Ed Mullins, disgraced former president of the NYPD's Sergeants Benevolent Association, was sentenced to two years in federal prison on Thursday after he pled guilty to stealing around $600,000 from his union's members by filing fake expense reports and pocketing the difference. Mullins's legal nightmare began when the FBI raided his office and his Long Island home in October 2021, after which he quickly resigned from the police force.
"Your Honor, I offer these words to be placed on the record in the hope that others will learn and realize the result of what happens when good men fall from grace," Mullins reportedly told the judge before he was sentenced. "For nearly 22 months, I have been existing in the shell of the man I used to be. I live daily in a world of regret with an unforgiving soul that never seems to heal. Life has completely crashed all around me, leaving me with a great deal of time to think."
That flair for the dramatic is what made Mullins stand out in a sea of dirty, dirty New York cops—not the fact that he committed fraud as the head of a police union. Just earlier this year, ex-New York State Trooper Kenneth Wynder Jr. was convicted of conspiracy and wire fraud for stealing $500,000 in union money as the president of the Law Enforcement Employees Benevolent Association. Wynder Jr. committed his fraud with a little more pizzazz—according to the feds, Mullins's MO was bumping up the number on receipts before expensing things to the union, while Wynder and his co-conspirator Andrew Brown, LEEBA's "former financial advisor," were straight-up cutting themselves checks and making withdrawals from other members' retirement funds so they could go to Dallas Cowboys games.
No, it was Mullins's way with words—and mastery of acting batshit insane online—that put him in the spotlight again and again (and, eventually, got him docked 70 vacation days after his home was raided by the feds). He tweeted Bill de Blasio's daughter's address in July 2020; flexed his QAnon mug on Fox News; called a top-ranking City health official a "bitch" and then-Councilmember Ritchie Torres a "first class whore." He essentially made the (now archived) official SBA Twitter account into a firehose spraying non-stop, ecstatic fear-mongering bon mots about violent crime in New York City to its followers and beyond.
It remains to be seen what two years in federal prison will do to Mullins's attitude on crime. But so far, getting caught with his hand in the cookie jar seems to have done nothing to dampen Mullins's poetic vitality. I mean, "I live daily in a world of regret with an unforgiving soul that never seems to heal"? Dude. Relax.
Some more links to think about:
- William Hochul is out at hospitality giant Delaware North after years of awkward maneuvering around the fact that, yes, his wife is that Kathy Hochul. And yes, they do big business with the state.
- Restorative justice win in City Hall? Several people suspected of or convicted of crimes happen to be a part of Eric Adams's inner circle.
- Somehow, the City found beds for the 150 or so migrants who've been camping on the sidewalk outside of the Roosevelt Hotel, but not before the waiting crowd got the chance to heckle Eric Adams.
- The situation is clearly getting to the mayor, who is only human after all.He did what many of us have done in times of stress and sent a really aggressive email before a meeting with Queens lawmakers, asking them to list what they've done to help combat the migrant crisis. Queens borough president Donovan Richards told Gothamist "he initially laughed at the email, adding, 'I want to give him a little grace.'"
- At least 13 people were injured when a LIRR train derailed in Jamaica.
- Damn, they must be desperate—City councilmembers just sent a letter asking Pete Buttigieg for help dealing with "ghost plates."
- Four of City Council candidate James Pai's staffers—including his own daughter—have been implicated in a lawsuit over absentee ballots that the actual voters say they never requested.
- Food $200, Data $150, Rent $800, Widening the Van Wyck Expressway $763 million, Utility $150. Someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my family is dying
- And speaking of worthwhile transit projects: "The MTA is looking at ways to expand the city’s subway system into the virtual world — and onto gaming platforms, agency records reveal."
- ACAB includes FreshDirect now.
- Yeah, based on my own work in the field, I actually don't have a hard time believing the average New York resident consumes 6.9 grams of weed a year.
- And finally, will the mayor let his left-leaning challengers take a lesson from the works of J.D. Salinger and figure out that Adams is the only one who's not a big phony? (Sorry, we're still workshopping this one, but you should still read the article.)
