Bonus Episode: The Fall of Eric Adams

Summary

Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD
Episode Summary: Bonus Episode – The Fall of Eric Adams
Release Date: November 1, 2024
Host: Chenjerai Kumanyika
Guest: John Teufel, Attorney and Former Police Misconduct Investigator

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Introduction: Setting the Stage

In this compelling bonus episode of Empire City, host Chenjerai Kumanyika delves into the tumultuous rise and fall of New York City's mayor, Eric Adams. Kumanyika sets the context by highlighting the historical significance of policing in NYC and its intricate ties to corruption and power dynamics.

Key Quote:

"History isn't just about the past. If you pay attention, it tells us things we need to know about the future." — Chenjerai Kumanyika (00:45)

Eric Adams: From Cop to Mayor

Chenjerai introduces Eric Adams, a former NYPD captain whose ascent to the mayoralty was initially celebrated due to his policing background. However, Adams' tenure quickly became mired in controversy and legal troubles.

Key Quote:

“He prioritizes the needs of NYPD above all else because he knows that there is nobody more powerful than the police in a police state.” — John Teufel (02:32)

Indictments and Allegations of Corruption

The episode explores the federal indictments against Adams, accusing him of bribery and corruption over nearly a decade. These charges include his alleged favoritism towards entities connected to the Turkish government, undermining his credibility and ethical standing.

Key Quote:

“Eric Adams is essentially being charged with two major things. One is bribery... he was given gratuities by entities connected to the government of Turkey.” — John Teufel (07:09)

The Culture of Policing and Its Impact on Leadership

John Teufel provides an in-depth analysis of how Adams' long-standing immersion in NYPD culture, characterized by a sense of untouchability and resistance to oversight, influenced his leadership style as mayor. This environment fostered a lack of accountability, which persisted into his political career.

Key Quote:

“Eric Adams spends years and years and years marinating in that culture... and then you make him mayor of the city of New York of 8.5 million people. What is gonna happen?” — John Teufel (05:26)

Political Maneuvering and Public Perception

The conversation shifts to Adams' political acumen, highlighting how he leveraged his police background to appeal to voters seeking safety and order. Despite rising crime rates being comparable to 2014 levels, Adams capitalized on right-wing narratives to position himself as the solution.

Key Quote:

“Eric Adams rises very high in the police department... he managed to rise to borough president in Brooklyn.” — John Teufel (10:15)

Criminal Justice and Police Discipline Under Adams

The episode examines Adams' appointment of Keshant Sewell as the first Black woman police commissioner in NYPD history. Despite initial optimism, Sewell's tenure was marked by lenient disciplinary actions against officers, culminating in her forced resignation following a high-profile incident.

Key Quote:

“Sewell, to her credit, eventually comes to the determination that he should be docked vacation days... that led to Eric Adams firing Keach and Sewell.” — John Teufel (18:05)

High-Profile Incidents and Accountability Failures

A notable case discussed involves the excessive use of force by police officers during a subway chase, resulting in the injury of bystanders and another officer. Adams publicly defended the officers, reflecting the entrenched culture of impunity within the NYPD.

Key Quote:

“Eric Adams came out and defended them and in fact, said that they were brave.” — John Teufel (19:44)

Historical Context and Future Implications

Kumanyika and Teufel reflect on how Adams' actions as mayor mirror historical patterns of police corruption and abuse of power. They argue that Adams' administration exemplifies the dangers of entrusting significant political power to individuals steeped in policing culture without adequate checks and balances.

Key Quote:

“Whether you're talking about politicians who love police or politicians who were police, the more power they get, the more power we need to keep ourselves and our communities safe.” — Chenjerai Kumanyika (20:24)

Conclusion: Lessons from the Fall

The episode concludes with a sober analysis of Adams' downfall as a case study in the broader narrative of policing and political power in New York City. Kumanyika emphasizes the importance of vigilance and accountability in preventing the misuse of power by those in authority.

