Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

It's worth cataloging the mounting evidence of shadiness, if not illegality, around the relationship between Mayor Eric Adams and his chief of staff, Frank Carone, long a key ally while Adams was Brooklyn Borough President.  Remember, Carone represented the scofflaw nightclub Woodland, which Adams defended to the hilt. He and his firm also represented Forest City, developer of big-box stores at Site 5, in its battle, now resolved, with P.C. Richard, which claimed it was promised space in the future tower across from the arena. A Times scoop In a thorough and damning investigation,  As Adams Praised a New Police Tool, a Close Ally Had a Stake in the Maker , the New York Times reported 5/18/22 that BolaWrap, a Kevlar tether that immobilizes suspect, was boosted by the Borough President multiple times: What was not widely known as Mr. Adams lauded the device was that his friend, political benefactor and current chief of staff, Frank Carone, had a significant financial...

Drip, drip. drip. The evidence mounts regarding unseemly, if not unsavory, professional connections between Mayor Eric Adams' Chief of Staff, Frank Carone, and the felonious Petrosyants brothers, one of whom (Zhan, or Johnny), is close friends with Adams. Adams' spokesman said  on Twitter, in response to the New York Daily News, "Carone and the Petrosyants are not in business and haven't been in business together. They are friends." That's a reference to referrals to a health care business that the newspaper unearthed. From Prime Six lawsuit But they have been in business together, a fact that's gotten far too little attention--as has Adams's connection to that previous business. The Woodland case As I reported in 2019, Carone and his law firm Abrams Fensterman represented the scofflaw Park Slope bar/nightclub Woodland, eventually stripped of its liquor license by the State Liquor Authority (SLA), As stated in a lawsuit  authored by Carone on behalf...

According to a 12/30/21 post on Scheps' Politics NY regarding Frank Carone, Mayor Eric Adams's incoming chief of staff, "Forbes once cited him as 'one of the foremost experts on business negotiating strategy' in the country." Oh, really?  Keep in mind, as Joshua Benton recently wrote in Neiman Lab, "Forbes became known as the best way to disguise PR as news." Well, search Forbes and you can find a 10/16/18 post from former contributor Russ Alan Prince--who "consult[s] with family offices, the ultra-wealthy and select professionals"--headlined  For Great Business Negotiators It Is All About Results, Not Ego : According to Frank Carone, executive partner at Abrams, Fensterman and one of the foremost experts on business negotiating strategy, “Great business negotiators often go unnoticed. At the very least, they’re not pushing others out of the way to be in the spotlight. For them it’s not about taking victory laps or about the glory and ad...

Well, now that Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams is the Democratic mayoral nominee and presumptive next mayor for at least four and likely eight years--mayors rarely lose re-election--we'll be hearing more about who he listens to. And as with Bill de Blasio's "Circle of Power"  (circa 2013!) there's something of an Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park connection. From the New York Times today,  Meet Eric Adams’s Inner Circle , we get: Frank Carone, prominent lawyer and Adams confidant Mr. Carone, a longtime counsel to the Brooklyn Democratic Party with a reputation as an old-school power broker, has been an ally of Mr. de Blasio’s. He is politically influential, though some of his dealings over the years have drawn scrutiny. He has been a key donor, adviser and friend to Mr. Adams — Mr. Adams has worked out of office space belonging to Mr. Carone’s firm, an arrangement that Mr. Adams had to account for during the campaign. Well, the Politico article linked was a bit...