Eric Adams details his $7 billion migrant crisis costs, defends against a dismissed $20 million Turkish Airlines bribery conspiracy, and critiques the proposed $16 billion Rikers Island jail expansion. He argues for replacing incarceration with a psychiatric facility since 51% of inmates have mental health issues while exposing what he calls a "permanent government" weaponizing prosecutors. Adams also champions NYC's diverse enclaves over isolated communities, advocates for better police compensation to curb corruption, and insists word-of-mouth remains superior to tabloid marketing despite his own survival from a shooting. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
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The Migrant Crisis Cost00:02:54
The mayor is the second most powerful position in America.
Do you know like what happened with Epstein?
As Obama said, if you say it, they got to kill you.
Oh, wait.
So do you know?
No, no, no.
I have no idea.
So tell us what happened with the migrant crisis.
Oh, great question.
So let's talk about the migrants.
This cost us $7 billion.
This was the tipping point where I decided I got to publicly criticize the Biden administration.
Yeah, so listen, and I don't want to get conspiratorial.
After you come out, all of a sudden, the Justice Department looks into Eric Adams.
And there's this thing about Turkish airlines, right?
Do you think there's any connection to those two?
I think you're done right, I do.
Do you know who you think it came from?
That's a great question.
And I don't want to sound conspiracy theory, but there's a permanent government.
Is this like what people refer to?
And I think this word has been used too much, but like the deep state or whatever.
It's not used too much.
It's real, brother.
Mayors come and go.
President's come and go.
Governor's come and go.
Permanent government is real.
And whoever's trying to act like it's not real is a lie.
Which borough has the most attractive women?
I think all of them have great shorties.
There it is, everybody.
This is awesome.
Thank you so much.
Born and raised New Yorkers, Alex and I.
Okay.
Probably know where he is.
We got this.
This girl's got to be so gassy right now.
She's going to be telling everybody.
I'm a shorty in Far Rock.
I'm here shorty.
Do we know who that girl is?
What's that story?
What's that show?
I used to come on with the real.
Some of the they asked the person, the panelists questions and they say, with the real, whoever is staying up then, oh yeah, I forgot, his truth is it's something maybe.
Yeah, now I'll get the name of it to come to me when I come on.
So you know, probably everybody's running around and saying I'm the shorty, I'm the shorty, I'm the shorty, you know so oh, so you have a lot of other girls claiming that they're the shorty.
Yeah, so it's possible there could be multiple shorties, not far.
Rocky he made that turn one time and he's like it's too far.
We got girls in Jamaica.
Guys, let's?
Start the show today.
Our illustrious uh guest is a true New York success story.
I don't know if this has ever happened before.
I don't know if it'll ever happen again.
Uh, from my research he, he went from literally one of the dudes doing the squeegee on your car when you have to stop sign and you don't want it to.
Mayor of New York City, give it up for Eric Adams everybody okay, is that?
Is that true about the squeegee?
You know the um, you know but, but back then, back then you had to be creative to.
Creative Ways to Survive00:02:54
You know, just help the family right, and you know, I think that is what the total sum of your life experiences yeah, allow you to be whomever you are, like you, all of you, you sit in the room, you guys are successful, but think about the total, the total of all of your experiences.
Yeah, of course, get in here, sit down and have real authentic conversations.
That's why people connect with your show yeah because, uh of you know, it's just an authentic conversation.
Dude, this is, this is one of the things that we were, you know, as we were doing like prep for this.
I'm watching all these videos from you and I'm like, I'm so curious, like are you aware of the moments you have that go viral?
Like you know, like does it hit you?
Like it hits because you say some stuff like obviously, the Shorty and Far Rock thing was crazy right, but there are other things you say like remember when you were we have the video, I almost want you to watch it like when you were teaching the parents how to find drugs and they Sorry.
Have you watched this?
Have you watched this?
Yes, yes.
I love this piece, man.
This is some of my best friends.
Great to sense.
All right, let's go.
Let's break it down.
I love this.
As a baby doll.
It could be just a baby doll, but also it could be a place where you can secrete or hide drugs.
Those are those pillows.
Like a ball like this with the button.
Oh, the button.
I felt something bumpy.
I'm going to reach it.
It's just a pillow.
Oh, damn.
Sorry.
Look how far that was.
Now, each one of those scenarios that you saw, the gun in the pillow, the baby doll, those were real scenarios.
You were people who either was arrested, because a lot of people don't know if your child or someone in your household is doing something improper.
They come in and do, and they do a warrant.
They're taking everybody.
They're taking parents in the world.
Right, right.
And so parents often didn't even know what was happening in their home.
And so I said, you know what?
I'm getting all these stories.
So I said, we're going to do a video to show how do you just go through and see what's in your house.
Because, you know, children are slick.
And there's a lot of indicators.
Like, if you see a cut straw with a point on the tip of it, the average parent don't know what that is.
I don't know what that is.
Yeah, it's sniffing.
You sniff.
Back then, you were sniffing coke.
Back then.
I thought it's a Capri son.
So this thing, it's sort of wrong to set parents up and not give them the basic information.
Now, there was a lot of people, I got a lot of pushback from those who were saying, oh, you know, you're violating the rights.
Listen, in the hood, man, this is real stuff, man.
Don't tell me the life you're living.
I'm telling you the life in the.
You say you're violating your kids' rights?
Like, I feel like in your house, your kids.
Violating Kids Rights00:04:52
Yeah.
How many times do I have to say that?
Listen, mom would tell me in a minute, man, boy, you don't have no rights.
Because this is an interesting story, right?
Like, you started out as a kid, and like, I'm doing some research, and like, you had a kind of tough upbringing.
You were doing some kind of, I mean, around some wild stuff, is this how you were set up?
And now, the question is, is why?
You know, when you wake up every morning, there was a ritual, like I have a ritual now that I do every morning.
When you woke up every morning.
What's the ritual?
I'm going to tell you what the ritual happened back then when I was a child.
We got some crystals for you.
And that's true.
Stones have a lot of energy.
And I want to share that.
We got a lot to talk about in an hour and a half.
What type of stuff?
Crackstone has tons of energy.
The best way to start the morning.
But I used to start the morning every morning praying, you know, God don't make me read.
God don't make you read.
Yeah, in school.
Because I was exactly right.
And if I read something and stumbled over the words the whole day, you know, kids are cute, but you know what?
No, the root person.
They would say, let's act like we're Eric Reed and it would stumble over the, you know, right.
And so the whole day you would go through.
You can read the words, you know, right?
That's what I said.
When you look at it, and when you have this like, right.
It mixes up the characters.
Okay.
And so it was to me, I was like, listen, why are you going to school, man?
Why are you going in classroom every day?
Then I just started doing numbers back then before numbers were legal.
What does that mean to people?
Because I think running numbers means like what?
There's like some people that are running a gambling ring and you're making sure that they get those.
Great question.
Great question.
How does that even work?
Before the numbers and stuff.
It doesn't work.
Before the lottery system was in place, there was a, you look in a newspaper at the racetracks and you see these last three numbers, digits, and you could bet on what those last three digits were going to be.
So it's a gambling ring.
I've heard about this, and I definitely heard that it no longer exists in the Dominican neighborhoods in New York.
They definitely don't have their own gambling rate or lottery system.
So that's what the lottery would be.
Exactly.
If you could predict those numbers, there would be privatizing.
25 cents would give you a certain dollar amount.
50 cents would give you a certain dollar.
So you walk around with these slips.
You go around the community.
They come inside the stores and they say, okay, I think 382, I had a dream last night and I saw 382.
You bet on that.
People bet all the time on those numbers and hinges.
There were newspapers that were in the community, whole industry around numbers.
They're giving you advice on the numbers.
And so what I learned later in life, like I learned I was dyslexic in college and I heard a young lady listening to a documentary on dyslexia.
And I took it out and I said, wait a minute, man, I'm not dumb.
I'm dyslexic.
So I went from a D student to a A student once I learned.
Now, when you look at all these young people who are incarcerated, 30 to 40% of them across the country are dyslexic or have a learning disability.
Wow.
So if you feel like they're struggling in school, there's no other opportunity.
They go to, ah, that's it.
They go.
So the crime is not only what they did on the streets, it's what we're doing to them.
Right.
So being able to diagnose these things earlier, same with like mental health.
So we're doing that.
Right now we're doing dyslexia screening.
So we're catching a young person and giving them the services that they need that they don't feel like they're done.
How do you even fix dyslexia?
What are you doing?
All you do is learn differently.
Your mind process, because the words are mumble, the letters are mumble, jumble, mixed up.
But once you learn how to process and learn differently, how you learn.
You can reorganize it.
Exactly, exactly.
And so that led to, like you say, all that crazy stuff you were doing.
I was like, well, why am I sitting in school?
Why am I going there just to so once you become the A student?
Now you go, I need to put those other people in jail.
Like those other people.
They can't finish.
Like, why do these criminals take advantage of my disability and put me on the streets?
That's how you think.
And so, you know, it was, you know, how many dyslexic people you locked up.
Think about it.
Think about it.
He's excited.
Read your ass out of this job.
