	6,678	7,153	7,254
Income Tax Expense (Benefit), Total	26,890	31,588	28,861
Income Tax Reconciliation [Abstract]
Tax at Federal statutory rate	23,519	27,614	24,587
State and local taxes, net of federal income tax benefit	4,341	4,319	4,549
Benefit plan differences	(114)	(122)	(286)
Adjustments for prior period tax returns	63	185	0
Investment in BOLI	(591)	(615)	(679)
Adjustment for unrecognized tax benefits	0	(1,026)	79
Other, net	(328)	1,233	611
Income Tax Expense (Benefit), Total	26,890	31,588	28,861
Effective tax rate (in hundredths)	40.02%	40.04%	41.08%
Deferred Tax Assets [Abstract]
Allowance for loan losses	9,902	10,003
Employee benefit plans	17,681	17,523
Credit component of OTTI	4,052	4,705
Other	1,970	1,275
Total deferred tax assets	33,605	33,506
Deferred Tax Liabilities [Abstract]
Tax effect of other components of income on investment securities and MBS	86	1,467
Difference in book and tax carrying value of fixed assets	337	519
Tax effect of purchase accounting fair value adjustments	0	161
Other	232	811
Total deferred tax liabilities	655	2,958
Net deferred tax asset (recorded in other assets)	32,950	30,548
Valuation Allowance	0	0
Bad debt reserve subject to recapture [Abstract]
Federal	15,158
New York State	15,158
New York City	15,158
Additional income tax expense due to bad debt recapture	6,985
Reconciliation of Unrecognized Tax Benefits [Roll Forward]
Gross unrecognized tax benefits at the beginning of the period	0	1,408	1,408
Lapse of Applicable Statute of Limitations	0	0	0
Settlement with taxing jurisdictions	0	0	0
Gross increases - current period tax positions	0	0	0
Gross decreases - current period tax positions	0	0	0
Gross increases - prior period tax positions	0	0	0
Gross decreases - prior period tax positions	0	(1,408)	0
Gross unrecognized tax benefits at the end of the period	0	0	1,408
Unrecognized tax benefits that would impact effective tax rate			677
Unrecognized tax liability for interest			440
Unrecognized tax benefits, interest on income taxes expense eliminated		$ 440
Open Tax Year	2009