Eric Adams wants to ‘collaborate’ with gang members to curb violence
Democratic mayoral contender Eric Adams said Tuesday that he wants to “collaborate” with “top gang members” — some of whom have apparently been charged with murder — to rein in gun violence in the city.
“It can’t just be heavy-handed,” he said of the city’s approach to violent crime. “I met with some of the top gang members. Some of them had bodies. Some of them have cases for bodies. And I sat down with them to say, ‘Listen, we have to deal with ending this violence in our city.’ And I want to continue to collaborate with them, crisis management teams and others who are doing amazing jobs to stem the violence in our city.”
Adams, who currently serves as Brooklyn borough president and has made crime-fighting the centerpiece of his mayoral campaign, signaled his plans to keep the lines of communication open with accused murderers during a radio spot Tuesday morning on 105.1 FM’s the Breakfast Club.
His opponent, long-shot Republican contender Curtis Sliwa, called Adams’ statement “crazy” and “absolutely mind-boggling.”
“He sat down with killers. That’s a hell of a lot different than gang leaders or gang members,” Sliwa told the Daily News. “Not only does it legitimize them, it tells their members that the Brooklyn borough president — and maybe the mayor — is sitting down with us. That gives them tremendous street cred.”
Like Adams, Sliwa has been vocal in his support of violence interrupter programs, which is what Adams was presumably referring to Tuesday morning. But Sliwa has criticized those programs in their current form for not sharing information they gather with police and for what he views as a failure to get results.
Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels, said the difference between his neighborhood patrol group, which has recruited gang members in the past, and other programs is that his members share information with the NYPD.
The brouhaha over Adams’ Breakfast Club statement spilled over into Tuesday night’s debate, the second and final face-off between the two.
Sliwa didn’t waste time re-upping his earlier attacks against Adams and demanded he divulge the names of gang leaders he’s met with.
“Could you tell us who those gang leaders were that you met with and which gangs?” he said. “I think the public has a right to know for someone who declares himself to be the law and order candidate.”
Adams responded in kind, pointing to Sliwa’s admission decades ago that he faked crimes to drum up publicity for the Guardian Angels.
“Let’s be clear. There’s only one candidate on this stage that actually faked crimes,” said Adams, a former NYPD captain. “While I was protecting people in this city, this candidate on the other side was faking crimes. Here’s what I’m doing: public safety is intervention and prevention. Intervention is right now. I’m speaking to those who have committed crimes to get them out of gangs.”
Adams’ earlier statements on the hip hop-geared radio show, which is hosted by Angela Yee, Charlamagne Tha God and DJ Envy, were his boldest yet when it comes to his support for violence interrupter programs, which aim to proactively prevent violence through interventions, some of which are performed by former gang members.
On his campaign’s website, Adams voices support for such programs, but instead of talking about “gang members” who’ve racked up “bodies,” he uses the term “trauma-trained credible messengers.”
“We will supply adequate services that address trauma and allow for healing, reducing the risk of incarceration, teenage pregnancy and homelessness,” his website states. “Prevention and follow-up measures that serve to heal and support these youth are best delivered by trauma-trained credible messengers paired with mental health professionals, social services and violence interrupters.”
Adams’ spokesman Evan Thies acknowledged after the morning show that the rhetoric was a departure for Adams, noting that he was “speaking to young people.”
Thies later clarified that Adams’ remarks about people who “have cases for bodies” referred to murder cases that had already been resolved, not active cases.
During the show, Adams also doubled down on policing policies he’s talked about repeatedly on the campaign trial, such as addressing the fact that so many incarcerated people exhibit learning disabilities and haven’t completed a high school education.
“We have to stop the flow of guns in our city that’s coming from the southern states,” he added, referring to what’s known as the Iron Pipeline. “We need to put in place a gang and gun task force here in this city so we can do precision policing on those gang members that are really causing a lot of the shootings and stabbings that you’re seeing in the city.”
That rhetoric is much more in line with what he’s said on more conservative-leaning news outlets like Bloomberg, where he called the Big Apple “a city of disorder” in September.
In recent months, Mayor de Blasio has touted the role violence interrupters have played in trying to prevent shootings, but the programs are not without their blemishes.
Last year, the Daily News reported about how one prominent violence interrupter Shanduke McPhatter was accused of threatening a neighbor by invoking his ties to the Bloods street gang.
McPhatter, a former Bloods member who founded the violence interrupter group, Gangstas Making Astronomical Community Changes, was honored by Adams with a proclamation and is running to replace him as Brooklyn borough president.