I bump into people all the time who are doing successful in business.
When they hear my journey being dyslexic, they all say to stop me and say, Eric, you know, I went through the same thing.
Now I'm successful in business.
Because once you push through that, you find that you get through just about anything.
Why Streets Feel Unsafe00:15:55
So when people run around now yelling, booing, oh, we don't like this.
We're like, you're in New York, 8.3 million people, 35 million people.
Lots of opinions.
I say to them, that's all you got?
You know, all you got is to call me a name.
Listen, I'm so used to being called names.
I used to get called names every morning.
What's the best thing you've been called?
Like, is there anything you've been called where you're like, nah, that's kind of funny.
I don't know.
I'm probably asshole is not the top one.
You know, people call, listen, hurt people hurt people and they hurt themselves.
It's not like, you know, I hate you, Eric.
No, people are hating themselves.
Yeah.
And they express that hate, you know, through how they treat people.
Because we're in a place now where everyone is so mean spirit, man.
Yeah.
People don't do this.
Like, this is powerful when you can sit down, have conversations.
Right.
Yeah.
We should seek to understand so that we can be understood.
We have that conversation all the time here.
It's just like nobody wants to understand anybody.
Everybody wants to like dunk, score a point so that their party or affiliation or group feels good about themselves instead of trying to like understand what that person's going through.
And social media makes it even worse.
Yeah, because you're getting like patted on the back every time you do it.
There's like a reward system thing into it.
Right, you know?
And it's the coalescing of everyone who has a ill feeling.
You know, it's a place.
Now you're not alone with your ill feeling.
And you could coalesce around, you know, this, you know, this feeling that you have.
No matter what group you are.
I did an experiment the other day.
I say, just think of anything you think about, there's a population out there.
I say, let me just find people that like grass.
Not cannabis, grass.
No, you don't like the weed.
And it's unbelievable how many people call us around there.
And first of all, I feel people should have a right to smoke cannabis if they want.
My concern, as I said it when I was running for office, is that we have a real educational problem.
And our children start in their day.
These teachers tell me, Eric, these kids are high all the time.
Yeah.
You know, if you start your day walking to school and you, you know, you're smoking a joint, you're sitting inside the classroom, you smoking the joint during the period, these children are not going to be ready.
It's particularly at a younger age when their brains are real developing.
There's some real science.
So if a dog wants to smoke, go do your thing.
But we have to be real concerned about what's happening with our children in Canada.
I feel like most people are supportive of that.
Like I think most adults in New York would go, hey, we got to keep weed out of the kids and we got to protect the kids.
I feel like, yeah, I feel like most adults in New York are supportive of that.
I almost feel like there's a lot of support around issues in New York, but there's not a lot of understanding on how issues get fixed.
And that's one of the things about like, I'm always curious when I talk to elected officials.
It's like, it's your fault.
No matter what happens, it's your fault.
Even if you don't have the power to change it.
Especially the mayor, man.
Bro.
So it's like, and I always say this, I'm like, the mayor is the second most powerful position in America, the mayor of New York.
Right.
I didn't even know that the governor was a woman until like a month ago.
I've never known that we had governor.
We had a blind guy governor.
I didn't know.
New York is not a state.
It's a city.
No, no, no.
You guys go in Texas and New York, they're not thinking of the state.
I grew up in Texas.
I only thought of the city.
And that is our, I guess our blind spot is like not seeing outside the city.
But it's like, if you are, there's the president of the United States, and then next it's the mayor of New York, and then there's the rest of the people in government.
And that's why civics is crucial so people can understand who's responsible for these different things.
Right.
Because when you're the mayor, I don't care what it is.
It's your fault.
Guy stepped to me a couple of months ago, man, saying, listen, I'm getting divorced.
You know, it's yours.
You got sense with my wife in Far Rock.
Some vegan guy was walking around laying me out.
That one is your fault.
That one is your fault.
That's what you're saying.
But that's some of the fun.
That's the case is.
So people say, well, you know, the trains are not operating the way they're supposed to.
That's the state, man.
That's not the city.
So wait, the trains meaning like the two, three, four, and five.
The state is in charge of that.
The state is in charge of the MTA.
Right.
Our job is to protect the people.
I'm in charge of the police in the system.
And what we've done in the system is unbelievable.
A lot of people, when I walk in rooms and I say, tell me how many crimes you think, serious crimes you think happened in the subway system.
People say 100, 200 a day, 300 a day.
We have 4.6 million riders every day.
We have six felonies a day.
Wow.
Out of 4.6 million, I don't feel like going to work.
I'm pissed off.
People on the subway.
It's a miracle that we're able to move that volume of people every day and deal with the mental health issues down in the subway system.
People are attracted to it.
All right, guys, let's do some tour dates.
Side splitters.
We're at like eight shows right now.
I think a few of them have like three tickets left, but we added another show Saturday at 4 p.m. on April 12th.
So hurry up and get tickets to that.
Also, April 18th through the 20th, I'm going to be in Denver and in the Denver area.
April 18th and 19th, I'm going to be at Comedy Works South in Greenwood Village.
April 20th, my traditional 420 show at the Comedy Works downtown.
These are my favorite clubs in America, so make sure you come to that.
Also, May 9th and 10th, Virginia Beach, June 19th and 20th, Salt Lake City, and June 21st.
And August 1st and 2nd, Kansas City, Missouri.
Get your tickets to those dates and more at alkaising.com.
Love y'all.
Get back to the show now.
All right.
Don't skip forward, guys.
It's the world's fastest date read ever.
Mark Gagnon is coming to your city.
All right.
I'm officially a pro comic.
I'm going to Charleston, Atlanta, Stronsburg, Hoboken, Indianapolis, Buffalo, Raleigh, Poughkeepsie, Portland, Fort Worth, Austin, Stanford, Philadelphia, Levantown, Chandler, Arizona, San Diego.
Many more dates to come.
I'll see you guys.
Any guy named Chandler want to suck his dick?
Nope.
Chandler's a good city with good people.
You don't have to do that for a while.
Come here on the show.
Themarkyagnon.com.
I'll see you on the road.
Thanks so much.
Love you all, buddy.
So there's a good question, right?
It's like there are two things.
There are the data, the facts, like the reality of what's happening.
And then there's the feeling that people have.
Without a doubt.
And we got to be careful that if people have that feeling, we don't make them feel stupid for having it because being scared in the subway is a real feeling.
And maybe now that there's more phone videos and they hear about all these stories, like I know my wife, she says she feels uncomfortable in the subway.
I know, probably now because she uses a tuber, but it's just a convenient excuse.
But no, like some of the girls that work for us also say they have that feeling.
When I grew up in the city, I was like sleeping on the subway on the way to school.
Like I never even...
Now, don't get me wrong.
I got robbed before, but it wasn't on the subway.
It was like, there's people around.
So now ask yourself, because I'm big on that.
Back in 2000, back in 2022, when I said, listen, we have to deal with the perception and the reality.
You know, people attacked me when I said that.
They said, well, you know, perception doesn't matter.
I said, yes, it does.
Perception matters.
But I was a transit cop.
So I remember.
And so what happens?
So now we have to ask ourselves, why do people feel unsafe in the subway system?
Why do you think?
Because every day we take the worst thing that happens.
And every day we blast it.
Every day, every day.
And so you wake up in the morning, open the paper.
Oh, someone got pushed on the subway track.
Now, you may have never had a negative experience.
Someone got pushed on the subway track.
Then you go down in the system and you see someone walking with no shoes on, no shirt on, and they're yelling and screaming.
You hear noise.
You hear it's not clean enough.
You begin to say to yourself, oh, I feel unsafe.
Yeah.
I feel unsafe.
And so what I have to do, as you said, I'm not going to go to you and insult you and say you shouldn't feel a certain way.
No, I have to answer that fear.
So that's why we put a thousand more cops in the system.
We have them riding the trains back and forth.
When I was a transit cop, that's what I did.
I rode back and forth.
Because we know the omnipresence of that uniform can deal with that perception.
Now, we got record decreases in crime, but that means nothing if people don't feel safe.
Well, maybe real quick, just like maybe it's a combination of both of those things.
Like maybe it's telling people, hey, we are going to address that and we're putting more cops out there so you feel safe.
And then after that, going, hey, by the way, crime statistics compared from last quarter or whatever you do are down 50%.
So look at this positive influence that's happening.
Right.
And that's like all too often it's people going, no, you idiots.
Look, crime is way better.
And then they're like, don't call me an idiot.
Fuck you.
Right, right.
And I'll get some pushback on above ground.
I walk around New York City a lot.
I moved here 08.
And I will say it feels less safe like just seeing, I was walking here one day from 59th.
It was a long walk, but I was like, let's do it.
On one block, I see like four guys shooting heroin.
I see another guy, literal piece of his intestine sticking out of his stomach, covered in what looks like shit.
That's not when I go to Penn Station, I used to live in Jersey.
I'll take it every day.
I see people shooting up heroin right outside.
These are not things that make me feel safe.
And that is a crime.
You know, even then, it might not be aggravated, but like, I'm not even saying this to like dunk on you or whatever, but I will say, as someone who's lived here 17 years, it does feel less safe when I'm walking through and I see stuff that makes me feel like this.
