Chapo Trap House - BONUS: House of Crumbs feat. Hellgate

Episode Date: September 20, 2024

Journalists Christopher Robbins & Katie Way from the independent outlet Hellgate return to the show to help update us on NYC Mayor Eric Adams' chaotic administration. We look at the scandal and indictments surrounding a number of top Adams officials, including multiple sets of siblings, all embroiled in bribes, extortions, and various other forms of graft. We also discuss NYPD scandal in light of the recent subway shooting which left multiple people injured and one bystander braindead. Follow Hellgate’s New York City coverage here: https://hellgatenyc.com/

Okay, hello everybody. It's Thursday, September 19th and Chappo is back at it. Obviously we will be discussing the rather frightening escalation of the conflict in Lebanon which involved the detonation of thousands of consumer electronic devices. We've got some stuff coming up next week to broaden the horizon to an international scope. But if you'll bear with us for today, we're indulging in our East Coast bias on this show, talking about my fair city of New York, and joining me, and perhaps Felix later, we'll see. But joining me today is back on the show once again is Katie and Chris from Hellgate, the independent New York journalism outfit covering the fair

city of Gotham. And of course, today we're talking about, it's been a hell of a month for our mayor here in New York City. And I'd just like to begin, Katie and Chris, with comments that Eric Adams made just yesterday. This was at a, the the national remarks made at the opening remarks of the National Urban Rat Summit. The mayor said, I didn't realize so many people would show up to talk about rats. He said, spotting a rat in your home or having a close encounter with one on the street can be traumatic for

some. Am I to Katie and Chris, is there anything I can read between the lines here regarding the mayor and his inner circle and his comments about what to do if you encounter a rat, if a rat is in your home, and how dealing with rats can be a traumatic experience? I mean, I guess I'll say that Eric Adams is a mayor who has said the phrase, I hate rats more than any other mayor in the history of New York easily. He says it any possible chance he gets. And yeah, the metaphor is a little too on the nose there, perhaps.

But it is interesting that to me, I had seen his appointment of a rat czar, which is a position that did not, not exist under Giuliani. It went away because it kind of doesn't have a point to it because, spoiler alert, the way to get rid of rats is to put away your trash. Something that New York City's probably not done for decades. So you know, but his appointment of a rat czar to begin with, while you could argue it's well intentioned, to me it was always kind of a distraction, right? A distraction from everything else that was going on. So to have the, you know, the Ratt-Zar conference happen when all of these investigations are sort

of exploding into the public eye, to me is sort of a different kind of, it's a different sort of poetic meeting there. I don't know, Katie, what do you think? What did he know and when did he know it? It's kind of crazy. It's a different sort of poetic meeting there. I don't know, Katie, what do you think? What did he know and when did he know it? It's kind of crazy. It's a crazy question. The other recent Eric Adams moment that I saw just this morning is that he was in front of City Hall playing catch

to raise awareness about prostate cancer. And he asked someone from the initiative 30 catches in 30 days, if prostate cancer affects women as much as it affects men. It doesn't affect women at all. Katie, do you think this is the mayor engaging in a bit of his signature jocularity and humor or was that question asked sincerely?

I mean, what are we to make of his inquiry as it to the rates of prostate cancer in women? I think he's got a curious mind, you know, and I think I think that's a quality we want in a leader, you know, we can see where that's gotten us. He's asking maybe not the right questions, but he's asking questions, you know. Yeah, to type in do women have and then in Google and then you know, prostates got to be, you know, one or two, right? Surely. I don't know. I don't know. I I'm just guessing. He's an every man. You know, he's just like us.

Well, I mean, in one other way in which he is just like us is that he is, I would say, under pressure these days. And Katie, could you just like do your best to describe how many people I mean, like just go down the list? How many people in the mayor's inner circle are currently under federal investigation? OK, let me see. I don't even know everyone's position. So, Chris, you might have to help me out a little bit with this.

So there's a. OK, so a couple of different deputy mayors. You've got Sheena Wright, who I think is the first deputy mayor. That's her role. We have the Deputy Mayor for Public Safety. That's Phil Banks. The New York City Public Schools Chancellor, also his brother. That's David Banks. Their third brother, that's Terrence Banks, formerly of the MTA. Eric Adams is Bestie and current, I'm gonna trip up on this title,

senior advisor to the mayor for public safety with the Economic Development Corporation, Tim Pearson. Totally real job title, not created for this person. Completely real thing that existed. There's Winnie Greco, whose cultural affairs Asian, Asian-American cultural affairs coordinator, something along those lines. Former police commissioner, Edward Caban, you know, poor one out. Chris, I feel like someone.

Yeah. And then some other sundry NYPD precinct heads. We had two fire chiefs that were indicted recently for allegedly taking bribes to move people along in their fire suppression system, because there's lengthy lists for these sort of things. So they were helping people allegedly cut the red tape tape you have Ray Martin a guy who goes back with Eric Adams years and years who the mayor fired last week allegedly for

Violating the terms of his employment is what the mayor said, but he was supposedly Trying to connect bar owners with the twin brother of Edward Caban, the former NYPD Commissioner James Caban, trying to connect them with him in a sort of alleged protection racket. Like, you pay him $2,500, he'll make all these fines and, you know, police department hassles go away. And honestly, there are more people that we're not listing here.

