Paranoid police officials meeting in parking lots as fed raids leave NYPD, City Hall in shock: sources
The feds’ stunning raids on Mayor Eric Adams’ top administration officials and closest political allies have left the NYPD and City Hall in a state of shock — with paranoid police brass meeting in parking lots, sources said on Tuesday.
Several police executives were spotted Monday meeting in the fenced-off, secured lot instead of inside One Police Plaza, with law enforcement sources telling The Post that they’re afraid NYPD headquarters is bugged and their words are being recorded.
“The feds are telling us they can get to anybody, anytime, anywhere,” one source said of last week’s raids. “And that is unprecedented.”
The mayor himself — who’s had several different phone numbers and is known for using the encrypted messaging app Signal — has kept up his practice, with one City Council source saying the last number they had for Hizzoner was “two phones ago.”
Officials and administrators have also boosted their longstanding bug sweeps of NYPD HQ — as well as several city vehicles, including any used by the mayor, sources said.
Even before last week’s tumult, they had made daily rounds to ensure there were no hidden recording devices inside the building or the vehicles, sources said.
But as the level of concern inside the administration has risen, so too has the frequency of the sweeps.
Political sources said Ingrid Lewis-Martin, the mayor’s chief adviser, has scolded people who might be saying a bit too much over possibly recorded lines.
“Don’t say that on the phone!” sources recalled her telling them during phone conversations.
Her apparent hesitation to do business over the phone emerged after a Manhattan District Attorney’s Office wiretap caught several people in the Adams administration, with the probe resulting in the indictment of ex-city Department of Buildings head Eric Ulrich on charges of taking bribes in exchange for political favors in September 2023. He has pleaded not guilty.
The following month, Manhattan federal prosecutors’ investigation into Adams’ 2021 campaign came to light with the raid on the Brooklyn home of his fundraiser Brianna Suggs, who has been dubbed Lewis-Martin’s political “goddaughter.”
The more recent raids are also tied to probes out of the Southern District of New York, but sources said they involve sweeping corruption and influence peddling — and have resulted in an aura of absolute paranoia.
Some officials have even equated the feds’ shock-and-awe-style campaign to the London Blitz — the Germans’ ferocious, months-long bombing campaign against the United Kingdom that sought to drive the Brits out of World War II.
“The NYPD is the mayor’s most important agency, the agency he knows best,” one source said. “And [the feds] sent the message that they could take out its critical infrastructure.”
Among those ensnared by the federal dragnet are Police Commissioner Edward Caban, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks, Schools Chancellor David Banks and First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, law enforcement sources have said.
Federal agents showed up at their homes early last Wednesday, waving warrants and seizing their electronic devices.
The feds have also targeted Phil and David Banks’ brother, Terence Banks — a former MTA official who has turned to consulting work — and top Adams aide Timothy Pearson, who has had his phone subpoenaed, among many others.
No one has been accused of wrongdoing.
