Top Eric Adams adviser Frank Carone arrested, ex-NYPD officials raided in sweeping corruption probes: sources

Eric Adams’ former top adviser and political power broker, Frank Carone, was arrested Wednesday, and several ex-NYPD officials were raided, as part of multiple separate corruption probes.

Carone had his home searched by the feds in the early morning operation and was arrested in an alleged bribery scheme, according to police sources.

Carrone’s brother, Anthony Carrone, was also busted in the raids after Frank — while serving as Adams’ chief of staff — allegedly received a bribe connected to a homeless shelter contract with a hotel that he funneled through his brother, according to sources.

Yan Po Zhu, the owner of a Queens hotel, and Zhu’s employee, Crystal Chen, were also cuffed in the alleged bribery scheme, law enforcement sources said.

The exact charges were not immediately known.

The indictment is expected to be unsealed in Brooklyn Federal Court Wednesday afternoon.

Separately, the NYPD hit the homes of former Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey, 

Assistant Chief James McCarthy and the once top police spokesperson Tarik Sheppard, according to the sources. McCarthy has been placed on modified duty, according to the NYPD.

Those cases stemmed from the NYPD probe into Maddrey’s alleged misappropriation of funds, and the FBI was called in to assist in the investigation.

Sources said cops are looking into potential bribery and other official misconduct by former high-ranking police officials, including potential wrongdoing in how promotions and assignments were doled out.

No arrests were expected to be made Wednesday in connection with the NYPD raids.

The FBI conducted the raid on Maddrey’s home while the NYPD conducted the searches of the other NYPD officials targeted under the investigation.

It wasn’t immediately clear how many total arrests were made in the alleged Carrone bribery matter.

“This morning, members of the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau and the FBI executed search warrants as part of a criminal investigation being pursued by the NYPD, the FBI, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. The investigation is ongoing and concerns conduct by former and current members of the NYPD,” said Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch. 

“When I became Police Commissioner, I promised New Yorkers that under my leadership the NYPD would conduct itself with integrity and that there would be a thorough investigation of any claim that members of service failed to meet that standard.

“This investigation and our actions this morning are part of the ongoing effort to fulfill that commitment and hold the Department to its highest ideals.”

Allegations of criminal wrongdoing have long dogged Carone, who served as Adams’ chief of staff for his first year. 

The first federal case he was tangled in stemmed from accusations surrounding a Brooklyn church and Monsignor Jamie Gigantiello.

The feds slapped Gigantiello and Carone with subpoenas connected to the church’s finances in 2024.

Maddrey, meanwhile, was forced to resign from the department in late 2024 amid a sexual scandal where he was accused of forcing an underling to perform intimate favors in exchange for overtime. 

McCarthy also previously had his phone seized by the feds, along with a number of other top NYPD officials.

Adams’s spokesperson, Todd Shapiro, lauded Carrone’s career in a statement Wednesday morning and said they were praying for him.

“Frank Carone has dedicated decades of his life to public service, the legal profession, and helping countless individuals, businesses, and charitable organizations throughout New York,” the statement said.

“This is an ongoing legal matter and my prayers are with his family.”

Adams and his staff have been plagued by corruption allegations, with the former mayor himself previously facing an indictment that was dismissed under the Trump administration.

He had been charged with receiving $120,000 in travel perks in exchange for rushing the approval of the opening of a Turkish Consulate in Manhattan. However, the Department of Justice dropped the case in 2025 — a move a judge approved — barring any further prosecution tied to those allegations.

Adams’ former aide and confidante, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, was also charged last year for allegedly steering city contracts for migrant shelters to property owners who gave her bribes, prosecutors alleged.

She was separately indicted in 2024 for allegedly accepting a $100,000 bribe to pay off her son’s Porsche in exchange for helping two businessmen.

She has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial in both cases.

Tony Herbert, then-Mayor Adams’ citywide public housing liaison, was cuffed in January for two alleged pay-to-play schemes for which he received $16,000 in bribes.

Herbert was previously canned for calling Charlie Kirk’s shooting “karma.” He’s pleaded not guilty and his trial is pending.

And Mohamed Bahi, Adams’ then-chief liaison to the Muslim Community, pleaded guilty in a straw donor campaign scheme and was sentenced to three years’ probation and one year of house arrest.

The City’s former Building Department head, Eric Ulrich, is also facing a trial in September on charges he traded political favors for more than $150,000 in bribes.

He has also pleaded not guilty.