NY POLICE UNION BOSS MAY BE IN DEEP SHIT

FBI raids NYPD’s Sergeants Benevolent Association offices in mail and wire fraud probe

 

By Tina Moore, Joe Marino, Ben Feuerherd, Kevin Sheehan, Elizabeth Rosner and Bruce Golding

 

New York Post

October 5, 2021 

The FBI raided the home and office of the controversial head of the NYPD’s Sergeants Benevolent Association on Tuesday morning as part of a probe into potential mail and wire fraud, law enforcement sources told The Post.

Agents seized computer gear from SBA president Ed Mullins’ house in Port Washington, Long Island, after entering around 6 a.m., sources said.

Other potential evidence, including boxes of documents, was also carried out of SBA headquarters on Worth Street in Lower Manhattan, sources said.

Around eight agents emerged shortly after 1 p.m., two of whom carried unsealed boxes, one of which held a jacket and a backpack.

The agents declined to comment.

 

                  FBI agents leaving the SBA office in Manhattan after the raid

 

A high-ranking law enforcement official said the probe involved suspicions of mail and wire fraud.

FBI spokesperson Martin Feely confirmed the raids but wouldn’t elaborate on the nature of the probe.

“We are carrying out a law enforcement action in connection with an ongoing investigation. I cannot confirm the details of the investigation,” Feely said in an email to The Post.

Calls to Mullins’ cellphone went straight to voicemail but around 3:15 p.m. he pulled into his driveway and remotely activated the garage door while behind the wheel of a black Chevrolet Suburban with low-profile police lights.

He then darted inside, ignoring questions from The Post.

About 15 minutes later, he slipped out the front door with a bag slung over his shoulder and what appeared to be a laptop bag in hand, dashed to the SUV and took off, again ignoring The Post’s questions.

Lawyers for the SBA — which represents 13,000 members as the fifth-largest police union in the country, according to its website — didn’t immediately return requests for comment.

A neighbor who lives across the street from Mullins said she saw “three guys dressed all in black on his lawn” when she went out to walk her dog around 8:30 a.m.

 

The FBI confirmed the probe, but details of the investigation into the union are unclear

 

“The dog inside his house was barking like crazy! It kept barking for about an hour. He has a pit bull,” she said.

“There are always cops there but this was different. You always see an undercover car parked out front but the way the dog was freaking out, I never heard that before.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has publicly sparred with Mullins, said during his daily briefing that “you know what I’ve said about him.”

“I think a lot of what he has done has been really, really destructive, especially in the middle of a crisis where we’re trying to unify and we’re trying to get people through together,” de Blasio said.

“I think he’s been a divisive voice, but that doesn’t cause me to feel anything in this situation, because I don’t know what’s happening. All I hear is an FBI raid … I want to really hear the details before I comment further.”

The war of words between Mullins and de Blasio includes a February 2020 tweet in which the union leader said the SBA was going to “war” against him after a gunman tried to kill cops in two separate incidents.

 

The SBA office at 35 Worth St. in Manhattan, which was raided by the FBI this morning

 

“Mayor DeBlasio, the members of the NYPD are declaring war on you! We do not respect you, DO NOT visit us in hospitals,” Mullins wrote.

“You sold the NYPD to the vile creatures, the 1% who hate cops but vote for you. NYPD cops have been assassinated because of you. This isn’t over, Game on!”

In June 2020, Mullins also tweeted an unredacted arrest report on the mayor’s daughter, Chiara de Blasio, after she was busted during a Manhattan protest over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

“How can the NYPD protect the city of NY from rioting anarchist when the Mayors object throwing daughter is one of them. Now we know why he is forbidding Mounted units to be mobilized and keeping the NYPD from doing their jobs,” he wrote.

 

                                                     The SBA office in Manhattan

 

The following month, de Blasio publicly called Mullins a “liar” and a “disgrace,” and accused him of fomenting “hatred ” and dividing the city.

“I have no respect for the leadership of the SBA,” de Blasio added.

In February, Mullins was slapped with NYPD disciplinary charges for tweeting Chiara de Blasio’s arrest report and other tweets in which he called a city official and a city council member a “bitch” and a “first class whore,” respectively.

The case went to trial in September but was put on hold when one of Mullins’ lawyers experienced an unspecified medical emergency.

It’s set to resume on Oct. 27.

Mullins also sparked outrage in 2019 when he circulated a racist video to members of the SBA and urged them to “pay close attention to every word.”

 

According to reports, the home of union president Ed Mullins was also raided by FBI agents

 

During a New York Times podcast interview last week, Democratic mayoral nominee and former NYPD captain Eric Adams was asked about the video, which called subsidized housing projects “dens of crime and violence” where “blacks will continue to attack and ambush us forever.”

“I believe in his mind, that was truth,” Adams said.

“You’re seeing as we redefine public safety in this country, what are you watching? You’re watching a high level of retirement. Men and women who can’t fit into this new mode of policing are going to find themselves going the way of the dinosaurs.”

Adams added: “And this is going to diversify the department with Ed Mullins and others who believe rhetoric like that are not going to be able to remain in these agencies.”

ADDENDUM: Union boss Ed Mullins has stepped down.