This has just been unspooling like this for really the past two weeks. How many sets of siblings are there at the top level of New York City's government? So glad you asked that. Yeah, more than you think, it turns out. And we didn't even mention that Sheena Wright, who is one of the deputy mayors and David Banks,

who's the head of New York city schools are possibly secretly married allegedly, if not romantic partners who cohabitate. So, so keep it close, keep it close. Yeah. So when the FBI did that search, they got two phones for the, for, for one search because they only had to search one. Your tax dollars. I mean, there's a lot to dig into there. But I'd like to start with Timothy Pearson, the mayor's best friend and director of the Office of Public Safety and Economic Development, the

totally real job title that he's accrued for himself. And I want to go to a headline that hell gate had from just the other week. The headline is, Mayor Adams' best friend will fight you, have you arrested, and follow you to the precinct allegedly. Now Timothy Pearson is being sued by a number of security guards that were hired by New York City homeless shelters on Randall's Island and one in Midtown. Can you describe this, Chris, can you describe the circumstances that led to Timothy Pearson fighting the security guards at city-run shelters? Yeah, so allegedly, this was part of his purview,

is to go do sort of security checks around the city whenever he pleases. I should say this reporting came from the nonprofit Outlet the City last year. You should everyone should subscribe to that. But he just showed up with dozens of cops demanded to be gained, you know, demanded to enter the shelter. He was denied access because no one knew who he was. Allegedly freaked out, assaulted these security guards

who are private contractors of the city. Then I thought Katie was motioning. I'll just say that he went to a midtown shelter, did the same thing, showed up, allegedly assaulted guards there, allegedly choked one according to a lawsuit that's about to be filed. One person had their shoulder fractured. After all this happened, he then allegedly visited the Midtown precinct where these security guards were being held after their arrest, said he would have their jobs. And the precinct commander there

allegedly told them to apologize to Tim Pearson, like to his face, which they refused. All of this is laid out in some lawsuits that are about to be filed if they haven't been filed already. And this is on top of the, Katie, correct me if I'm wrong, three complaints against him for sexual harassment. Four sexual harassment complaints. It's four different lawsuits stemming from like one alleged sort of chronic sexual harassment of a now retired female NYPD officer and

I'll also add that both of the security guards that Tim Pearson allegedly choked and pushed into a wall allegedly so hard that her shoulder fractured were women as well. So. And you might wonder who is this Tim Pearson guy? You know, he was he worked with Eric Adams in the police department back in the 80s. And he is not currently a member of the NYPD or is does he just have this weird job title like deputy for the Office of Public Safety and Economic Development? Yeah he he's he hasn't he's I think a couple decades retired from the NYPD but Chris you also forgot to mention a very important part of Tim Pearson's identity that the mayor likes to talk about when these suits come up which is that he's a 9-11 hero so I think

we need to think about that. You know, maybe take a moment. Well, you know, when he was hired, he had his NYPD pension and he had his city salary, but he was also being paid by Resorts World Casino in a consulting role. And when this was reported, you know, people asked like, how could you be on the city payroll and also on a casino's payroll for security? That doesn't make sense.

Neither remind you of my which which and 9-11 has come up repeatedly when people ask the mayor, why is this guy still in your administration? And he says, you know, Tim has been loyal to me. He's an 9-11 hero. I'm loyal to my people. End of story, due process, et cetera. You have to say that beautiful quote about friendship. Okay. So yeah, I will. I'm paraphrasing here. Katie, if you can cue it up. The quote is something like, when you're in trouble, a lot of people are going to walk out of the room, but a true friend walks in. Is that a, is that resorts world consulting gig?

Does that have anything to do with the plan that I've heard mentioned a few times of putting a casino in Times Square? Different casino groups. Uh, the, the, the fight to bid on contracts, you know, so it's important to get the stake stakeholders on the government payroll. No, a completely separate thing. Resorts World currently is a racino. They don't have table games and stuff, but they want them.

And this is something that the mayor is tangentially involved in. It was just a big question. It's like, wait, this guy, how much money is he being paid from this casino? And why is he being paid this money? And can he do both of these jobs? He must be the most amazing security consultant in the history of New York City to be able to to do to do both jobs so confidently. But he quit that one.

So he's not doing that anymore. And, you know, because he had to quit that job, we have it. We have another really good quote from one of the lawsuits about, you know, it sucks to lose your side gig. Where are you going to get that money? In one of the suits against Pearson, allegedly at the same office, again, created during the Eric Adams administration, the Municipal Services Assessment Unit, where they make sure everyone in the city is doing their job

Timothy Pearson allegedly waxed poetic to some of his subordinates about being jealous of Contractors who are getting city contracts again allegedly saying do you know how these contracts work? People are doing very well on these contracts. I have to get mine. Where are my crumbs? Which then led to him garnering the office nickname Crumbs. So maybe since we're among friends here.

Well, as long as we're talking about crumbs, let's put up candy because just today at a press conference given by the by the NYPD regarding an appalling shooting that took place on the subway. I mentioned it on the last episode where they ended up shooting four people, including one of their own police officers. And then one guy now who's currently brain dead, who was on a different subway car, was shot chasing a man who was, you know, jumped the turnstile or fare evasion or something like that they claimed he was

brandishing a knife that knife has disappeared from the crime scene but at today's press conference someone in the mayor's office there was a distinct sound of like sort of like what sounded like marbles coming out of his pocket but it was in fact candy spilling out of his pocket. Can we follow up? What kind of candy, Katie? Do you know? Do we have a confirmation on whether these were Twix, Now and Laters, or they like, was it a chocolate candy or sort of a sweet and sour kind of gummy candy? So we do have visuals on that thanks to Chris obtained those. But so this is NYPD. This is Kaz Dautry. He is assistant commissioner I believe. But he's basically he's a very loud he's deputy commissioner of operations.