So this doesn't feel better.
And I would tell him, I was like, for a person who grew up here my entire life, it's safer than it's ever been.
That's why it's just so weird hearing that because I'm like, yo, I think a lot of the time.
It's the time swam back in the day.
That's what I'm saying.
It might be safer than it was in 1998, but I don't think it was safer personally than it was in the city.
I think a lot of the sentiment is like, we went through a pretty tough time in New York.
Right.
Where it was like, there were a lot of things that were quite commonplace.
You started stealing because you're dyslexic.
Right.
Like, you know, how tough New York was.
They were like, I mix up letters.
Let me just start running numbers.
But when you, when you go back.
How could you read if it was a Jan Sport?
When you go back to when they were growing up and you go back to that period of time, graffiti was everywhere on all our trains.
You can see you should see some of the pictures.
It was crazy.
And so understand that's why Civic is important.
Because when you see some, like right now, when I became a mayor, we were having encampments all over.
People living in carbohydrate boxes and tents on the side of highways.
And when we came in, we said, listen, people are not living that way.
January and February of 2022, I went into the streets to talk to people that lived in these encampments, saw human waste, drug power for you, stale food, dyslexia, bipolar, schizophrenia.
And so we came up with a real initiative that said, listen, we clean up these encampments and we put people in housing.
We got huge pushback.
Huge pushback.
The city council passed a law that said people should have the right to sleep on the streets.
So when you have those governmental entities that are extreme left in their philosophies, what everyday New Yorkers want, they're pushing back.
I'm fighting tooth and nail to do involuntary removal.
Like you said, someone, you saw someone injecting themselves, undressed, screaming, not taking care of themselves.
I'm fighting to say, I got to get this person in care.
He doesn't know he needs care.
These are the battles we have that fall outside the scope of what the mayor can do.
And real quick.
I'm just curious.
We have CCTV everywhere, but why don't we have any security cameras inside the sub-way cards?
Oh, we do.
Look, we're going to house, we're going to build out all the trains, but the governor has done an amazing job where we have cameras in the cars.
They're going to be cameras in every car, which is huge because that allows us to pick up on any illegal behavior.
It allows us, we caught the guy that burned the woman to death because of that camera and that footage.
So we do.
And eventually every train is going to have a camera.
I feel like sometimes cops are like this backstop to all the problems in society.
So mental health we're not addressing, right?
And there's a person that's crazy on the street.
And then there's a cop who might not be trained in how to deal with crazy people.
He's trained in how to uphold the law.
But now it's his responsibility to protect these people from crazy people and to protect that crazy person from themselves.
And I wonder if there's like, I don't know if it's expansion or more specific division, but it seems like a lot of the problems we see on the streets that are making people feel unsafe are people who aren't dealing with like without a doubt.
We have three issues that overshadowed our success.
We turned around the city.
No one thought I could do it.
And they told me it was going to take five years.
We did it two years.
There are three issues that have.
I love that.
I can't even tell you you did it.
I feel less safe and I feel stupid for selling.
I'm excited.
I've got all the rats out here.
Well, they're indicators.
They're indicators of a success of a city.
And so you look at the financial, we have more jobs in New York in the city's history, more small businesses in the city's history.
Double-digits decreasing homicide, shootings, the seven major crime categories, fourth largest tourism in the city history.
Build more affordable housing in year one and year two, individual years in the city's history.
Move more people out of homelessness into permanent homes in year one and year two in the city's history.
Drop unemployment around all demographics in the city, but particularly black and Hispanics by 20, 20%.
So there are indicators that people look and see, let me see the success of the city.
When you look at the indicators, it shows how successful we are.
And bond ratios, these people who look and say, okay, is this city being well managed so that we can give you a bond rating so that people see if they're going to invest in your city?
They raised my bond and then came back.
Out of all that we went through, they say we still want to keep this bond rating high because this mayor has managed COVID, managed 230,000 migrants and asylum seekers that came into the city.
So they've watched how I managed this.
So just the bond thing is people can invest in cities.
They're called municipal bonds, right?
Yeah, combination of bonds.
You have their industry bond ratios, Fitch, SP.
These are guys that look at your cities and say, okay, what are we going to say to our investors?
How well is this city being managed?
And the fact that the rating maintained high.
They said they scrutinize, they're hard.
They look at everything, how you manage your money.
And they said, this guy has managed this city.
You challenge the city's credit score.
Take that, racists.
So tell us what happened with the migrant crisis.
Oh, great question.
Great question.
Think about it.
First, I want to tell you the three things that overshadowed our success.
And I want to talk about the migrants.
One, random acts of violence.
Nothing impacts your feeling of being unsafe.
Your woman walking down a block, someone punches you in the face out of nowhere.
100%.
You know, a random act of violence.
One guy, you know, dealing with severe mental health issues that should not have been on the street, stabs three people.
Those shock everyone.
That has overshadowed our success.
Mental health, and that's tied to mental health.
Random Acts of Violence00:15:32
The second is recidivism.
We have cats that are committing crimes repeatedly.
Yeah.
Repeatedly.
They made up their mind.
We have 575 people.
They can't break it off.
You put them in jail.
You know what I'm saying?
No, I'm committed to this.
Can't stop all of you.
You can't have 575 people who are arrested for shoplifting and they have been arrested over 7,500 times.
36 people who have assaulted people in the subway system have been arrested over 1,600 times.
With this revolving door system and trying to convince our lawmakers in Albany that, yo, this is a problem, you know?
And they're real problems.
So who can do that?
Because I think a lot of people blame you for that as the mayor, right?
And that's got to be frustrating because you're like, yo, I'm not the DA.
You guys elected the DA.
It's not like you even placed them there, right?
No.
So who decides the judges have to get on board, but there was a great deal of reform passed in Albany that it was conceptually a great idea.
What was the concept?
That was when you hear bail reform, discovery reform, raise the age reform.
This is a lot of reform because we don't want a heavy-handed criminal justice system when everyone is being locked up for no matter what.
You want to give people an opportunity to have a life after making a mistake.
Exactly.
But if they repeat people, like you said, they're committed to that.
And that's what we're trying to show them that, listen, the data is showing these reforms you did in 2019 is having a negative impact on public safety.
And it has been very centered on people who commit crimes.
But what about the people who are the victims of these crimes?
We have to start talking about those who are victims of these crimes.
So what would your solution be?
Because three strikes doesn't seem that fair either.
So like what would your solution be?
And it's not so much saying three strikes, two strikes.
The judges must use the determination.
Is it a danger releasing you?
Right.
Is it a danger releasing you?
The judge has to make that call.
Is it a danger releasing you, putting you back in society?
If you're arrested in a short period of time for repeated burglary, repeated burglary, you making up your mind, listen, you can let me out as much as you want.
I'm going to continue to do the crime.
We have to prioritize law-abiding citizens over the ones that are breaking the law.
The safety thereof.
That's what we don't do.
Yeah.
And I get the idea, like you said, like the idea was good.
Like you don't want too heavy-handed a justice system where these people make mistakes and then they don't have opportunity in their life thereafter.
Like as you said, like as a young kid, you did some silly shit.
I know I did some silly shit.
We all did.
We did.
Right, right.
We're not going to talk about it.
Well, we can.
The problem with that, a lot of people were doing like petty crimes and they didn't have money to bond out.
So they would just sit in jail for another year.
So they're trying to solve that problem.
And that's why, and I'm a big believer in nonviolent crimes.
I mean, you're a believer in it.
I'm a believer that you, and that we should not be being heavy-handed.
With the non-violent crimes.
Now, what we want to do is, hey, you have a drug problem.
You're going into right aid over and over again and you're doing shoplifting.
Listen, we're going to give you a pathway to deal with that drug issue.
So we don't want to be heavy-handed.
And those are the alternative to incarceration to give people the support they need.
Because a lot of people think, okay, well, shoplifting is a victimless crime.
That's not true.
If that right aid closed down, Ms. Jones now has to get on the bus and go to get a drugstore that's a mile away from her now.
That cost her money.
The people who worked in that right aid are now losing their jobs in the same process.
It impacts your economy.
So we need to make sure that we send the right message that you can't have a revolving door system.
So let's talk about the migrants.
So out of nowhere, we started getting in a large flow of migrants.
Now, this is a city of immigrants.
And it's a city that has always been open to immigrants as a reason that the Statue of Liberty sits in our harbor.
Sanctuary city, right?
Right.
It's a sanctuary city.
Which is another separate issue.
I think what you're saying, like culturally, migrants aren't like shocking to New Yorkers.
I always tell people this.
Like, you can't even tell who the migrants are.
Right.
Right.
We'll continue.
Yeah.
So we started getting in bus slows and by design, right?
Rex is Texas.
It was coming from Texas, but it was the failure that we didn't secure our borders.
We were allowing everyone to come into the country with unsecure borders, many gang members, very dangerous.
When I went down to Ecuador, Colombia, and Mexico to look at the flow, there was a place called the Darien Gap.
So I went down there to see why people coming and try to explain to the government that New York City, the streets are not paved with gold.
