NYC NOW - Evening Roundup: Ex-City Hall Aide to Plead Guilty, Landlord Allegedly Fails to Protect Brooklyn Family, More Cops on the Subway and Weekend Snowfall

Episode Date: February 7, 2025

Mayor Adams’ former Muslim community liaison, Mohammed Bahi, is planning to plead guilty to a conspiracy charge. Plus, a Brooklyn woman is suing the Flatbush Gardens Complex for allegedly failing to protect her family from a neighbor who shot and killed her husband and son. Also, WNYC’s Michael Hill and Charles Lane talk about new initiatives aimed at making straphangers feel safer on the subway. And finally, a winter storm watch is in effect for the area this weekend.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City. From WMYC, I'm Jene Pierre. A former aide to New York City Mayor Eric Adams is planning to plead guilty to a conspiracy charge. That's according to a court filing submitted Friday. Adams' former Muslim community liaison, Mohamed Bahi, was charged with witness tampering and destroying evidence related to an investigation of the Adams campaign in October. Prosecutors informed the judge overseeing the mayor's federal corruption case of Baha' intent to plea in a letter sent Friday. The mayor has denied any wrongdoing in that case, which alleges he took bribes.

Baha' defense attorney did not return a request for comment. A Brooklyn woman is suing her former landlord for allegedly failing to protect her family from a neighbor who shot and killed her husband and son in 2023. WMYC's Brittany Crickstein has more. Marie DeLeal says her grief is so intense at times she doesn't know how she'll survive. Someday I cope with it very well, but someday... Losing her husband of 20 years and her oldest son on the same day, on the doorstep of their home, is a lot to bear. It all started when the family was living at the sprawling Flatbush Gardens complex. Deleel says she complained to the management company several times about their neighbor Jason Pass.

She says he regularly threatened them for making noise, even when they weren't. When the security guard be like, be careful with this man down and said it's crazy. That was a red flag. On October 29, 23, Paz, a former state correction officer, confronted Dilliel's family. As she tried pulling her husband, Bladamy Matherin away, Paz pulled out a gun and shot him and her son, Chinwai Mode. That meant killing. My family point blank. I'm the one called 911.

Pass fled the scene. He was shot and killed by police days later after officials say he pulled a knife out at officers who stopped him in South Brooklyn. Now, DeLeal is suing the landlord, Clipper Realty, for negligence, and is seeking $10 million in damages. She says the building staff

did not take her plea seriously before the shooting and that security guards did nothing while it was happening. Her lawyer, Adam Conta, says he hopes the lawsuit sends a message. If you know that you have a dangerous element in your building, if you know that there is a likely problem that is about to occur and you stand by and do nothing because it's the easiest and cheapest way to get through running a building, then that's not enough. Flatbush Gardens is one of Brooklyn's biggest residential developments with about 2,500 rent-stabilized units. In 2022, residents held a rally to highlight problems, including crumbling ceilings, rodents, and roaches. And in 2010, Clipper CEO David Bistrisser was listed as one of the city's worst landlords by then public advocate Bill de Blasio. In a statement, a spokesperson for the company says the killings were, quote, tragic, but would not comment on the pending litigation.

Marie DeLeel now lives in Canarsie with her other children. She says she's trying to stay focused on rebuilding her life while her lawsuit proceeds through court. I hope that helps all the landlord to make a change, all the tin to stand up. That's WMYC's Brittany Creeksday. Strap hangers may notice more cops on the subway. It's part of new efforts by state and local governments to make commuters feel safe. More on that after the break. This is NYC now.