That's right. That's right. Sorry Kaz. And very much been witnessed with mint rappers and mini crunch bar rappers falling out of his pockets It's hard to oversell and hopefully you guys will play the audio of how stale these like It sounds like it sounds like marbles and you can kind of see you know, Deputy Daughtry sort of like move down to pick them up and then realizes the context he's in is like, maybe I shouldn't pick up my crunch bars and lifesavers. But yes, we can exclusively reveal here that my source says that they were crunch bars and mint lifesavers sort of things. Both officers enter from different doors as to triangulate or apex the general

move the knife still getting repeated commands. It's hard to overstate how comically evil I will play the clip, how comically evil the scene is of a press conference, trying to explain away a cop shooting that left one completely innocent civilian brain dead while candy spills out of the cop behind him's pocket. It's really bad. Well, we don't, what we're not saying, you know, is that possibly Daughtry was testing

that candy for cannabis-based fentanyl. So, you know, in a way he's always working. He's keeping it off the streets. We outside. I mean, I do want to get back into some of the specific, like cartoonish corruption of this administration. But I want to return to this. The subway shooting that happened last week, because I mean, like this,

this is this is one of the biggest crises that the NYPD has had to deal with in recent memory. I mean, what could you explain like what their current line is on how this shooting came about? Yeah, I mean, I think the police department will say, look, these cops were assigned to the 73rd precinct in Brooklyn, and they were assigned specifically to the subway in that precinct for quality of life offenses. And that and one of those includes fair evasion. This is something that the MTA is also crowing about how,

you know, we we have to be fair in the city. Everyone needs to to swipe in to the system. And the NYPD is willing to chase people down in order to do that. But I think, you know, any reasonable person, you know, the police department says they chase this guy up the stairs after he allegedly evaded the fair. You know, he muttered something about wanting to kill the cops.

He might, you know, have brandished a knife, it's unclear, but the cops tried to tase him twice. Both of their tasers failed. Then he pulls the knife out and but the cops tried to tase him twice. Both of their tasers failed. Then he pulls the knife out and threatens the cops allegedly with the knife, which was later determined according to the police to be a legal knife to possess in New York City. And his mom had said that he works as a chef, so he needed a knife. He carried a knife. And, you know, when the tasers failed, they shot him.

And this took just a few minutes of time. I think reasonable New Yorkers might wonder like, what happened like de-escalation? Like what happened to not ramping things up to a painful point to where you would need to tase someone? Like, you know, another another way of putting it is, should people be tased for not swiping in to the subway? And one more thing, I'll put another sort of finer point on it is that like the MTA says that this costs

hundreds of millions of dollars, right? And that it's hurting the perception of law abiding riders who, you know, they just want to get to where they're going and they see these people abating the fare and it costs all this money. The MTA needs tens of billions of dollars. We're talking about a few hundred million in that context. Again, it's not worth to many New Yorkers sending armed cops after someone who evades the fair.

That doesn't compute for a lot of people. Yeah, Chris, I mean, that's a really good point. I mean, because, because like this, this can't be diverse from a context in which the governor of New York State, Kathy Hochul, in failing to carry out the congestion pricing plan, which with the MTA budgeting was contingent upon, there's now what a $34 billion hole in the MTA budget that has not been filled. It's just there. So you know, $100 million in fare evasions is like you said, peanuts compared to the billions of dollars

The system needs to keep functioning, which it has been deprived because of I mean Katie like Could you provide some context for like the congestion pricing debacle that just happened in Albany and like what that means practically for the MTA And like how Katie Kathy Hokel can just not enact the law that was passed by the New York State government. Yeah, well, you know, Kathy Hokel heard in a diner that people weren't in several diners that she patronizes that, you know, people were not too happy with the congestion pricing situation. So I think a few weeks before it was supposed to go in effect back in, correct me if I'm wrong, Chris May,

late, late, May. Late June. Late June. Last day of June. Late June. She decided to put the kibosh on it. We're just going to figure it out. We're going to figure out how to get all of the literal billions of dollars that we need for the MTA improvements that like, stuff that can't wait.

And until then, we are going gonna get to continue to enjoy our 20-minute rush hour train waits, you know, and so I think there's been some scrambling and some, you know, talk from Kathy Hochul that like, oh, she's just gonna work on the plan and make it work for everyone, but this is, you know, an initiative that we've been trying to enact in New York for around a decade. So you know, the idea that she is just going to arrive at the solution after scrapping it at the last minute is pretty, pretty, pretty hard to swallow. And to return to the the subways for a moment, like Chris, you

mentioned that, you know, these officers were stationed by the precinct that they're, you know, that they're assigned to for quality of life reasons on the subway. And like a signature policy of Eric Adams has been increasing like a visible police presence on the subway, supposedly to deal with these like quality of life issues. Now, this is a, this is a marked departure from like, I guess, policing on the subway subway as I remember it, where there would be like plain clothes officers sort of milling around in the area by the turnstiles often and like, you know, you can always if someone is milling by the turnstile in a Yankees or Met starter jacket, that's an undercover cop.