Because everybody thinks you come to New York City, everything is fine.
Yeah.
Saved in ratsh.
Right.
Right, right, right.
So that might be a delicious meal.
Don't grow somebody.
You can't go down in there.
Don't grow salt.
It's me.
Okay, go ahead, go.
And so people got upset because they said, man, what you doing?
You know, you're letting everybody come into the city.
You're paying for them.
Very reasonable.
Right.
So what people didn't understand, I couldn't stop the buses from coming in.
The federal law said you can't, Eric.
I couldn't even allow them to work.
The federal law said you can't even allow them to work.
And a group of migrants and asylum seekers came to me and said, listen, we want to contribute to the city.
Let us remove graffiti.
Let us clean the streets.
Give us a stipend, federal law.
Don't want to say, you can't even do that.
And the city law says everyone that comes here, you must give them three meals a day.
You must house them.
That's the sanctuary city law.
Right.
But that wasn't built for migrants.
It wasn't built for our homeless population.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Hoping that you would take people from the homelessness, you know, going through a rough time and then they would be housed.
Without a doubt.
Over 40 years in existence.
Yeah.
And so.
It's kind of unfortunate that that was taken advantage of like that.
And it was done, in my opinion, and I'd like to hear your opinions, but I think it was like a political tool specifically done to make more liberal-leaning cities seem uninhabitable.
And I think the message was, because it should not happen too.
When I went down to El Paso, they should not have had to have gone through that.
No, they didn't.
Brownsville, Texas.
Right.
Right.
No one should have had to do that.
Growing up in Texas, they feel like New Yorkers, LA, whatever.
They judge you a lot, especially in New York, but y'all don't deal with what we deal with.
Now see how you like it.
Right.
I don't know.
I think that's fair too.
It's like a lot of times New Yorkers or even people in like different parts of California, but like these coastal elitist cities, they're just kind of like, yeah, just don't.
Building a wall is bad.
Don't secure the board.
How dare you?
It's like, we're not dealing with it.
So who are we to say what the actual governor of Texas went wrong is that we were saying, hey, we hear you.
Let's collaborate together and send that message.
Not just, listen, I'm not going to punish another municipality because the federal government is screwing up.
So when we reached out to them and said, listen, we're on the same page with you.
Your city should not be going through this.
Let's get together.
Let's work together.
No, I just want to.
So now this is the dunk culture we're talking about.
Instead of having that dialogue and you coming together, and I think at that moment, you were like a surrogate in the Biden administration.
Like you were somebody who was like working with them.
You were hand chosen, by the way.
It's not like everybody's a surrogate.
Right, right, exactly.
You want one of the most powerful positions in the country, the mayor of New York, on your side if you're the administration.
So you're like, if you go and extend yourself to a conservative governor and say, let's work together, and they go, no, thank you.
We're going to send the buses.
Exactly.
That's a cornball shit.
I don't like wheels.
I'm a big fan.
And so we lost an opportunity because when I went down to El Paso and I saw people sleeping on the streets in airports, I said, this is not right, even for El Paso.
My position was no city should take on a federal responsibility.
And that was my advocacy.
I went to Washington 10 times to speak with the lawmakers.
I met with the president twice, President Biden twice around this issue.
And his people were giving him misinformation.
They were not being honest to him.
Who are his people?
That's, I think, yeah, who are his people?
There were several people who were close that was in charge of this issue, that was supposed to be giving him the right information.
And I told them, I said, Mr. President.
Maybe they told him and he just forgot.
He's a little old.
You know what I mean?
Possible.
But no, no, but I'm just curious about these people because that's what we've heard a lot about sometimes with the Bible especially.
And I don't want to make this like a political thing, but like just this idea that maybe there were other people that were in his ear or making certain decisions that he might not have been privy to.
Because if you spoke to him and he seemed like an amicable, nice guy who was understanding what's going on, like where's the disconnect here?
You know, what's interesting in government, particularly on the federal level, people have their own agendas as well.
And there was so much going on back then of people pushing back on the concept.
There are some people with a philosophy that our borders should be open and any and everyone should be able to come in no matter what.
I don't believe in that.
That's part of government.
Right.
Here's what I said to the administration.
I said, listen, no one should, right now, people were coming into the country, not knowing anyone in the country, not knowing where they're going.
I said, listen, we're having in our country, we're having population problems.
There are a lot of cities that are dealing with population issues.
Let's tell people, we're going to tell you where you're going to go for three years.
If Kentucky needs people to be backstretch workers to work in the racing industry, you're going to Kentucky.
After you do your three years, then you can go anywhere in the country and apply.
This way, we're connecting your need to be in America with the need that America needs.
That's a fantastic idea.
And we're controlling the flow.
You're not coming in if you're part of a gang, which they were doing.
They say, hey, the border's open.
Let's go.
All right, guys, let's take it for mature.
Now, let's get back to the show.
This was deep.
When I was in Ecuador, Ecuadorians didn't want to leave their country and come to America.
They love being in their country.
When I went down and I spoke to the people, they said the gangs have taken over.
So they're looking for reprieve from the gang violence.
Right.
And then they came here to New York.
And they're like, they over here, too.
Gotcha.
And that's what I see.
People are like, when I said, when I go, you know, because I spent the night in a migrant and asylum seeker shelter, one of our shelters, I spent the night to talk to them and find out, you know, why did you flee?
What are you going through?
They say the gangs are here.
They're preying on us.
And so when I say that, listen, you're a gang member, you're a recognized tourist, you're committing crimes, you can't be here.
You know, you cannot prey on migrants and you cannot prey on everyday Americans.
You can't be here.
So now people want to say, this is what's really deep because so much politics is in place.
People say, oh, you're anti-immigrant, anti-immigrant.
So I went to, I got the national immigrant leaders, the national, people who fight this nationally.
I said, I want y'all to come to the city and see what I'm doing.
They said, we don't want to come here because you're anti-immigrant.
We don't want to come.
We don't want to talk to you.
And I said, well, at least come.
They came to the city.
They spent the day with Anna D.A. Amazar, the first Dominican deputy mayor in the history of the city.
They came, spent the day with her.
They met me at Gracie Mansion, had dinner.
They said, we got to apologize to you.
Wow.
They said, no one in the country is doing what you're doing.
We're going to write a letter to Washington and say the country needs to follow your model.
We fed, housed, closed, educated 40,000 children, put people on the pathway for citizenship.
What we did with 230,000 people, 190,000 have left out care and went on to their next journey.
What we did, no one in the country was doing.
But when you pick up the papers, you walk away and saying, oh, this guy hate immigrants.
This guy's anti-immigrant.
Yeah, but I think that's one of those things where it's like very easy to politicize.
I got frustrated at that too.
Like all of us are kids of immigrants on this podcast, like every single one of us.
So this idea that we are not supportive of immigration is kind of absurd.
Also, coming in New York, like you heard those criticisms in New York, you're like, what the fuck are you talking about?
Somebody from Maine is going to tell me about immigrants.
I'm a New York immigrant.
Exactly.
You almost do the opposite where it's like, oh, they're putting migrants in hotels and they're putting them up and they're, you know, they're taking over city blocks.
So it's almost the opposite.
Where it's almost too accommodating.
And that's what they say.
But now people don't talk about that.
So it's like you either hate immigrants or they're staying at the four seasons.
Right, right.
But I think that was the thing that New Yorkers started to give pushback, which is like New Yorkers obviously struggling.
Cost of living has gone up.
Like you were saying, housing prices are crazy.
And then you're hearing these stories about these people that are migrating to New York, right?
And they're getting put up at the hotel outside of Madison Square Garden, getting three meals a day.
You're like, yo, my kid's getting two meals a day.
So you understand their concern and resentment.
Without a doubt.
Without a doubt.
And you're in this situation where you're like, okay, the federal government is not helping me with this situation at all.
And I'm shackled by my limitations as a city to even put these people to work or do anything.
So now the center of the federal government, through law, is making me put them up and feed them at the potential disadvantage to my own constituents.
And then you just got to sit there and take it.
And what you just stated, and here's the impact of this.
This is what's deep about this moment.
That they were standing in tents, Randall's Island, Crete Moore.
We put up a tent, Floyd Bennett Field, tents.
I went to go to these tents.
Now, it was the best we could do in the circumstances.
Roosevelt Hotel was our intake center.
So you go to Roosevelt first, and then you go to Reddit.
You'll go to one of these other locations.
Gotcha.
But once the narrative hits the news, you go to Nick Games sitting courtside.
You migrate to a bedroom, go to courtside.
And that was not the reality.
But then this is how, this is what angered me.
This was the tipping point where I decided I got to publicly criticize the administration, the Biden administration.
Yeah.
Yeah.
When did that happen?
Because that was very brave.
The money, this cost us $7 billion.
Now, we have a fixed budget.
We have a fixed budget.
And so if you take, just think about if you're a homeowner and you take, and you have your budget to do your lights, your gas, your budget for your repairs, all of a sudden the roof caves in.
You want your insurance company to come and give you a bunch of people.
That's very reasonable.
And if the insurance company tells you, hey, we're not giving you anything.