Key Quote:

“In a huge city like New York or a country like the United States, it's convenient to believe that thousands of police and police leaders are going to be the answer to all of our problems.” — Chenjerai Kumanyika (21:22)

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Takeaways

• Historical Insight: Understanding the NYPD's past is crucial to comprehending current issues and preventing future abuses.
• Power and Accountability: The concentration of power in individuals with policing backgrounds necessitates robust oversight mechanisms.
• Cultural Impact: The ingrained culture of impunity within the police force can significantly influence political leadership and governance.

Final Thoughts

This episode underscores the intricate link between policing history and contemporary political dynamics in New York City. Through the lens of Eric Adams' rise and fall, Empire City highlights the enduring challenges of ensuring justice and accountability within powerful institutions.

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Transcript

[Chenjerai Kumanyika]

Wondry subscribers can binge all episodes of Empire City early and ad free. Join Wondry in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts. Hey everyone, it's Chinjerai here. Thanks so much for listening to Empire City. We've been hearing so many responses from y'all, and it's incredibly exciting to see more conversation about the history of the police. What that history tells us about what this institution is, how we got here, and how we could get somewhere better. One thing I've learned making this series is that history isn't just about the past. If you pay attention, it tells us things we need to know about the future. And I never felt that way more than when I started reading the headlines that were coming out right when we launched this series. Right now, we're seeing history being made. A former cop climbed up to New York's highest office, and he could fall because of alleged corruption. In 2022, Democrat Eric Adams became New York's mayor. I, Eric Adams, do solemnly swear. Do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution. That I will support. And like most mayors, Adams painted the picture of a scary and dangerous city and reassured them that he had a plan to fix it. We cannot have a city where people are afraid to walk the streets, ride the subway, or send their children to school. Because Adams sees safety and justice as key for our democracy. Oh, no, wait, that's not what he said. All right, well, maybe it was more like safety and justice are important for all of our health and well being. No, not that either. All right, well, you know what? Let's just use his words. Safety and justice are the prerequisite of prosperity. Ah, prosperity. I keep forgetting safety and justice are important so some people can make money. When Adams was elected, a lot of people celebrated, and they saw the fact that he was a former cop as a good thing. And that's why they didn't listen to folks who were worried. Like movement lawyer Eliami Olorine. She talked about one big warning sign on her YouTube. Let's unpack who Eric Adams is.

[John Teufel]

At his core, a black cop.

[Chenjerai Kumanyika]

He prioritizes the needs of NYPD above all else because he knows that there is nobody more powerful than the police in a police state. And as we learned in episode three, he's repeatedly pushed back against attempts at police oversight. We cannot handcuff the police. We want to handcuff bad people. Now, someone else who was determined to handcuff bad people were federal prosecutors. And there was one bad person at the top of their hit list. For the first time In New York.

[John Teufel]

City's modern history, we announced criminal charges against the sitting mayor of New York City.

[Chenjerai Kumanyika]

The feds accused Adams of engaging in what they call corruption for nearly a decade. And now the indictments of other folks in his administration are coming down so fast that it's hard to keep track. Now that Adams is drowning in indictments, a lot of people are saying it was pretty obvious that this was going to happen. In this episode, I talk with John Teufel, who's an attorney and former police misconduct investigator in New York. John and I get into how paying attention to history and looking at the NYPD culture he was steeped in could have told us what kind of Mayor Adams would become. And what I really want to know is, if there were so many red flags early on, why did so many powerful people ignore them? I'm Chenjerai Kumanyika, and this is the bonus episode of Empire City, the Fall of Eric Adams. John Teufel, thank you so much for sitting down to me, man.

[John Teufel]

How's it going, Jackson?

[Chenjerai Kumanyika]

Good to see you, man. Yeah, I organized all of that, by the way, the indictments, everything. This is all.

[John Teufel]

Oh, that was you, huh? Okay, good.

[Chenjerai Kumanyika]

Sorry, sorry. New Yorkers.

[John Teufel]

Yeah. Hey, it's good publicity.