And you know, I'm I got I got a ticket because I allowed my friend's sister's boyfriend to double up with me at a Brooklyn L train stop And I we were detained in the the Lorimer Metropolitan Police Precinct and I got a hefty ticket for that I'm still pissed to this day But Chris like how does that differ from the uniform police presence, which is now like a fairly massive But like New Yorkers have responded to this talking about candy. This is like the candy crush cops. These are the uniform officers that have a visible presence, but they don't seem to be doing much other than looking at their phones at the station. Like what's the idea behind this this kind of like enforcement on the subway and public safety? It's really led to some interesting moments over the last several years because there will be a high profile

thing that will happen in the subway system. And the only way that politicians, the MTA know how to address these things is to flood the zone with police officers in a very sort of public way. However, what that does is that creates the perception that the subway system is not safe when in fact it is quite safe. It is historically safe. So you have Kathy Hochul and Eric Adams in the subway. You'll remember Kathy Hochul deployed the National Guard into the subway system earlier this year, I believe, to address this stuff. And they've had to answer questions of like, well, hold on a second. Isn't the subway really safe?

And they're like, yes, but it's the perception of safety that is just as important to New Yorkers as actual safety. But the problem with that is that there's no amount of cops that you could put, you know, in every subway station, that's going to make everyone feel properly safe all of the time. So it's a really kind of this weird pandering cycle that the tabloids push and that the media pushes that ultimately resorts in lots of enforcement, lots of cops, you know, staring at their phones. And it's funny because the MTA put out like a fair evasion, like how to deal with fair evasion,

how to deal with quality of life crimes around a year and a half ago. And the report didn't even take into account how much we spend on this, which is in the hundreds of millions, billions of dollars every few years. And why don't they factor that into fair vision, enforcement and safety? It's because we're going to need to do this anyway. That's separate from why people evade the fair. And it's like, no, this is you guys throw all this money and all this manpower and the subway system for what?

So that people can get chased and this horrible thing can happen like it did on Sunday. Yeah. And I think Chris, a cogent step that you pulled out in the article you wrote about last week's shooting in 2023 2023 the NYPD spent an extra 151 million dollars on overtime for cops in the subways and they arrested 1900 people and issued 32,000 more summonses than previously so that's an amount of total unpaid fares around one hundred and four thousand dollars. So that versus the hundred and fifty million dollars in overtime. Precisely. Yes. Yeah.

That's called that's called that's called doing a budget. That's called balancing the budget. I mean, like that is just but one thing on the mayor's plate at the moment. And I did see from the New Yorker profile of him from fairly recently, he he said recently at a church speaking to a church congregation in Brooklyn, I'm just in my job moment. So he is he is being tested, he is being tested by the Almighty. But let's go back to the brothers,

let's go back to the banks brothers, because like, he is being tested by the Almighty. But let's go back to the brothers. Let's go back to the Banks brothers, because like, this is like a whole other story. Now, the Banks brothers, like New York City, like a news outlet got video footage of a bar owner in Queens, I believe who got on video, basically being offered this business like basically being like having bribes solicited from him. Katie, could you talk more about that case? Yeah, I think I know what you're talking about. This is the nightlife enforcement staff, right?

Yeah. Yeah. So basically, there is a... I think that might actually be Caban and his brother. Am I wrong about that? That is Caban. Yeah. And that's our friend Ray Martin. The Banks brothers are about these city contracts that the Terrance Banks

allegedly was a consultant, didn't register as a lobbyist, was trying to connect certain clients of his allegedly with the city through his brother, who was the head of the, you know, he's the school's chancellor of New York City. And then his other brother, who was the head of the, you know, is the school's chancellor of New York City. And then his other brother, who was the deputy mayor for public safety in charge of the police department, fire department, and, you know, New York City jails. So allegedly he was trying to broker deals. There was one company that got over a million dollars in contracts after they met with the

Banks brothers. So, you know, whether that was illegal or criminal, we don't know. We'll find out. But that is the Banks end of the investigation stuff. But you could be, you know, it is confusing and it is confusing. It's head spinning because there are so many brothers. The Caban brothers are twin brothers, too, too which makes it extra and the reason that reportedly... Hope they send the right one to jail.

Yeah. Well the reason that that apparently his twin that Edward Caban's twin brother had a NYPD car with him is because there were threats on the police commissioner's life and they were like oh no we need to give his twin brother protection too because someone might think he's the police commissioner's life and they were like, Oh no, we need to give his twin brother protection too, because someone might think he's the police commissioner and try and kill him. So it's just like the problems that, you know, that you run into when you're, when you're dealing with twins. I always think of the bud light commercial, the twins. Yeah, exactly. I just remember. Yeah, that's that's what I think of every time. Okay, so that's Edward Caban was the NYPD commissioner. And he just resigned this week

after having the feds cease his phone. And then I'm just I'm reading from the hell gate last week. Federal agencies Caban's phones and search his house reportedly in connection to a probe involving his twin brother, former NYPD Sergeant James Caban, whose home was also searched. This is just one of four possible federal investigations into Mayor Adams' inner circle, investigations that the mayor briefly alluded to at the top of Thursday's address. No arrests have been made. Now he's just replaced Caban with a former FBI agent. Katie, what can you say about the circumstances that led to Capone's resignation and what the feds are looking for on his phone?