Now you got to take it out of somewhere.
So I had to take $7 billion out of the services for our city.
The long-term impact of that is what troubles me.
Right?
That's the, that's the, because I could have taken $200 million of that to go to chronically absent children.
Insurance Company Failures00:05:03
Because we had a lot of children that are chronically absent after COVID.
I could have taken $500 million and went to my adults care.
I could have.
And what you're saying is that this is a federal issue.
The federal government is responsible for protecting the borders of this country.
You are dealing with their lack of effort to protect the country.
And they're going, but you also got to pay for it.
Right.
Yeah, I understand what they're saying.
You know what they respond after going there all the time?
What?
They say, Eric, this is like a gold bladder.
It's going to hurt now, but it'll pass.
I said, then you piss it out.
Okay.
Okay.
So listen, and I don't want to get conspiratorial.
I don't get conspiratorial.
But after you come out and I thought, like very reasonably criticized them, a little bit afterwards, all of a sudden, the Justice Department looks into Eric Adams.
Now, listen, I don't want to get, I don't want to get conspiratorial here, but we're going to get conspiratorial.
They look into Eric Adams.
And there's this thing about Turkish airlines, right?
I think that they were targeting you because you're bald and maybe you're going to get airring.
So, this is what bothered me the most: it was the dollar amount.
Right.
If you are being corrupted, it better be more than $100,000.
Please, God.
Now, listen, I know there's level corruption and government all over the place, but if you were the mayor of New York City, I have some fucking respect for your corporate.
It's 20 million assaults.
So, can you do you think there's any connection to those two?
You're done right, I do.
You know, the timing of it, the leaking, the public embarrassment and humiliation.
They were leaking information part of the case.
They were just leaking it out.
You know, grand jury testimonies are supposed to be private and secrets.
And then all of a sudden, they start ended up in the same paper over and over again.
The New York Times, over and over again, over and over.
So, and a lot of people never read the indictment.
Of course, not.
But anyway, keep going.
Yeah, they never read the indictment.
The whole premise of their indictment: I was the bar president at the time.
The Turkish embassy was going to open.
The president was coming.
And they were going through the bureaucracy, the madness of it.
If you've ever built a thing or renovated in this fucking city, and I ran on the platform that government must be more fluid and it can't be bureaucratic.
I called the fire commissioner and say, Can you at least go do an inspection?
Can somebody go do an inspection so that they can see they can pass their inspection?
And I said, If you can't do it, let me know and I'll manage their expectation.
All of this is in the indictment.
Let me know and I'll manage their expectation.
I didn't tell them to go past them.
I didn't tell them, go past the rules, ignore it.
I said, No, just go do a dorm inspection.
The guy's asking for an inspection.
So they said, Well, you know what?
The federal government said, Well, they gave you upgrades throughout the years, and we're going to attach that to when you call them and say you were bribed.
Upgrades on a flow on a plane on a plane and say that you were bribed.
They use all of these numbers for upgrades.
Right, right, right.
You're buying a regular Coach Cliffs ticket, but the fact that you get bumped up means you're in their pocket 500%.
Exactly.
Why did you get bumped up?
Because I didn't know that secret.
Who hasn't phoned?
Who was my missile?
Who's the Turk who hasn't flown and said?
I mean, tell me someone who hasn't flown and said, Hey, I see you got an empty seat in business.
You know what I'm saying?
You know, but to take down a sitting mayor of the largest, the largest city in America.
Yeah.
And then when you looked at the text messages that were leaked a few weeks ago of them talking about it, and hey, you know, the U.S. attorney, he may have a political agenda here.
Right, right, right.
They found their text messages and their communications.
So it exposed their case.
And that gets leaked by whom?
No, the judge ordered it to be released.
Right, right, right.
Oh, my God.
The judge ordered it to be released.
But you know, if you really want to understand.
And they've dropped this case, right?
Like, well, nobody will process it.
The U.S. attorney said it was a weak case.
The new incoming U.S. attorney said it was a weak case.
They put in to have it dismissed.
The judge said, basically, I don't want to dismiss it on my own opinion.
Let me get an independent person to look over and make the determination what I need to do.
That independent person came back three weeks ago and said, you need to dismiss this case.
And so we're now waiting for the judge to look at what his independent person said.
We believe he should agree with the independent person with what he said.
Leaked Text Messages Exposed00:10:10
Listen, I did nothing wrong.
How do you, you know, me?
I lived a public life for over 40 years.
Yeah.
You know, and I know that, listen, everyone in New York, you're scrutinized and watched.
You know, I know how I live my life.
I did nothing wrong.
This was traumatizing to my family.
You know, but you're in public life.
You have to fight hard.
Now, the real test for me was 15 months ago when the indictment came down.
I could have easily said, you know what, let me just.
I resign.
Right.
People would say, oh, you need to resign.
I was like, I'm not going anywhere.
I did nothing wrong.
People were leaving you, right?
And now what are they going through?
You know, that's how true.
That's how true folks are.
Because who else would hire somebody that left at the first sign of trouble?
Listen, look, God, you know, I don't know your spiritual belief, but my belief is clear: God is good, man.
You know, that God's God, and all the time, God is good.
Look at you, man.
Sound like a Baptist preacher.
You know, so you know, but we have to live it in the midst of that.
Yes.
You know, because it is a shot at your like political career.
And is it frustrating to not, or do you know who you think it came from?
Like, is Biden aware of this?
Or is it the people that are like underneath Biden?
Is it completely separate?
That's a great question.
That's a great question.
You know, there are a lot of people, you know, this, you know, and I don't want to sound conspiracy theory, but there's a permanent government.
There are people that see presidents and mayors come and go.
Their attitudes, we wait you out.
You know, you know, a book is a great book, man.
Everybody should read the book, Kash Patel's Government Gangsters.
Okay.
You should.
Yeah.
You should read that book, man.
Okay.
Cash breaks this down.
What is he?
And is this what he said?
He's now the FBI director.
Of course, of course.
We love Cash.
But is this like what people refer to?
And I think this word has been used too much, but like the deep state or whatever it is.
It's not used too much.
It's real, brother.
Oh, really?
Think about it.
Who's part of it?
Like, what are there?
Are there current senators and that kind of stuff?
Or is it people that we don't even know, but they're always existing?
And you know, I have never seen anyone do such a good job of defining that deep state.
You should have him on.
I would love to.
Tell him to come on.
You should have him on.
We would love it.
The way he's probably listening right now, right?
The way, because he was in.
It's like me talking about what happens in NYPD after 22 years.
Yeah.
Cash was in the DLD.
He was in the FBI.
He prosecuted terrorists.
So he comes with this wealth of knowledge.
And the way he breaks it down, it's just unbelievable what this deep state is about and why it's so important for Americans that we cannot have a weaponizing of our prosecutorial powers.
Imagine the Southern District, right?
Southern District of New York.
That's one of the most powerful U.S. attorney's office.
In their mind, they say, we're sovereign.
You know what that means?
What do you mean they said they're sovereign?
They don't have to answer to anyone.
Oh.
They don't have to answer to the president.
They don't have to answer to the U.S. Attorney in Washington, Attorney General in Washington.
They believe they're a sovereign entity.
You're not elected.
You know what I'm saying?
Imagine an entity believing they don't have to answer to anyone but them.
They have to answer to the people and ultimately the people that we put in power.
I'm curious.
What do you say to people saying that Trump played a role in the DOJ dropping the case?
Because it's like, it kind of looked like he wouldn't have to do it.
The timing does seem back at that Catholic dinner.
And I said, I'm glad you all.
I was doing what they did.
And I thought that that was like a really interesting thing to even say.
Said it kind of flippantly, which I thought was more effective because he could have gone and made a big deal, but he was like, Yeah, it's wrong what they're doing.
And I've always wondered if he felt, and people are gonna say, We're apologizing for Trump or whatever, but I've always wondered if he felt like, oh, they're doing the same thing to him.
Come on, brother.
You tell me.
Come on, come on.
Listen, people said, This is what those who have Trump derangement syndrome are saying.
Because there's some folks, I'm not the type of cat that I respect the office.
The presidency is in office, it's representative of our country.
Presidents come and go, like mayors come and go.
I'm a big believer.
I'm a patriot.
I believe in the American flag.
My uncle died at 19 defending this country.
You know, I wore a bulletproof vest for the city.
My brother did as well.
So I believe in the symbol of office.
So I don't have to like who's in office.
I respected Biden to the fullest extent.
I respect the office.
And so when President Trump was on a campaign trail before he was elected, he was saying, look what they're doing to this man in New York.
He said, this is wrong what they're doing to this man in New York.
He never asked me for anything.
I believe he personally saw what they did to it's one thing to do something to the individual.
But when you start doing something to your family members, and I think there was something he saw, because out of everything he had on his campaign trail, he didn't have to come out on his campaign trail and say, this is wrong what they're doing to Eric.
He did it at rallies.
He did it the day before the election when he's at Madison Square Garden, a few days before the election on that Sunday.
He said, look what they're doing to this man in New York.
So there was never, they say, well, there was a quit pro quo.
You're now trying to be hard on immigration.