[Chenjerai Kumanyika]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. John. Like a ton has happened since we finished the show, including the mayor is now indicted. Maybe more to come since we're a show that looks at the history of police understanding more clearly what policing is. How is the policeness of Eric Adams responsible for this stuff?

[John Teufel]

You talk about the cop ness of Eric Adams and this notion that we're going to have a police officer be in charge of a big city like New York and what that's gonna look like, I would never claim, and I don't think any reasonable person would ever claim that every cop is corrupt. Right. That's just not the case. At least not in terms of how we usually think about corruption. Not every cop is on the take. Most cops, in fact, are not on the take. Most cops are doing their job as that job is laid out and described to them. Right, right.

[Chenjerai Kumanyika]

I mean, my argue would be to do the kind of harm that they do that doesn't require corruption, actually.

[John Teufel]

Exactly. If we're going to talk about what corruption is, think about this. Not every police office is on the take. Right. But does every police officer, if they're off duty and they're in their own vehicle and they blow a red light, or if they go too fast or something like that and they get pulled over, are they getting a Ticket. No, they're not. Right. Your proximity to law enforcement determines whether you're allowed to break. Even if they are, quote, unquote, minor laws, you're allowed to break those laws. That's insane. Right? But that is being a cop. Then when you're on duty, you're allowed to use force. You know that you are probably 99% of the time not going to be held accountable. Even if you use too much force, you're not going to be held accountable. You can violate constitutional rights and not be held accountable. You will never be held civilly liable because of qualified immunity. So you are effectively untouchable. So Eric Adams spends years and years and years marinating in that culture. Right. And then he moves on to politics. I mean, what does that do to a person? Right. In most cases it's not a big deal because cops retire, they go become security professionals, private investigators, something like that. They don't hold any power over anyone, whatever. Eric Adams actually becomes more powerful than he was as a high ranking police officer. He was untouchable and marinating in this culture of untouchability for years and years and years. And then you make him mayor of the city of New York of 8.5 million people. What is gonna happen? And I think we're seeing what's happening. I mean, this is that what is.

[Chenjerai Kumanyika]

He being charged with and who's involved?

[John Teufel]

So Eric Adams is essentially being charged with two major things. One is bribery. That he was effectively taking official actions in his capacity as mayor because he was given gratuities by entities connected to the government of Turkey. Right?

[Chenjerai Kumanyika]

100%. I know in addition to that there's also accusations, but this was influencing his choices, like what regulations to enforce around buildings and things of this nature.

[John Teufel]

Right.

[Chenjerai Kumanyika]

So it gets complicated.

[John Teufel]

Right. Before all this stuff came out, I think most people weren't like, well, what I don't like about Adams is he's too friendly with the government of Turkey or whatever.

[Chenjerai Kumanyika]

That's right.

[John Teufel]

What he allegedly did for Turkey was he pushed the department, or the FDNY rather, to allow a Turkish government owned building to open even though fire inspections hadn't passed and the building should not have been allowed to operate. That's what he's alleged to have done. Is that a big criticism that people had of Adams? No, but I think in general there has been this feeling throughout the Adams administration, mostly driven by his choice of personnel, that there is like a lax ethical standard, that he doesn't care about the appearance of corruption. I think that is generally the feeling that there was corruption. Adams has cultivated this larger than life Persona that almost in a way harkens back to the more corrupt politicians of yesteryear. You know what I mean? History repeats itself. We already know that the police department has been roped into some of these investigations, that some of the corruption does go directly to the police department. And we've only seen chapter one of this, and there's probably going to be quite a bit more that comes down the road.

[Chenjerai Kumanyika]

What does history tell us about how this federal indictment could play out for Adams and those in his administration?

[John Teufel]

I do think that there are going to be more indictments just because of the number of investigations that are going on right now. These are serious charges. Whether Eric Adams is able to ultimately enter a plea deal, whether he faces these charges down and goes to trial, I mean, it has become more difficult to prove corruption and to prove bribery, specifically under the laws. And we've seen other politicians manage to actually avoid conviction, like the former governor of Virginia, for example. They've managed to avoid conviction on exactly the same type of charges that have been leveled against Eric Adams, because the definition of an official act in the law has become very, very narrow due to the Supreme Court.