Yeah, so that gets a little bit more into the nightlife piece of the puzzle. And we can also go back and talk about the twin James a little bit, because if you can believe it also a former NYPD officer who was fired from the force after he was convicted of assaulting a cabbie because he thought the cabbie stole money from his wife's purse. And then in 2013 was placed on Bill de Blasio's list of worst landlords in New York City,

spent 30 days in jail because he wouldn't renovate the building that he owned. And at the bottom floor of that building, he used to operate a lounge called twins so Big big nightlife background and ringers. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. We're due for remake number three but so

allegedly Edward Coban's phone was seized because James Coban acting as a nightlife security consultant was going around to bars in Manhattan and Queens and telling them that he knew a guy who could help make their you know things like noise complaints or underage drinking. And like like you said, for pretty for not very much money, like there

is a there's an NBC New York report from a Brooklyn bar owner who had someone I was referring to. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Who allegedly had a conversation with James Caban and Ray Martin, the the guy Adams fired, where Caban was like, oh, you're a juice bar, but you're serving booze.

I can clear that up for you for $2,500, which is like, that's less than some brokers ask for, kind of a deal. But this guy said, he said no. He was like, I feel like he's trying to exhort me. It's like pretty accurate. Sounds like it. I would feel that way, too, you know, totally as an empath. I mean, like, again, this is another thing that came up this week

is the settlement of a lawsuit from a former NYPD officer who was punished internally for failing to honor the get out of jail free cards that are given to friends of the NYPD for things like traffic enforcement and things like that and Now like, you know doing you know, just basically just straight up like mafia style Shakedowns of local business owners to be like hey, I can fix this problem for you for $2,500. And Katie, you're right, that sounds like a steal compared to what it costs to get a fucking liquor license in this city. But like, what accounts for this context of like, does the is the NYPD hard up for money? Because last time I checked that like a third of their budget comes from the federal government,

they're like the biggest police force in the world. What accounts for this like government, they're like the biggest police force in the world, what accounts for this like really penny anti-corruption and just like just just shaking people down for like thousands of dollars? Like I mean is this going to some sort of, this certainly isn't going into the budget, is this just like the personal greed and venality of like the people in charge here? Like what accounts for this? I mean I think I read a report that even Edward Caban as police commissioner was doing some quote-unquote consulting work and ask any cop in the world and they're not making enough money, you know what I mean? I mean, their tasers don't even work.

So it's just like the budget is like almost unparalleled but like like individual cops and police commissioners feel like they're getting they're feeling like they're they're getting squeezed. You know, shit, it's expensive to live in New York City, even though most of them don't. But it's expensive to live in New Jersey and commute to New York City. It's twenty dollars, sweet green salads, not going to buy themselves dinner. Especially if they ever get that congestion pricing in place. Well, yeah, there you go. That's how they can it. Return to Eric Adams.

Just another piece that you guys have from last week. Headline in first real press conference since raids, Mayor Adams is defiant, humbled, transparent, opaque and very sorry. The NYPD called the reporter a fucking scumbag. Chris or Katie, could you could you describe like, just how Eric Adams is dealing with this? And like, because I mean, his attitude remains very Eric Adams, which is just like, I have the best job in the world. Stay humble, grind every day. You know, like all my all my losses was lessons.

But like, I mean, this this is getting this is getting really I mean, like he's in a vice right now. So like how would you describe the mayor's attitude to these like ongoing investigations of literally everyone connected to him? I think that press conference referring to was extra special because he had covid. And so he was in isolated in Gracie Mansion. You know, I got to say he didn't look great. His voice was very froggy. And yes, he had to apologize for the fact that his NYPD press officer called a New York Post reporter

a fucking scumbag just for doing his job. Well, I mean, they do work for the Post. Well, I mean. No, and they kicked the New York Times out of One Police Plaza and all this stuff. So, I mean, that first week, I think that was after everyone's phones were taken.

You know, he was subdued a little more than usual, I would say, perhaps from the COVID, perhaps from the shock of all these investigations sort of coming into light. This past week on Tuesday was in person. He was back, feeling better. He was very, you know, he was pretty defiant. He, you know, he was asked point very, you know, he was pretty defiant. He was asked point blank,

you know, hey, I know that you're not, you've said over and over again that you're not a target of any investigation, but what about suspect? What about, there's other sort of designations for people who are currently under investigation. And he just flat out refused to answer that question. And he was like, I'm not gonna give you guys an update on my status every day, which kind of thinking about it, it's like, if you're the mayor of New York City, you probably should, like there should be a sort of binary,

like is the, you know, why not actually? But he was like, no, no, I'm not gonna do that for y'all. Sorry. And I believe in due process. And that's why. And you know, someone asked him, hey, like, I know you care about all these people who work for you and I know you're loyal to them. What about being loyal to New Yorkers?

Like what about being loyal to your own city employees who say they were harassed by one of your good friends who say they were harassed by one of your good friends who say they were taken advantage of. Where is your loyalty to like the people of New York and like the city employees who have problems here? And he's like, basically like, look, like, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna worry about that. Sorry, like, we're gonna let this process play out, which leads me to believe that like, even, you know, even if the mayor is indicted, arrested, whatever, he's he's not going anywhere. You know, he's going to keep being the mayor until the bitter end.