I said, show me what I said after he was elected.
That I wasn't saying before he was elected.
The same thing that I was saying before he was elected.
You commit a crime, you need to get out of our country.
That's the same thing that I've been saying.
And let me just drop this on you: that a lot of people don't realize.
You know, ICE is a law enforcement organization.
I mean, I'm not going to say I'm not going to cooperate with any law enforcement organization to keep our city safe.
Now, people may not like ICE.
That's your opinion.
But it's a law enforcement organization.
Let's not criminalize a law enforcement organization.
And there's some people coming into the country to commit crime.
But you have to be vocal.
Like when you were in the police force, which I thought was admirable, you were vocal against Amadou Diallo, I think is how you know.
Exactly.
Which is a brave thing to do because what happened to him was fucked.
But to the same end, if you think what ICE is doing right now, deporting guys with green cards and all that, I assume that would be ICE.
You would also speak up against that ICE.
Well, our city, you know, this is some good stuff for your listeners.
Yeah.
Our city is not allowed by law to collaborate with ICE for any civil enforcement.
We can't do it.
The law says that.
But the law allows us to collaborate for criminal enforcement.
If somebody's committing a crime, we can collaborate them.
We have joint task forces with FBI, Homeland Security, all these entities that we collaborate with all the time to go after dangerous people, terrorists, and other dangerous people.
So we can't collaborate by law if it's just for civil enforcement.
Okay, so what do you think of what we're reading?
I don't know what's real and what's not.
It seems like students leading protests with green cards getting deported in your city.
Yeah, how do you feel about that?
And I want to go back to that question because that's important.
Prior to the election, when I saw what happened on Columbia University and people were saying, you know, they are pro-Hamas, they're lifting up Hamas.
I am Hamas.
When I heard people say that we should destroy America, all these leaflets on Columbus University and all of these protests who were there, some of them were not even students at Columbia University.
Prior to the election, I say, this is unacceptable.
You know, my uncle died defending this country, and I dare anybody to go on desecrate our statues, desecrate our war memorial, destroy property.
You know, that's not acceptable to me.
So that tone didn't come after Trump was elected.
I was saying this pre-election, that's not acceptable to me.
So those people who they rounded, they got for whatever reason, I don't know the evidence that they have.
I don't know if it's just because they violated some rule, violated some law, handing out terrorist paraphernalia.
Hamas is a terrorist organization.
Hezbollah is a terrorist organization.
Gentle pushback.
No, no, no.
You are pushback.
Okay, good.
This is a resident of your city.
Yes.
He's at Columbia.
So temporarily, he's a resident of your city.
Wouldn't it be, wouldn't the onus be on you to look into what happened?
Was it lawful?
Was he breaking laws?
No.
I'm a temporary citizen.
I'm going to take your green card.
No, not at all.
You feel deaf to America?
You know, what?
Is she saying all that?
Cool.
Yeah, we don't have evidence.
But I want to be really clear, and I say this over and over again.
A lot of people don't pick up and understand.
I have no control over immigration.
The federal government controls immigration.
Understood.
That's their responsibility.
And, you know, I don't know who Jay-Z said it best.
I have 99 problems, brother, and immigration is not one.
They deal with immigration.
And so when you start to, I don't want them coming in, telling me how to run my city, and I don't want them dumping something on me like the previous administration did.
Federal Control Over Immigration00:03:10
They had me deal with, we were getting sometimes 4,000 migrants a week, 8,000 every two weeks to do the math.
And so I don't want to go in and start telling them how to do their job in immigration.
And I don't want them telling me how to do my job.
Real quick, should legal immigrants be afraid to practice free speech?
I'm glad you said that.
I'm glad you said that.
Yeah, that's an important question.
And so many, when I'm moving around my immigrant communities and they share with me, you know, well, we're afraid.
We're afraid to go to school, church, work, et cetera.
And why are they afraid?
Because I've been saying the same thing.
Go to school.
Go to your house of roship.
Go to the hospital.
Call the police if you need help.
You know, the activists who love this hysteria are given the impression that all of a sudden ICE is going into our schools, taking out children, going to hospital.
That's just not true.
That's not true.
They created this hysteria that you're seeing right now.
That is not going on in this city.
Speaking of the greatest city in the entire world.
Yes, let's switch up the seating arrangement a little bit because I'm going to tell you something exciting that might blow your mind.
It's actually about baseball.
The Yankees, the Yankees, the greatest team in the history of baseball from the greatest city in the history of the world, have hit 15 home runs in three games.
Are they cheating?
Yes.
Let's go.
It's awesome.
It is awesome.
It's awesome.
It's legal cheating, which is what we all didn't do.
That's why didn't they change the bats before?
Yeah, why are they the only team that looked into this?
Smart.
So Miles probably knows what they did to the bats.
I don't know if we care, but they changed the bats and they're knocking them out of the fucking.
We're not going to tell other people what happens.
Like, let them figure it out on their own.
Andrews are good migrants.
What's up?
The Yankees have some good migrants.
Oh, that's true.
They got some love to migrants.
And look at what they're doing.
They're fucking hitting home runs.
When they know ICE is waiting.
When they know ICE is waiting and ICE has got some money on the game.
When ICE is gambling on the game, right?
With Stake, by the way, the leader in U.S. social casinos, you've been on Toss Horse Political Events.
Use promo code Flagrant for your welcome bonus, just letting you guys know that.
But when ICE is, this has been happening.
Yeah.
This has absolutely been happening.
You know, Mayor Adams coming back right now.
He's just using the bathroom.
But when ICE is gambling on the Yankees and the Yankees continue to hit home runs, they don't throw them back to whatever country they came from.
That's true.
Exactly.
It's a sanctuary stadium.
Okay.
It's absolutely sanctuary stadium.
And if you leave with a couple strikeouts, you are the catapult.
See you later.
See you later.
Yeah, we're throwing you over the ladder.
Inside in New Jersey, which is not a sanctuary stadium.
That is a big problem for a lot of these Yankees.
Okay, so point is: steak has got your back.
If you want to go gamble, obviously you're going to gamble.
The Yankees are questioning it.
Are we going to win whatever the championship in baseball is?
Yeah.
The World Bowl.
Are we going to win the World Bowl?
Are we going to win the Super World Bowl?
Yes, we are.
Okay.
Just like we have all throughout our childhood.
This is what we do.
Greatest city in the entire world.
Can we get back to this show?
Yeah.
Winning the World Bowl00:15:14
We cannot ignore the Trump part of this because what Biden's Justice Department did was unbelievable.
You place mothers on FBI watch lists because you are worried about what they're being taught to children in school.
Wait, what is that?
Yeah, you know, they had mothers and families placed on FBI watch lists, terrorist watch lists, because of their advocacy around some of the things that they're teaching their children in school.
They wanted to acknowledge, they call them terrorists.
I'm telling you, you got to see what that Justice Department did.
And a lot of people want to ignore what, you know, they talk about my case.
Yeah.
But when Biden, when Biden pardoned his son, he said, he said the Justice Department has been politicized.
Yeah, that was a video.
You know what I'm saying?
You know what I'm saying?
We're not like staunch Biden.
No, no, Biden's.
It's like, it is a tricky thing because, you know, I'm pardoning my kid 100% if I have that power.
But at the same time, I understand the frustration.
Oh, you guys absolutely feel.
Okay.
So we're not hearing.
We're not hearing the same criticism.
No one from the Justice Department quit.
None of them saying, I think what you're doing is wrong, so I'm quitting.
Yeah.
You know, I'm telling you, re-cash's book.
This is the thing that I think is like is really frustrating: is that like, we know your name, we know Biden's name, we know Hunter's name, we know Trump's name.
This, these people that you were talking about, or Cash was talking about, none of us know their names.
You don't know the name in the books.
Okay, I'm going to look because, like, how can we hold people accountable that were not elected by us, not democratically chosen, and are the ones allegedly behind these decisions?
But how can we hold them accountable?
We don't know who the fuck they are, right?
Right.
And why do you feel?
Why are you telling me?
You know the names.
I don't know who you read.
No, dyslexia, but no, when you read the book, I don't remember all the names as he listed.
He did a good job of documenting some of the case history, of documenting.
So I can't blurt out every name when I remember.
But it's all in the book.
He does an amazing job of documenting the case history.
Like, you look at the Which case?
Both cases.
There's a couple of cases.
Like he goes into what was happening in the Justice Department under this previous administration and how the number of people who were under investigation were just political people.
I mean, the book is a good book.
Do you get a nudge?
Like when you start speaking out, do you get like a private phone call from somebody or an email that goes, hey, why don't we go a different direction about this?
It might not be good for you politically.
That's what happened.
What people told me, people told me when I criticized what was happening to our city around the migrants and asylum seekers, they said, Eric, they got many ways to come at you.
Really?
Right.
And is this commonplace within politics?
Like, did you experience this at borough president when you had strong opinions?
Were you like, hey, if you go against the administration for the mayoral administration, they might come down on you.
Is this just how politics works?
Or is this something specific to like federal government and control?
I think it's a combination of, you know, people use, people weaponize their authority in every business.
