In the week before Tuesday's mayoral election, Andrew Cuomo began driving around town in a 1996 white Ford Bronco, which he repeatedly went out of his way to tell reporters was "not the O.J. Bronco."
So what kind of Bronco was it? According to Cuomo, it was his "good luck truck," and one that he illegally parked in a bike lane on the eve of the election.
And what does it look like when that truck runs out of luck, much like Cuomo did when he took an almost nine-point drubbing from Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday night?
It looks a lot like getting a parking ticket.
Cuomo's Bronco was spotted by an eagle-eyed New Yorker on Wednesday while walking past the former governor's Sutton Place apartment. (We're not identifying our tipster as they're worried about potential job ramifications for snitching on the former governor.)
The Bronco was parked directly outside of Cuomo's East 54th Street rental building, in a clearly marked "truck loading only" zone that also happened to be an active construction site.
"I walk down to the river past his apartment building a couple of times a week, and I hadn't seen it before, but I had seen it in the news, so I knew exactly what it was," our tipster told us. They added, "There were construction guys trying to not hit it and maneuvering around it."
Our tipster then filed a 311 complaint about the Bronco.
"At first I thought it was funny, but then I knew it was illegal parking, no one's allowed to park there. I wanted to report it," they said.
In the 311 complaint our tipster filed, they wrote, "Parked in a truck loading only zone. Unless he's moving out today then I guess give him a break."
The NYPD did not give him a break. Seventeen minutes later, the 311 app reported that the Bronco had been given a summons for illegal parking.
Hell Gate reached out to Cuomo's spokesperson Rich Azzopardi about the ticket, who told Hell Gate that "if true, the ticket will be paid and I wish you all the luck in the world once this piece gets submitted for Pulitzer consideration."
Cuomo's Bronco also racked up a couple of tickets in April of this year, per the site How's My Driving, one for parking in a bus lane and one for missing either a front or back license plate.
For our tipster, reporting the former governor's vehicle "felt pretty good." They added, "I'm happy to cause him one more little aggravation. I wasn't expecting to see the car, it was pretty funny timing, and it was great that after he lost he was held accountable for all his misdeeds."
Update (11:06 a.m.): After we published this story, Cuomo's spokesperson Rich Azzopardi reached out to us with a bone to pick. "It was an 8 point race. 42 percent on an independent line that was buried on the ballot. The difference between an 8 and a 10 point race is 41k votes and change. At least pretend to be honest with your readers," he wrote.
Zohran Mamdani defeated Andrew Cuomo by an 8.8 percent margin. Hell Gate has updated the story to read that Cuomo "took an almost nine-point drubbing" on Tuesday night.