❓WHAT HAPPENED: New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani (D) appointed a convicted armed robber, Mysonne Linen, to his public safety transition team.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Zohran Mamdani, Mysonne Linen, and the Until Freedom organization.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The announcement was made on November 26 via Instagram; Mamdani addressed the decision on December 9.
💬KEY QUOTE: “We will take all of their experiences and their analysis into account as we build a city for each and every person.” – Zohran Mamdani
🎯IMPACT: The decision has prompted increased scrutiny of Mamdani’s incoming team.
New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani (D) has defended appointing Mysonne Linen, a 49-year-old former armed robber, to advise him on criminal justice policy as part of his mayoral transition team. Mamdani described the inclusion of Linen among the more than 400 New Yorkers across 17 committees as an effort to draw on “diverse experiences and analyses from New Yorkers,” adding, “We will take all of their experiences and their analysis into account as we build a city for each and every person.”
Linen spent seven years in state prison after being convicted in the late 1990s of two armed robberies involving Bronx taxi drivers. Prosecutors say that in 1997, he struck one driver with a beer bottle during a robbery, and in 1998, held another driver at gunpoint, allegations both victims testified to. Linen’s defense at the time argued he had no motive, claiming he was focused on a budding music career. He had reportedly worked as a songwriter for prominent artists such as Lil’ Kim and Mase. Ultimately, he served seven years of a possible 25-year sentence and maintains that he was wrongfully accused.
The appointment of Linen, co-founder of the organization Until Freedom, has stirred sharp criticism. Some law enforcement groups and political opponents argue that entrusting criminal justice policy to someone with a serious felony conviction undermines the credibility of the incoming administration.
Mamdani, a 34-year-old Democratic Socialist and Ugandan immigrant, will assume office on January 1, 2026, having won office on a sweeping “affordability” platform that included rent freezes, fare-free public transit, universal childcare, city-owned grocery stores, and a plan to build 200,000 affordable housing units. To fund these proposals, he has called for steep tax increases on corporations and “whiter” neighborhoods.
Some of his proposals have already met resistance from state leadership. Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul, who had backed Mamdani’s candidacy, is reportedly weighing whether to raise the state corporate tax rate despite her longstanding opposition to tax hikes, as New York faces an estimated multibillion-dollar budget shortfall.
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