You know, it's not only, it's not, you know, it's not just unique to politics.
It becomes more costly when you're using prosecutors as a weapon against political opponents.
You know, I mean, when you, when I was, I'm facing 35 years in jail.
No.
Wow.
Think about it.
I didn't know.
Think about it.
Think about it.
And it cost me over $3 million.
Personally.
Right.
Hold on.
So.
Think about this for a moment.
You know what I'm saying?
This is real shit.
So these people would 100% be totally fine with you being behind your bars for 35 years, completely broke, just so that they could send a message to other states not to push back and make an example.
Read Cash's book.
Wow.
Wow.
And have you spoken about this outside of this podcast?
Here's what, you know, and this is the most difficult moment for me for the last 15 months because everybody knows me as a fighter.
Yeah.
Everybody knows this guy never stopped fighting.
This guy was in the police department and he was criticizing the police department while he was in the police department.
Everybody knows.
Police don't love that.
Right.
That I'm a fighter.
And my attorney has put me in a place you can't talk about the case, Eric, because it's still going on.
Right.
Still pending.
And it has been hard as hell not to talk about the case, you know, because to watch my name be slandered like that.
I mean, slandered.
You know, I mean, you have people writing all sorts of, you know, he did a quick procrawl.
He's a criminal.
He's corrupt.
And you have to sit back.
And I'm like, my attorney said, Eric, you know, you call me every morning.
Don't even think about it.
So here's the question.
If you're saying that this or Cash is saying that this, this like these people exist in government, there's a permanent government, as you will.
And by the way, like I kind of understand that.
The idea that the most powerful country in the history of the world could just change leadership completely every four or eight years is kind of insane.
Like there needs to be something quote unquote permanent.
So like I get it.
I get maybe how it starts.
I get the idea behind it.
But if the people are some nefarious characters, they could go left very quickly.
Anyway, so this thing exists, right?
Kind of permanently.
Now Trump is in power.
There'll be another person in power.
Are they able to like influence that group, or does that group just lay dormant while he's in power and wait for another administration?
Like, how does that work when the that's a great question?
Great question.
First of all, um, I think it was Jack Nicholson and a few, I think, a few good men.
We said, You really don't want to know the truth, you can't handle the truth, you can't handle the truth, right?
Right, right, right.
Um, running a country this complex comes with things that many of us don't want to know about.
Of course, you know, we need to be honest with ourselves.
You know, some of these operations, some of these secret operations that take place, they take place across countries.
I mean, it's just the complexities of ensuring and keeping us safe.
Absolutely.
And so, when I came into office as the mayor, there were folks who were in agencies because agencies run cities, you know, the Department of Traffic, Department of Sanitation, Police Department.
That's what runs cities.
There were people who were in agencies for 30, 40 years.
Never been elected.
Right.
And they make decisions that you don't even realize are being made.
And so a mayor comes in with his agenda.
There's some things he can do, but there's others.
Peeve, you're there for 30 years.
You like looking at them saying, This motherfucker, why are you telling me?
Don't talk to your shit.
Right, right, right.
Wow.
And then you ultimately deal with the failures of those unelected officials.
Now, if those unelected officials do something good, you do get the benefit.
Yeah, no.
So it's a win-win.
But there are most circumstances, I imagine, if somebody knows they can't lose their job and they're looking out for their agency, they're trying to increase everybody's overtime.
They're trying to make sure everybody gets paid more.
And layers and layers of bureaucracy.
And they've been in for so many.
They're growing and growing, growing.
They know the people.
Because remember, we have a $114 billion budget.
You know the amount of money that is on the federal level.
So when they went in and looked at USAID and said, wait a minute, you sending $3 billion to this?
You send a $3, $4 billion to this?
And so those permanent people.
And I know we want to believe in particularly the prosecutorial arm of our government.
Because the worst thing we want to believe is that people are using the prosecutorial powers to go after people.
That is frightening.
And we have seen that.
Like I said, imagine you are a mother.
That's fascism, right?
I mean, definitionally, like if you're going after your political opponents and you're using the power of the government.
Imagine you're a mother in some small town somewhere and you truly believe in some of the governmental policies you disagree with.
And you want to rally around that free speech.
You want to organize around that.
You should be on the FBI watch list.
Yeah, you should have the ability to speak out, which I guess goes more towards what Alex and Akash were just saying before.
Like, we don't want to remove people's ability to speak out.
That's who we are.
That's who we are as a country.
Okay, I'm curious.
We get frustrated because we look around and we see stuff not happening.
And you just pointed out here's one reason why things can't happen sometimes.
There's people in place for long periods of time and it prevents you from doing something.
Why don't you air them out?
Why don't politicians err them out?
No, and you do.
And you're able to remove those who have workers' protection.
I think you got a lot of laws to protect people.
You can't just, you know, fire just to be fired.
They're not fire.
But let's say, hey, I want to build this park right here.
It's going to help the community.
But this guy who's been in this job for 30 years wants this type of kickback in order to get the permit.
Why?
Right, right, right, right.
We don't allow it to happen.
Why don't we put a name and face to these bureaucratic kingpins?
Because we feel like that's the best thing.
We look at it as like, oh, nothing's getting done.
Oh, Eric Adams isn't doing anything.
Right, right.
Because ultimately, you bear the consequences.
No, without a doubt.
And we have been, in spite of the layers of bureaucracy, and I want to be very clear.
We have 320,000, I think the last time I checked, employees.
And the overwhelming number of them get up every day and get their job done.
They're committed.
They're dedicated.
I've been able to give them a great contract.
They were not getting contracts that they deserve, give them a good contract.
They're hardworking people.
But all you need are a few people in strategic places that can slow up the process.
You have to identify them.
You have to remove them when you can.
You have to replace them with good people that you want.
But the big thing that I want you to understand is that mayors come and go.
Presidents come and go.
Governors come and go.
Permanent government is real.
And whoever's trying to act like it's not real is a lie.
So just on that, like dealing with the bureaucracy.
And I think it's important that you said that, right?
There are like 300,000 government employees that make this city operate.
Yes, but it doesn't operate without them.
We need them.
And they don't get caught up in the madness.
You know, if you call 911, that ambulance, that cop is coming.
Exactly.
You know, that person on the other line.
Right.
They're doing their job every day.
And this is like an unbelievable task to run the city every single day.
This is the fact that anyway, so I have a lot of unbelievable amount of respect for them.
And when I bring up like Doge, I don't want this to become politicized because I understand how people feel about like Elon and I understand how they feel about...
I understand how people feel about like, you know, swaths of people getting fired and losing their ability to provide for their families.
Like if that is exactly what's happening, I have empathy for those people as well.
I think like as a normal human being.
But is there a, let's say, more delicate way to go into some of the permanent government and make it more efficient, which would help everyday New Yorkers?
Does that mean that there's more money for other programs?
Right, right.
Those people need to get hired for those other programs as well.
It's not like we're just going to cut jobs forever.
Right.
Well said.
Well said.
Should we look into permanent government in every municipality to see if there's some blows?
Without a doubt.
Without a doubt.
Listen.
How do you even say that without people going, oh, they're trying to dove it?
You got to ignore the noise, brother.
My claim to fame is that I know I love this city and I love the people in this city.
And I don't care what you call me.
I don't care how much you yell at me.
I don't care how you call names.
You're not going to tell me that people should be sleeping on the streets.
And you can call me whatever you want.
I'm not going to lie to them to sleep on the street.
You're not going to tell me that we should have guns in our community.
We took 20,800 guns off our streets, almost 1,500 just this year alone.
And we're seeing the results of that.
And so you have to go into government not saying, okay, let me just say the right things.
You have to go in being your honest, authentic self.
And that's what we do every day.
We're not going to solve all the problems.
But you can't tell me we continue to spend this much money and then have 40% of our children reading and writing that grade level.
Yeah, it just doesn't.
All over the country.
That's the thing.
Like, there just has to be a better way.
That's why I hate that the Doge thing has become so politicized because I think most Americans agree, like, we don't want there to be waste.
They all agree.
They do agree.
And the thing is, I keep saying this, and people don't like it.
They get upset.
You know, the Trump derangement syndrome is real.
Yeah.
You can hate someone so much that even if they do something wrong.
You're not blind to it.
Right.
Yeah.
You know that?
And you can like or dislike Elon, but you don't have any right blowing up someone's Tesla.
Right.
Exactly.
You don't have any right.
Who do you think you are?
You know, you don't have any right going in and destroying.
They drew a dick on his Tesla.
I'm sorry about that, by the way.
That was like a bad thing.
I should have done a white dick, too.
Small.
But think about that.
Now, to be fair, they should get 40 years.
But yeah, so that is, that doesn't happen.
That's the hypocrisy.
When you say, okay, I'm upset that you are do indulge and you're closing down jobs, but you know what?
You should close down Tesla.
What about those people that broke the air?
Dude, I literally said that I was on this guy's podcast and I was like, listen, I totally understand you, Theo Vaughn's podcast.
And I was like, I totally understand that people who are critical of Elon, there's reasons to be critical.
Everybody should have the freedom to be critical.
And I go, I go, but hoping that Tesla shuts down.
