OEM boss worries fed probes could distract city leadership, undermine public safety: report
The series of federal probes into the Adams administration could critically undermine the city’s ability to keep New Yorkers safe, warned the boss of the Office of Emergency Management.
Commissioner Zach Iscol candidly told senior OEM staff Friday on a private call that the onslaught of investigations and raids this week could prove to be a distraction among the administration’s leadership.
“This is not good,” he said, according to a recording of the meeting obtained by The Associated Press.
“There’s a lot going on in the city and the thing that I’m most concerned about is city leadership being distracted,” said Iscol, who added he had not spoken to City Hall leadership yet.
OEM, which handles the city’s emergency procedures, is part of the portfolio handled by Deputy Mayor Philip Banks III, whose home was raided and phones seized by the feds this week.
Councilman Bob Holden (D-Queens) — who earlier this week called on Police Commissioner Edward Caban to resign after federal agents seized his phones as well during a raid, in addition to those of other members of the NYPD — said he shared Iscol’s concerns.
With the investigations looming, leaders like Caban are almost likely to feel less confident in their own decision-making “so that’ll take its toll on public safety.”
“If you’re under investigation, are you going to be as confident, as focused?” he told The Post.
“Public safety is paramount in New York City — especially now — and we need all hands on deck,” he added. “You can’t be operating at 100% with a federal probe hanging over your head.”
Other top officials in the administration whose devices were seized in recent days include Police Commissioner Edward Caban; First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright; Banks’ brother, David Banks, the city’s schools chancellor.
Another top Adams aide – retired NYPD inspector Timothy Pearson – also had his phones subpoenaed, according to the sources.
None have been accused of any crime.
The probes are being led by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, who have also been investigating Adams’ 2021 campaign in another unrelated high-profile investigation, sources said.
Federal agents have targeted at least eight of Adams’ top aides, beginning with his campaign fundraiser Brianna Suggs, whose home was raided in November over allegations of a kickback scheme involving City Hall and the Turkish government.
In a separate investigation, overseen by the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn, FBI agents in February stormed two properties belonging to Winnie Greco, who served as Adams’ director of Asian affairs.
Federal prosecutors probing his 2021 election fundraising slapped Hizzoner as well as City Hall officials and his campaign with a grand jury subpoena.
City Hall spokesman Fabien Levy batted away concerns that the investigations will have any affect on New Yorkers’ safety, pointing to declining crime stats city since the first federal raids in November and the city’s response on Wednesday to flooding in the Queens Midtown Tunnel.
“At the end of the day, New Yorkers care about whether the streets still safe, is the garbage still getting picked up, can kids go to school. And the answer to each of those questions is a resounding yes,” he said.
An OEM spokesman said Iscol and the Adams administration “remain engaged on the mission of public safety.”
With Post wires