They should set up a system where, you know, every day, if you see white smoke coming out of Gracie Manor, the mayor is not under federal indictment that day. Oh, yeah, it's just nuts that day. Oh, yeah. It's just nuts that in. Yeah, I think we already made this joke on our podcast, but it's nuts that his initial message to reporters was like, guys, like enough of this. Stay focused and grind. It's like, yeah, that's what that's exactly what reporters asking you questions at a press conference like I think that is the grind. Actually, we're pretty focused. When the NYPD commissioner gets his property seized by the FBI in an investigation, your

reporter asking questions about that is essentially a rise and grind. I mean, that's what you get up every day to do. But like, okay, like, Chris, you say that, like, like the mayor is going to continue to be the mayor. But like, in terms of city politics, like as a whole, are there any figures in city or state government that, I mean, I saw Jabari Brisport the other day said that he should resign because of all of this corruption and these investigations, that he should resign. That's Jabari Brisport.

But are there any other, is he losing support from the city council, from state senators, is there anyone in New York City government who's looking to challenge him possibly as a prime in a primary and like a like how does he stand politically in terms of his support from the city government? Definitely. I mean, I will say that there have been calls for his resignation in the city council, mostly relegated to, you know, DSA folks. Tiffany Caban called for his resignation. No relation. No relation.

No relation. And yeah, like you've seen, you know, over the past several weeks, more people jump in to the mayoral primary. Jessica Ramos announced she's a Queens state senator. She announced she was going to run.

You have Zellner Myrie. You have Brad Lander. You have Scott Stringer, you have, you know, cue the lightning bolts, Andrew Cuomo now circling. Yeah. Seeing, sensing vulnerability. And, you know, it was, man, I guess it was maybe last December, last January, you had a really bad poll come out for Eric Adams. It was, you know, the worst numbers of any poll in the modern era for a New York City mayor. And that was before

all this transpired. So he's definitely politically vulnerable. But, you know, I think if he isn't personally indicted, he has a stronger, slightly case to say, look, this was it didn't touch me. I didn't know about any of this. I'm going to keep on keeping on, you know, being your mayor. He said the other day, it's the only job he's ever wanted. And I will never betray your trust. And you know, that changes a little bit if he gets indicted or arrested. But you know, his supporters are going to rally behind him.

It's just a question of like, you know, how much his rivals in the primary can chip off that support because of everything that's going on. It's not good to state the obvious. All right. I do want to return to the Banks brothers because I think they need they should get their due. I apologize for confusing them with the other set of brothers who are, you know, cartoonishly extorting money from small business owners and the public at large, but okay the Banks brothers Terrence and Philip Banks are the center of another possible another another investigation ongoing and I just have this I think it's from the New York Times This is to that end Chancellor Banks began to wrap up his annual address about

the state of schools, he referred to the poem Invictus by William Ernst Henley, he invoked representative john lewis and Nelson Mandela, both of whom were known to have recited it. It's about resilience, Chancellor Banks said later at the news conference, everyone can relate to it because everyone goes through something. Those gathered in the audience dutifully rose to join Chancellor Banks and reciting the poem. As he led them through a rousing rendition, he had them chant the last line twice. I am the master of my fate. I am the

captain of my soul. Greatest press conference ever. Well, you know, like, anytime you get, you know, anytime you get a crowd of people chanting poetry, you know, maybe you got the rhyme of the ancient mariner or something. I don't know. Let's get that going. But like, okay. So you said when was the school's Chancellor? Correct. So one of the brothers is the school's Chancellor. Who is the other brother again? Remind me. So the other brother is Deputy Mayor for Public Safety. Well, there's two more. So there's Deputy Mayor, three brothers. You've got three brothers here. Strap in. Strap in. Three brothers.

And Terrence was a hitherto unknown brother. But basically, currently in city government, there is Schools Chancellor David, and then there's Deputy New York City government is Terrence formerly of the MTA Allegedly unregistered lobbyist, so we've got a we've got a trio situation, but unfortunately no twins They're just the regular kind of brothers Yeah now and you said like this has to do with with Government contracting and the statement about crumbs is that we need our crumbs

What like so what it was specifically are they being investigated for several things that Terrence Banks? Allegedly this freelancing sort of lobbyists. You didn't register as a lobbyist was was trying to connect clients to his brothers in government so after this one educational firm met with chancellor banks, first people, they got a contract worth more than a million dollars. And again, whether that was illegal or whether anything untoward happened there, we don't know. That's one aspect of it.

Another aspect of it is, you know, security companies were allegedly hiring Terrence Banks to represent them. And then he would go to his other brother, Phil Banks, who is again in charge of at City Hall in charge of the police department, the fire department and New York City jails. So again, allegedly Uncle Phil. Hey, Deputy Mayor. Hey, do you want to talk about? I'm not a Knicks fan.

I just follow St. John's basketball. But who, what did it feel like when the FBI showed up, I don't know, and they seized your phone? I know you have a lot of phones. How many phones did they seize? You wanna mint? What? You wanna mint?

No, I'm okay. You need one. Oh my God, thank you so much. But do you wanna talk about when the FBI showed up? Your breath probably didn't smell good when they showed up that morning. Do you want to talk about it? No, I'm okay.

You need one. No, I actually just had gum. Thank you. But you need a man. Thank you so much. You want to comment on the Fed? Thanks. Thanks.

I know you have experience as an unadulterated criminal. We're fine. We're good now. You want a man? No, I'm okay. You need one. You need a... Could you have a lawyer that's working for you? You need a man. Do you want to discuss the Fed showing up at your house?

Katie, you need a man. I'm being friendly. Did you get new phones? You need a man. Did you get new phones? It's your breath, Katie. He's also... he also is the... Phil was an unindicted co-conspirator back in the de Blasio era because two businessmen were bribing NYPD officials.

