We Hear…
From several disparate sources that NYC Mayor Eric Adams will be indicted before year’s end. To the point that the next-in-line, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, is lining up his personnel moves. This writer has yet to see evidence that rises anywhere near to that level. But judging by Adams’s demeanor here… it ain’t looking good.
That close Adams associate and Deputy Mayor For Public Safety Phil Banks ( an unindicted co-conspirator in a previous police scandal) may be out on an official leave-of-absence. Unknown if his retreat is related to the current Adams investigation. But the police rumor mill is churning, big-time.
Meanwhile, as Adams laments the financial strain the migrant crisis has (undoubtedly) inflicted on NYC — to the point that he’s cancelled the next five NYPD Academy classes — there’s this: since taking office, Adams has started at least 10 new city agencies.
By my count, he’s up to about 12 now (including this ludicrous fail). And all these agencies need employee benefits, pensions, cars, office space, computers, liability insurance….
This, after Adams’s predecessor, Bill de Blasio, enlarged NYC government by roughly 325,000 workers — to its highest ever. Even The New York Times found it excessive — and wrote that Eric Adams might have to “rein it in.”
He didn’t. So who are all these employees? And what on earth are they doing?
As I’ve stated on-air: The migrant crisis is indeed hurting the city. But blaming them for all the city’s current woes is a smokescreen.
The Stars Have Aligned In Gemini
News comes now that Tony Senter, member of one of the most notoriously bloodthirsty mafia crews the city’s ever seen, is about to be paroled from his life sentence in federal prison.
(Anthony Senter — NYPD booking photo. He had a few….)
Senter, along with compatriot Joey Testa, was one-half of the infamous “Gemini Twins” — members of the Gambino crew headed by the notorious Roy DeMeo (whose crew is believed to be responsible for upwards of 200 killings in the 70’s and 80’s).
The gang was known for carrying out murders in the back of the Gemini Lounge bar in the Flatlands section of Brooklyn, then carving up and bleeding out the bodies before disposing of them in a landfill.
The Gemini was as creepy a place as you could imagine. How do I know? I was there as a kid.
Back then, common in Brooklyn were “bar leagues” — that is, softball teams which represented taverns. The teams were sponsored by the saloons, providing money generally for jerseys and maybe hats. In return, losers of a game were obliged to go drink in the winning team’s bar after the game (which was an easy enough sell).
From a conversation with one of my uncles: “Oh God. The place just had the creepiest feel. You walked in, it was dark and quiet and you drew stares. It was just off. Like one of those places that time forgot. We couldn’t get out of there fast enough.”
To be honest, I only have the vaguest memory of it (I was just a tagalong, in early grade school). But I doubt anyone complained about warm beer.
Btw: the Gemini Lounge building now? “The Flatlands Church of God.”
I kid you not.
And finally…
Um, as the old saying goes, if you find yourself in a hole, stop digging….
I think we know one cop who got some DWI overtime.
Thanks for reading The Ops Desk. Stay Safe!
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