[Chenjerai Kumanyika]

So we reached out to Eric Adams several times for this series, but he declined to be interviewed. You can look at Eric Adams as kind of like a test case, right? Like a sort of experiment about what does it mean to have a city governed by a cop. Right. I mean, he's not officially in uniform, in that uniform, but he holds his cop ness right out front.

[John Teufel]

Absolutely.

[Chenjerai Kumanyika]

So how did he use his credibility as a former cop and how did he use his story about himself to climb the ladder?

[John Teufel]

Eric Adams rose very high in the police department. He had an impressive career. He has always liked to paint himself as sort of a rabble rouser in the NYPD, as a troublemaker. He was an integral part of 100 Blacks in Law enforcement. Right. And he was a member of other black fraternal cop organizations. And he rose to the rank of captain, which is a very high rank in the nypd. And he used that to move on to politics. And there's a way that Eric Adams is extremely talented at politics. Right. He's charming and people really like him. And he managed to rise to borough president in Brooklyn. And I think as a cop, you should look at the context of when Adams ran for mayor, right? So, God, this feels like so long ago, Right. So Biden had been in office for a year already by the time Adams is elected. Trump's in the rearview mirror. Right. George Floyd, in a lot of ways, is in the rearview mirror, unfortunately. So Eric Adams comes along at a time when the sustained outrage that was really fed by having Donald Trump in office and by the visuals of George Floyd being publicly executed in front of us is fresh in everyone's mind. And people are motivated. People are so up in arms about police violence. Right. And it was the largest spontaneous movement possibly in American history. I mean, the streets were filled, you.

[Chenjerai Kumanyika]

Know, and this was kind of a problem for Democrats.

[John Teufel]

Yeah.

[Chenjerai Kumanyika]

Why?

[John Teufel]

Well, I mean, I think people expected some sort of action. Right. Police violence. What are you going to do to fix it? Democrats, because we knew Trump wasn't gonna do it. Right. We looked to our elected leaders on both a local and a national level to respond to this in some way. And you remember that famous photo of Nancy Pelosi and a bunch of other House Democrats kneeling in the kenty cloth? Right. I mean, that was kind of what we were doing at that point. Right.

[Chenjerai Kumanyika]

I had successfully forgotten that.

[John Teufel]

Oh, listen, until you burn into my memory, I will never forget that photo. I will never forget it. And people looked at that and they said, this is dumb. Okay, we get it, it's a symbol, whatever, but tell us what you're gonna do. And that's when the backlash came in.

[Chenjerai Kumanyika]

I mean, in New York, you're talking about pissing off potentially 30 plus thousand.

[John Teufel]

Absolutely.

[Chenjerai Kumanyika]

Police. And then what are they, like 18,000.

[John Teufel]

Police departments across the country, very powerful police unions.

[Chenjerai Kumanyika]

All related to people, of course. So what happens?

[John Teufel]

Adams comes along after all of that is over with. Right. And campaigns on this idea that our city is lawless. Right. There was a spike in crime during COVID There was. We can't deny that.

[Chenjerai Kumanyika]

Right.

[John Teufel]

Crime did go up. But when you look at the statistics, crime went up to the levels it was at in about 2014. And that was well after people were saying New York City is a miracle of safety. New York City is generally a safe city, and it has been for decades now at this point. So Eric Adams comes along, he buys into this right wing framing, which is really what it is, a right wing framing, that New York City is out.

[Chenjerai Kumanyika]

Of control, it's more lawless than it's ever been.

[John Teufel]

Exactly.

[Chenjerai Kumanyika]

So that particular claim has zero empirical basis.