He said that if he were called to testify, he would plead the fifth. But these businessmen took him on these amazing junkets. One of them was to Israel. Those photographs are in an evidence file that we published at Hellgate, check it out. It's pretty fascinating. But we learned recently that Terrence and David,

David Banks being the school's chancellor, Terrence being the other brother who's a freelance lobbyist guy, went to a Jets game with these businessmen in October of 2013 in a luxury box. And they also got handed some weird, you know how when you're in Little League or soccer or whatever,

you get participation trophies that are just like weird, lucite things. That's what these business guys gave them. So there was photos of them like taking these little ricky dink trophies in a Jets box. It's pretty amazing how cheaply people, politicians can be bought for. And there's nothing, you know, they did nothing wrong. They were not charged with the crime for going to this Jets game. But these guys were the ones who pled guilty to were convicted of corruption charges. And they're in the same.

It's just it's not. Yeah, it doesn't look good. Also, the Jets come on. Is it so wrong to win the award for best brothers? Yeah. I'll start with you, Katie. And then, then Chris I want your response. I guess like as people who have covered New York City politics and just been New Yorkers like if you think about like the the tenure of our last couple mayors you know so you know America's mayor Giuliani then Michael Bloomberg then Bill de Blasio

and now Eric Adams. Obviously being mayor of New York City like in city government is you know a position rife with opportunities for a graft and corruption of all Kinds, but what is it about the Eric Adams administration that makes them? I won't say maybe more corrupt than the other administrations But like certainly worse at being corrupt like is it is it just the character? I can't expect to what you like what you said about his obsession with loyalty, and his loyalty to the people around him, you know, in the face of their, you know, their violation of the law. administration that like allows for this kind of or allows or encourages this kind of corruption in a way that like perhaps is harder to find or harder to trace in other administrations like as someone who covers the Adams administration what like how would you describe the character and tenor of his

administration as compared to our previous mayors and city governments yeah I mean I think you know to borrow some Gen Z terminology, I think Eric Adams has Riz. Like, this guy is fun to watch, I think uniquely, maybe. Like Bill de Blasio, like Bill de Blasio's not cool. Like, he's not saying stuff that's funny. Like, he was posting that weird pizza thing when all of this was going down. Like, you know, I think the decades-long loyalty, but just

all the sound bites, I think makes it especially easy for people to grip onto, even though as we've unspooled here, it's an incredibly complex network of whatever is allegedly going on. I think because there are so many just kind of like stand out, awesome to remember facts. It is sort of uniquely easy to grasp both as a reporter and as just like the general public, it's like fun to tune into. It's like a little twist on how this stuff normally works because yeah, it's a good point.

Eric Adams is not the only mayor who is sort of used his position to toss some money or contracts or positions to like unqualified friends But I think he just does it with a certain flair and panache that makes it, you know tough to look away from and especially you know Fun to write about for lack of a you know, it's serious, but it is, we are having fun here, you know, to a certain extent. Yeah, I think that's a really good answer. And I think that's exactly right. And just to add something, you know, there was a great New York Magazine profile of Eric Adams's former chief of staff, who's by all accounts very close to Mayor Adams

still, his name is Frank Carone. The headline was basically the Smash and Grab era. And I think Smash and Grab is a great phrase because there's always levels of legal corruption. You know, New York State is known for its blatant illegal corruption, but there's lots of things that you can do in New York State that seem extremely odious but are 100% within the law. And I think there are, you know, members of the Adams administration like Frank Roan, who isn't there anymore, but who are willing to sort of push that limit as far as it can possibly go just to see, you know, what can happen.

And that attitude sort of pervades from, you know, from the sort of white shoe firms that want to want to push that line all the way down to the beat cops who might want to push that line and make a little extra money, allegedly. So so I think that is what's different about it. And and also it's just kind of like it is some of it is just sort of like when the mayor tried to hire his brother to be his, you know, body man and head of security. Like, again, like you ask like a fifth grader, like you think the mayor should be hiring his brother for like a two hundred thousand dollars a year city tax, you know, taxpayer funded salary for it. It's like, no, that's that's like really positive. It's great. I'd be like, hell yeah. I have all my friends. All right. All right.

But it just doesn't, it just, right. So I think there's just that, that brazenness that differs from the more subtle scandals of the de Blasio era and the Bloomberg era. And that, that I think people are really responding to. Reporters are responding. When I eat, the whole team eats. Yeah. I was thinking that, you know, one of the things about this era of New York City corruption

that is so interesting is it really feels like a kind of like 19th century. Yes, it feels almost machine politics. But then when you think about more, there's like no machine that it really serves because, you know, Adams is such an outsider to everything. He's not really linked to the Democratic Party or any kind of like, you know, Adams is such an outsider to everything. He's not really linked to the Democratic party or any kind of like, uh, you know, community organizations that, that, you know, he is beholden to or anything. So, you know, as we were talking about this,

I was thinking about it and it really does seem like the machinery that it, that this machine politics serves is really like the NYPD. Like this is like importing so many networks and so many relationships from if Adams has a network, it is the cop network. And so many of these people are related to the NYPD and have had previous positions are importing previous relationships from there. It really does seem like a Tammany era of New York if you just replace Tammany with the cops. I mean, I think there's, there's some truth to that. I would,

I would maybe amend it to say the Brooklyn, you know, Eric Adams is a creature of Brooklyn, right? Like that's where he, that's where he was a state Senator. That's where he was borough president. Like that's where his nexus of support, both through votes and support from other politicians, you know, been around a long time I mean, I think that might be one another way of looking at it But like tent like when you see bring up Tammany like it's kind of amazing

I'll if anyone surpasses surpasses Tammany and its corruption like two-thirds of the Brooklyn Bridge or something Just like all that money went straight into boss tweets. Like that level of corruption was like Almost unfathomable. But you're right in terms of just it's like nakedness and it's like, look, like we are in these positions, people in these positions get certain things.

