(The Center Square) — Top NYPD brass doled out coveted jobs in specialty units to “unqualified” friends and sold promotions for cash, according to several lawsuits claiming embattled New York City Mayor Eric Adams presided over a culture of “corruption and cronyism” in the nation’s largest police department.
The lawsuits, filed this week in Manhattan Superior Court by former chief of detectives, James Essig, and three other NYPD veterans, allege that improper promotions were pushed by former NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban and former Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey, both of whom resigned last year amid unrelated scandals.
The lawsuits allege that Maddrey, an Adams supporter, ignored internal hiring regulations beginning in 2023 to promote dozens of “unqualified” officers” to top NYPD posts. The former officials allege that Caban was “selling” promotions to hand-picked friends for up to $15,000.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs said in the lawsuit that they were either demoted or forced into retirement after raising concerns about the corruption and mismanagement in the police department.
Essig said in his lawsuit that he was forced to retire in 2023 after 40 years at the NYPD because he pushed back against the improper promotions. He is suing for lost wages, pension increases, as well as punitive damages, and court fees.
Joseph Veneziano, the former assistant chief of the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau, is also a plaintiff in one of the lawsuits. He claims he was retaliated against after he participated in internal investigations.
A City Hall spokeswoman said the administration will review the allegations in the lawsuits but highlighted new data showing a drop in crime in the Big Apple under Adams’ leadership.
“The Adams administration holds all city employees — including leadership at the NYPD — to the highest standards, and our work at the department speaks for itself: crime continues to topple month after month both above and below ground, with our city seeing lowest number of shootings in recorded history,” Adams’ Press Secretary Kayla Mamelak Altus said in a statement. “We will review the lawsuits.”
Caban’s lawyers disputed the claims and vowed to “vigorously defend” the claims in court and is “evaluating all available legal options in response.”
“There is no merit to the allegations raised in these complaints, including the unsupported and reckless suggestion that former Commissioner Caban accepted anything of value in connection with promotions,” they said in a statement.
The lawsuits come as Adams faces an uphill battle running for re-election as an independent candidate. He was indicted on federal corruption charges last year, but the case dropped in a deal with the incoming Trump administration. He will likely face off against democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, a state lawmaker from Queens who won a decisive victory over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in last month’s Democratic primary.
Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa seized on the legal challenges to claim that Adams has run the NYPD “more like a mafia outfit” than a professional police department. “Promotions for sale, investigators punished, honest officers pushed out,” Sliwa said on social media. “This is par for the course with Adams. If you don’t do his bidding, you’re out.”