[John Teufel]

Zero empirical basis. And he said that too. He said that New York is worse than he's ever seen it. Right. And so he 100% buys into this completely false narrative that the city's out of control. And this is a very racialized narrative. It's fed a lot by the protests against police violence, that the right wing was taking those protests and using them to paint this feeling of disorder or what have you. But Eric Adams, I've looked at him as a way that the right wing has been able to launder right wing narratives into mainstream discourse and make them kind of bipartisan. And first he did it with crime, and later he did it with immigration. But this is what allowed him to really get elected was the focus on crime and disorder. I'm a cop. I can put this right. And by the way, I also am a reformer. I'm someone who was a rabble rouser in the police department. I can do that again. I can be everything to everyone. And that's eventually what got him elected.

[Chenjerai Kumanyika]

I guess this was like, shortly after he's elected, Nate Silver came out and said he was, like, so hyperbolically excited about Eric Adams that he says, I actually think he was in his top five for who could be the next Democratic presidential nominee after Joe Biden.

[John Teufel]

There were a lot of people of a centrist persuasion who were singing Eric Adams praises on high and who saw him as the future, quote, future of the Democratic Party. Right. And I think that's a bizarre thing to think. Even setting aside the policing issues and the corruption stuff, I think it's weird for people to say that just because Eric Adams himself is such a personally odd individual. But Nate Silver was not the only one. A lot of people were saying this, so, you know, there was a lot of hopes placed on Eric Adams.

[Chenjerai Kumanyika]

So it's clear there are a lot of warning signs about Eric Adams. But what makes Adams so interesting as a case study is that he's been in office for two years. And we can learn a lot from what happened in those two years with the cop mayor. So when we come back, I talk to John about how it all worked out. All right, so when Eric Adams becomes mayor now, he has the ability to appoint a new police commissioner, and he hires someone named Keshant Sewell. Right. And like, for a lot of people, that was exciting. You know, Sewell was the first black woman police commissioner in the NYPD's history. But what happens when she gets in office? Does she do anything different than the norm?

[John Teufel]

As a little primer on police discipline in New York, the police commissioner ultimately has final say over whether cops get disciplined or not. Keaton Sewell dismissed or reduced punishments against police officers at a greater rate than any of her prior police commissioners. And they did it at high rates, too, which really tells you something? She bragged about it. The CCRB is out of control. It's bringing too many charges against police officers. Right. So that's step one of what Adams does.

[Chenjerai Kumanyika]

Right? So again, it's kind of like business as usual. But I heard about this one case that was so wild that even Kishan Sewell couldn't ignore it. Could you tell us about that?

[John Teufel]

Basically, what happened is this retired police officer chases these teenagers around, pulls his gun and threatens them, right? There's some kind of ruckus where maybe they had thrown something at his house or something of that nature. This retired cop is then arrested for doing this. This retired cop apparently has friends in high places because who shows up at the station house, but the highest ranking police officer or uniformed police officer in the police department, Geoffrey Madre. Geoffrey Madri starts demanding that this retired cop be released and the charges against him be dropped.

[Chenjerai Kumanyika]

Wow. So Madri just like intervenes, right, to sort of stop this cop from having to go through the ordeal that most people have to go through when they get arrested. And I know like some people argued, he's acting totally outside of his authority and they file a complaint, which goes all the way up to Keshan Sewell. So what does she do then?

[John Teufel]

Sewall, to her credit, eventually comes to the determination that he should be docked vacation days. That was what was at stake here. Eric Adams is not happy about that. Madri is a personal friend of Eric Adams. Madri is a high ranking uniformed police officer. Madri should be untouchable. So the great irony of Sewell's tenure is that she bragged about how she was not disciplining officers when a high ranking officer broke the rules in such a way that was even too far for her. She did decide to act and ultimately that led to her downfall. The one time that she really did try to take a stand. And eventually this is what leads to Eric Adams firing Keach and Sewell. Now, of course, they did this all in a nice orchestrated way where she was able to say, I've decided to leave and I'm happy to have served the city of New York or whatever. But we know from reporting that this is what happened. Sewell was forced to step down because of this.