Right. And so sorry. Like to the victor goes the spoils. And that's a very old school way of looking at politics. This is definitely connected to Eric Adams's NYPD because I saw a piece from New York Focus about the huge ballooning in size

of the New York City Police Department's Public Relations Division, which now employs 86 people. And these guys all got like, you know, they all got a lot of burn in the media during their raid on the Columbia encampment. And these are the Stooges that they brought out on TV to be like, here's the book on terrorism we seize from the terror encampment. And it was like the Oxford University Press, a very short introduction to terrorism.

And they were like, here were some of the some of the chains they were using to like, and it was just a bike chain and things like that. But I did see on Hellgate this morning that you confirmed that Columbia University has indeed hired the Pinkerton agency to do what on their campus, Chris, like some sort of internal security. But like literally the Pinkertons. I shout out to our colleague, Nick Pinto, who confirmed that because we saw someone tweet, you know, I shit you not, someone holding a binder that said Pinkerton's on it at Columbia. It's too good. And then they're like, hmm, wonder what's going on here. No, they're only there.

They're just a hardcore Weezer fan. Yeah, the whole binder is just Rivers Cuomo photos. Yeah, I have a list of Rivers Cuomo's lyrics. So no, they're just there in an advisory capacity, according to Columbia University. But again, like what? Like, you know, it is, to go back to the cartoonishness of it all,

to go back to some more 19th century names, like the Pinkertons, right? Like, everyone knows that that is shorthand for, and it's jarring to sort of see that's where we are. Like, you know, instead of maybe going the other way, in the start of the school year, Columbia seems to be leaning in the other direction of suppression and law and order,

and we will not allow this stuff to, we're gonna nip it in the bud with this guy and his finger tin binder standing on the street corner. And I mean, is there any indication that like, I mean, Columbia is a private university, but is there any like an indication that the city university system is, I don't know, increasing sort of private security contracting to suppress student protest right now? And be there to any anything from the city university system about how

this semester is beginning? No. And go ahead, Katie. Oh, yeah. I was just going to say no, but perhaps caveat, not yet. All right. Chris, do you think you have anything more here or should we wrap it up? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I guess my question is, like, we've been going through kind of piecemeal, like, individual by individual, like, the scandals and the potential investigation and indictments. But do you guys have any view or way to describe what you think like the overall investigation is like how this might look if charges come down,

like will it be, or indictments come in, will it just be like individuals or is there like a broader case that will be against like the entire administration? Like is there anything that links all of this together? Is it just going to be person by person? $2500 bribe. The mayor, the mayor is the one guy that links all of this together. I mean, no, we're talking about four, four, at least that we know of separate federal investigations,

three of them in the Southern district of New York, one of them in the Eastern district. So who like it's not even just one big investigation. It's four who knows how big different investigations. Yeah. And it's like if we think we had a busy work week, SDNY and EDNY, they got to be tired as fuck. You know? I mean, I guess like I think before we started recording, we were talking about like how New York City, because it is such a big city and like the mayor of New York City is like one of the largest executive offices

in the country. But it's it's not working. So I think we need a new system here where we need some sort of like a figurehead mayor. Yeah. I suggest it a triumvirate of whoever the best athletes on New York City sports teams are at a given moment. You just decide policy for the city. So like make Aaron judge like the sort of viceroy of New York City and just see what happens. Look, we've tried we've tried everything else. Yeah. Yeah, sure. Sure. All right.

Katie and Chris, we will certainly have Hellgate back on the program. Should these investigations result in the arrest of the New York City mayor and the collapse of our city government? Well, yeah, we'll check in back with you. Just maybe the subways will sink into the river. Who knows? It's good times ahead here in the city of Gotham That is for sure, but I know Hellgate will be covering it I want to thank Katie and Chris for joining us today to talk a little New York City politics

Thanks for having us. Yeah, always a treat and Links to hell gate will be in the show description. Please like and subscribe do it. I Think on the way out I can just make one quick announcement. Everything is in place. Matt Christman's first book, No Pasaran, Matt Christman's Spanish Civil War, will be on sale from October 1st to October 31st at ChapoTrapHouse.store. That is the month, October will be the month that the sale for Matt's book will happen. There will be many more announcements about this.

There will be posts on the Patreon that go out to everybody's emails. We will plug this on every show, but October 1st, ChapoTrapHouse.store, that will be your opportunity to order Matt's book. So I'm excited to announce that today. And I suppose we should also mention that today is the one year anniversary of Matt had his stroke.

And just to say that we're all, I know everyone who listens to the show, Matt is never far from your thoughts when you listen to the show. And such is the same for myself, Chris, Felix, Amber, and anyone who is close to Chapo. Yes. Also, I guess we can also tease Angelino's. Maybe keep your calendar open on Monday, November 4th

for a soon to be announced event. That does it for us on today's show. Once again, thanks to Katie and Chris from Hellgate, New York City. Alright. Bye everyone. Some folks like to get away, take a holiday from the neighborhood. Alright, bye everyone. On the Hudson River line I'm in a New York state of mind