Have you noticed more police officers on subway platform? lately? Well, that's thanks to a swirl of local initiatives by both city and state leaders aimed at making people feel safer on the rails. My colleague Michael Hill talked with WMYC's Charles Lane for a breakdown of these new efforts and the ways they may affect commuters. There have been a bunch of announcements in a row aimed at changing the way police patrolled the subway system. What's it all about? They're trying to get at this sense of disorder or fear of safety. There have been several high-profile incidents recently. Someone was shoved in front of a train in Chelsea on New Year's Eve. A woman was set on fire in Coney Island. Overall crime has been going

down in the subway system, but there has been an increase in felony assault. So I think it's hard for people to sort of escape this sense of fear, even though that the reality may be different. Because of these fears, there have been a glut of new plants. One put National Guard troops outside of the turnstiles, alongside NYPD officers to help be an extra pair of eyes and a sense of presence. Some officers were reassigned to the subways, and they were focused away from the turnstiles and to the platforms and trains. And there was an increase in overtime shift in the subway.

So what exactly other changes we can expect to see, Charles? A lot of the transfers have already happened. About 200 were transferred two weeks ago. The new overtime shifts are being rolled out in phases because, There is some amount of new training involved in policing underground. The big move officials have talked about is to put two officers on every overnight train. That's 150 trains between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., so 300 officers. Governor Kathy Hokel promised to have that start several weeks ago.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said it would be up and running by the end of January. When I checked in this week, it was difficult to pen officials down on a number. But officials said that all 150 overnight trains are not yet covered. Another change we should be seeing is more officers on platforms. Police say that most crime occurs not at the turnstiles. So in theory at least, we should be seeing fewer officers at the turnstiles and more on the platforms. With the National Guard, Hockel added to a counterterrorism program that was already underway, and that would in theory put 1,000 soldiers in some 150 subway stations.

The number I get from officials varies on because, you know, soldiers aren't actually allowed to do policing. So the National Guard is dependent on NYPD being there and dependent on their staffing levels at the time. So the number of soldiers at stations is always in flux. So where will these officers come from and how much is it going to cost us as taxpayers? So normally there's about 2,600 officers assigned to the subway system. Tish said that she was moving 200 officers from desk jobs to the subways. The transfer orders that I saw shows only 187 officers, and previously they were doing a whole swath of other patrols in the city, mostly things like community affairs and there were some on counterterrorism. Also, we heard from one precinct leader at a community meeting that he was going to have to take rookies that he wanted to post on a street in Midtown that was having a problem with squatters and move them to the subway directive.

So it's not like these officers are just peering out of nowhere. They are being transferred from other assignments. In terms of costs, Hockel said she was going to send $77 million in state taxes to help fund the overtime for three months. She said that would likely extend, but we don't have a firm idea about how long those extra police will last. Experts said that they tend to be temporary and have to do more to do with crime stats than anything else. and this was a point of contention recently with MTA chairman General Lieber. He said that these temporary measures tend to disappear. We need those cops to stay.

So that's something I'm thrilled that the governor and the police commissioner and city hall seem to be working on. So we hear at least that the MTA is hoping that these new officers will be more permanent. The point of this, Charles, was to make subway riders feel safer. Do we know yet if that is working? The stats in January looked promising. There was a 34% drop in overall transit crime, but that's just one month, so I'm not sure how reliable it is. But that may be beside the point, actually. Officials say that they're aiming at the fear of crime as much as they are aiming at actual crime.

And according to a recent survey, the overwhelming majority of New Yorkers really want police on trains overnight. This desire for more police on overnight trains is especially popular for older New Yorkers and those from the suburbs. That's WMYC's Charles Lane, talking with my colleague Michael Hill. Before we say goodbye and kick off the weekend, a quick reminder to pull out those snow boots. The National Weather Service says between three to five inches of snowfall will likely fall Saturday night into Sunday morning in New York City, Northeast New Jersey, and Long Island. Up to seven inches of snow is possible in the Lower Hudson Valley, Interior, New Jersey, and Southern Connecticut. The weather service says expect slush-covered roads,

and hazardous travel conditions. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WNYC. Have a lovely weekend. I'm Jene Pierre. We'll be back on Monday.