[Chenjerai Kumanyika]

I'm thinking about this high profile incident at a subway station in Brooklyn last September. What happened is that you have these officers who like chase this guy down because he hopped the turnstile or something like that. And if you watch the body cam footage, he's really trying to get away from them, right? Like at a certain Point, he feels threatened and appears to be holding a knife. But the dude wants to get on the train and get wherever he's going. And they chase this guy all the way down to the end of the subway stop. He gets on the train, Right. He's still trying to get away from them. They tase him, and eventually they shoot, not just hitting him, but two bystanders and another cop. And with all of that, technically, they were doing their job.

[John Teufel]

Oh, yeah. None of them will be disciplined for that. I mean, immediately after it happened, Eric Adams came out and defended them and in fact, said that they were brave.

[Chenjerai Kumanyika]

They were showing restraint.

[John Teufel]

Yeah, exactly.

[Chenjerai Kumanyika]

You see on one hand, these police officers who now work under Adams displaying that thing you were saying that they marinate in. Right. This is an example of how they function. And then you see this cop mayor now at the other side of his journey, totally getting behind that.

[John Teufel]

Yep. There's been no follow up. I mean, as far as the police department is concerned, the incident's over.

[Chenjerai Kumanyika]

If we understood the police historically, and then you have this kind of like former police candidate, could we have predicted how someone like Adams would be as a leader?

[John Teufel]

I don't think that we can ever really know who people are until we put them in these sorts of positions. I am biased, obviously. I do believe that the psychology of policing requires somebody who is on some level corrupt and on some level power hungry. I think a lot of people are attracted to policing because of the level of power that they get to hold over others. Does that definitionally mean that no police officer could ever be an effective mayor? You know, maybe, maybe not. Maybe there are people who are able to detach themselves from that power that is vested in them. But I didn't support Adams from the very beginning. And I think a lot of people. I'm not unique in that sense. I think a lot of people felt the same way that he. He was gonna be the cop mayor, and he turned out to be the cop mayor, you know, so should we really be surprised? No.

[Chenjerai Kumanyika]

Jon, thanks so much for coming and doing this, man. You just keep us up to speed on this stuff. I appreciate you so much.

[John Teufel]

Thank you, Chandrae. My pleasure. It's been great to be here.

[Chenjerai Kumanyika]

When you look at the indictments Eric Adams is facing, at first it might seem like they don't have anything to do with policing or NYPD history. But then I zoom out a little, and I think about a culture of fear and retaliation where people employed by New Yorkers kind of operate like a gang. That's against New Yorkers, I think about all the people the police chase down for minor infractions, while the mayor might have been breaking the law to raise millions of dollars for his campaign. And if you've been paying attention to the history of the nypd, it all starts to sound like it's part of the same story. In a huge city like New York or a country like the United States, it's convenient to believe that thousands of police and police leaders are going to be the answer to all of our problems. But if there's one thing we've learned on Empire City, it's this. Whether you're talking about politicians who love police or politicians who were police, the more power they get, the more power we need to keep ourselves and our communities safe. Follow Empire City on the Wondry app, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes early and ad free right now by joining Wondry plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short [e-mail] survey if you have a tip about a story you think we should investigate, please write to [e-mail] tips Empire City is a production of Wondry and Crooked Media. I'm your host and executive producer, Chenjerai Kumanika for Crooked Media. Our senior producer is Peter Bresnan. Our managing producer is Leo Duran. Our senior story editor is Diane Hodson. Our producer is Sam Riddell. Bowen Wong and Sydney Rapp are our associate producers. Original score by Axel Kakoutier. Sound design and mixing by Kareem Duwaidi with assistant editing by Natalie Escudero. Our historical consultant and fact checker is History Studios for Wondry. Our senior producer is Mandy Gorenstein. Our senior story editor is Phyllis Fletcher. Our coordinating producer is Mariah Gossett. Executive producer at Push Black is Lily Werknech. Executive producers at Crooked Media are Sara Geismer, Katie Long, Tommy Vitor and Diane Hodson. Executive producers at Wondry are n'j'jeri Eaton, George Lavender, Marshall, Louie and Jen Sargent.