Few things have been more enjoyable than watching the collapse of New York City mayor Eric Adams’ personal, cop-focused empire. Granted, if you’re a NYC resident, your mileage will vary because violently disintegrating governments rarely later resolve as fully functional enterprises.
But there’s still something incredibly satisfying as watching a law-and-order mayor bind himself to law-and-order figureheads (literally and figuratively: Adams used to be an NYPD officer and bunch of his buddies either are or were employed by this agency) only to see that loyalty repaid by FBI raids, multiple investigations, multiple sudden retirements, and the ongoing disgracing of pretty much every member of the mayor’s inner circle.
The Adams administration will perhaps end up inadvertently immortalized by this unforgettable statement one of the mayor’s flacks offered (believe it or not) in his defense earlier this year, following multiple raids of city officials by FBI agents:
“Investigators have not indicated to us the mayor or his staff are targets of any investigation,” the mayor’s chief counsel, Lisa Zornberg, said in a statement. “As a former member of law enforcement, the mayor has repeatedly made clear that all members of the team need to follow the law.”
The only reason someone would need to say this once, much less repeatedly, is because the “members of the team” are either currently violating the law or planning to violate the law. What’s surfaced since that point makes it clear it was more of the latter, with the former being relegated to the underachievers in Mayor Adams’ cabinet.
Now, there’s another top official to add to the list, as the New York Times reports:
New York City’s top uniformed police officer, the chief of department, abruptly resigned Friday night following allegations of sexual misconduct, setting off local and federal investigations and extending years of turmoil at the Police Department.
The former chief, Jeffrey Maddrey, submitted his resignation and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch accepted it, according to a statement from the department on Saturday.
For the most part, top law enforcement officials only resign to end ongoing investigations or escape punishment that might be the result of completed investigations. There’s too much pension on the line to pull the plug before the situation reaches critical mass. And, given enough years on the force, a partial pension may still be collected even if the resigning person would have been denied a continued payout if the investigation had been allowed to reach its conclusion.
The New York Times report refuses to dig into the sordid details. But they are sordid. And the normally pro-cop New York Post is more than happy to divulge what’s contained in the allegations the NYT apparently felt didn’t need to be recounted in full.
The NYPD’s highest-ranking uniformed officer abruptly resigned late Friday night after The Post uncovered explosive allegations that he demanded sexual favors from a subordinate in exchange for massive amounts of overtime.
Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey stepped down soon after The Post contacted the NYPD about Lt. Quathisha Epps’ claims in an exclusive interview that he routinely preyed upon her, asking for sex in NYPD headquarters.
“He wanted to have anal sex, vaginal sex, oral sex,” Epps said. “He was always asking me to kiss his penis.”
Yeah, it’s all pretty awful, even if complying with Maddrey’s demands (allegedly) led to Epps securing hundreds of thousands of dollars of overtime pay for hours that possibly were never worked.
Not that any of these accusations mattered to Mayor Adams, who continued to support Maddrey until October, which would roughly coincide with the time when things started to go south extremely quickly for the mayor himself in terms of FBI raids and concurrent federal investigations. And he continued this support (until it was politically and legally inconvenient) despite Maddrey’s history of misconduct and harassment.
Maddrey was third-in-command in the NYPD. With this resignation, another top spot opens up. Residents hoping it will be filled with someone better than Maddrey probably shouldn’t hold their breath. Mayor Adams has run through four commissioners in the last 18 months, with two of them resigning in the wake of ongoing investigations into the mayor’s office and his political appointees, which also include a couple of former commissioners. With this latest embarrassment, the office of the mayor is continuing to pay the price for placing cronyism above public service and making it more clear than it’s ever been that being a top cop doesn’t require ever being a good cop.