Right.
Like, I understand you're upset that people lost jobs.
It doesn't improve the situation if you make more people lose jobs.
Right.
He's the richest guy.
Yeah, he's the richest guy in the world.
He's going to be okay.
He's not the one hurting.
The people that work there.
So you're upset these people lost jobs.
Criticism vs. Tesla Shutdown00:03:13
And you're like, I know the solution.
More people lose jobs.
Think about it.
See, it's the irrational thought process that people are lining up.
I just want to hurt each other.
I want you to feel and God forbid if you say, I'm not playing that game.
Okay, then I'm going to cancel you.
Cancel me.
You know what I'm saying?
All right, guys.
We got.
Let's get back to the show.
I'm curious: what is your relationship like with Trump now?
Do you guys correspond on a frequent basis?
When he first got elected called, hey, president, congratulations.
New York is important to you.
It's important to me.
We got some issues that I need help with, like salt.
These are some of the taxes.
I mean, some of the things that were passed.
Salt?
It's just called a salt tax.
It was hard on New York City.
And we have communicated.
I said, I was very transparent.
I want to work with the president, not war with the president.
You don't win warring.
And there are things I disagree.
I'm going to communicate and say, listen, we disagreed.
You know, they took 80 million, 60 million away from us from FEMA funding for the migrant.
We disagreed on that.
But the goal is, how do we sit down?
Like I did with Biden?
You know, people forget that point that I sat down and worked with the president.
He came to the city around public safety issues.
The president came in.
We sat down.
We met with the police commissioner.
He did what I asked of him to get a director to ATF.
It was amazing.
So I want to work with our national leaders.
I'm the biggest, I'm the mayor of the biggest city in the country and the most important country on the globe.
Talk that shit.
How do we not work with the president?
I mean, it's ridiculous.
How is it like going down to Mar-a-Lago?
Are you guys like playing golf and kicking it or having like seriously?
No, no, no.
Everybody say Mar-a-Lago.
You know, it wasn't Mar-a-Lago.
It was, I think it was Palm Beach's other golf course.
And we were having real conversations about the city.
You know, we were having conversations about what are the needs of the city.
We have some real infrastructure problems that we have to face.
We're dealing with our BQE that's almost about to, we don't get it fixed, it can be a real safety issue.
So there are real, we had a lot of grants that we were getting for our infrastructure stuff.
And so I was really saying, I want to revitalize the economy.
I want to put a chip plant up in the Bronx where we can make the chips and not be held hostage by Taiwan and others.
And I said, we can build the whole thing.
That's awesome.
Yeah, we could build a whole and build our jobs, teach people the technology.
So I was sharing with him, it was a, hey, I'm the mayor.
I want to let you know I'm the mayor of the city you live in, you know, and we want to make sure that this city continues to grow.
Now, they critiqued me speaking with them.
The governor went several times to see him.
You know, other governors are saying.
White woman privilege.
But to that point, like I think it's, I think a lot of times like we focus on it.
It is, isn't it, right?
Don't go bird watching the central park.
So this is the thing that I think a lot of times happens where it's like, and I'm glad you just said that last part.
White Woman Privilege Focus00:08:24
Because a lot of times it happens with cities, especially major cities like a New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, where the focus so often is about plugging leaks in the boat that we don't think about how to make the boat even bigger.
And Americans, we love bigger.
We love abundance, especially in New York.
It's like all of our families came here for more.
So we don't just want the boat plug.
Like when you say, I want to build a chip plan in the Bronx, I'm like, yeah, that's what I want too.
And I think an important thing for all New Yorkers, because you could affect New York City, is one, like financial literacy.
I was talking to the guys on the all-in podcast, but like specifically, how do we include people like me who grew up with like no financial knowledge whatsoever?
How do we include them in the most powerful driving force in New York City, which is the stock market?
How do we get young kids like me went to public school, like Al went to public school?
How do we get financial literacy at a point and maybe even like an injection of capital?
Like, is there a fund?
It can be 500 bucks, 1,000 bucks for every kid born in New York City that's invested in the S ⁇ P 500 so that they start one feeling like part of the success of this engine that runs New York City.
Right.
Like how can America?
Well, also in America, but like I want to set the precedent in my city first and then the rest of America goes, oh, I'm the engine that runs America.
Oh, for sure.
So I love that.
Firstly, right, we're the economic engine of the state and the country.
And so what we're doing, my commissioner of DCWP, Deputy Commissioner, Commissioner of Workers Protection, we're now connecting and partnering with banks in every school.
We're teaching our young people how to open up bank accounts, how to open up checking accounts, savings accounts.
We're going to dive into the stock exchange, financial literacy.
Because the greatest impact on your life is your personality and your finances.
If you don't have, if you're not, you know, you could be academically smart, but if you're not emotionally intelligent, you're going nowhere.
And if you don't know how to manage your finance, and by the time you get out of school, you're in debt, credit card debt, you're wearing all of your wealth on your pocketbook or your shoes or your clothing.
And so we're going to teach our children how to manage money.
What we're doing in our educational system, we've put so much attention on your ABCs.
We did not put enough attention on developing the full personhood of our children.
We're teaching them meditation, breathing exercises, yoga.
We're teaching them financial literacy.
We're changing the food in our schools to show them how to have healthy food.
So we're giving them those foundational issues.
So no matter where they go, they could prosper.
Like you guys are successful because of your ability to connect with people.
If you don't know how to connect with people, you don't know how to communicate with people.
Huge advantage.
It is.
And if you don't know how to manage your money, you could, yeah, how many athletes, ball players, et cetera, makes a ton of money.
And then a couple of years after they had the game, they don't have, nobody told them how to manage their.
And when you don't have, my parents had money, then lost money.
And when I remember when I didn't have money, all I thought about was buying X, Y, and Z when I got money.
People who have money and grow up comfortable, they don't need these things.
They're not thinking about what they don't have all the time.
Right.
No, but I'm buying everything.
So I just want New Yorkers to feel like a part of the success of the city.
And when I was young, it was easy because we had sports teams that were successful.
So when the Yankees won, I won.
Right, right.
But like if the stock market is soaring, I want to feel like now maybe because at 35 I fucking finally bought a stock.
You know, I'm 41 now.
But like when I want everybody, when they see the stock market soaring and they see these businesses, they're like many of them centered in New York City, these CEOs walking around New York City.
I want those people that are running those companies.
Hopefully they're doing a good job and they care about people.
Man, what you said is that I want them to look up to them and be like, wow, part of my financial success in the future is due to that person.
And I want them to have some admiration instead of looking at them going, they're getting rich and they're leaving me behind.
Right, right.
We can't leave people behind, especially in New York City.
If every other city wants to do that shit, that's fine.
But we should be a beacon of hope for like the rest of the country.
This is how you take care of your citizens.
And I want to get back to that point where it's like, we had a cockiness, bro, that like is deserved.
It's the greatest city in history.
We still got it.
No, we still got it.
Some of us.
But some states feel like they could even have a conversation.
They could be critical of New York.
And I'm like, what is wrong with these people?
Right.
Right.
You know what I mean?
And that's, and that's what, and that's what that's what I, and I'm, and I'm feeling what you're saying.
And when I became mayor and said that, you know, we have swagger.
We're in New York.
You know what I'm saying?
And we were so used to not feeling the greatness of being in New York.
No matter where I go, man, people argue about who's number two, who's number three.
Nobody can argue about number one.
Right.
We stopped feeling as though we're number one.
I think COVID hit the city in a big way.
Right.
And I think that we're coming out of it and we're recovering.
And it is a monumental task that you have.
But like, I think it's really important as we plug those holes in the ship, like how big can this fucking ship get?
Right.
And we can't leave anyone behind.
So that's why we're going to start teaching our children blockchain.
We're going to start teaching them cryptocurrency.
That'd be cool.
We're going to start teaching them AI on the ground level.
These are all new industries.
And if we start nurturing our babies while they're in second, third grade, they're going to grow up in these industries.
We want to teach them game making and not only playing the game, but how to become an entrepreneur, the right code.
So that's the goal is many people thought they weren't deserving.
We kept our young people and parts of the city in survival mode.
You know, man's low hierarchy of need, food, shelter, clothing.
Don't worry about self-accusation.
We're just going to keep you down here, just be happy that you know survival mode.
No, you got to take people out of survival mode and take them.
You want to get to the point of that self-actualization that you're not going to be.
How long do you have to live here to be considered a New Yorker?
I don't think being a New Yorker is based on time.
I think it's based on attitude.
It's not yours.
You did not have attitude.
So what makes the attitude?
Yeah, first of all, when you feel comfortable throughout the entire city, no matter where you are.
You will have folks who will move into a community and then all of a sudden complain about what is that loud noise coming from that building.
It's a church.
They do that.
So if you come in with your own attitude, instead of saying, I want to incorporate into the city, I want to bring something in the city.
Because the diversity of this city is amazing.
You know, that's one of the joys of being, not only when I was the board president, but being the mayor.
I mean, you can go and sit in a sukkah, you know, during a Jewish holiday, Diwali, and one day you could go in the Ramadan celebration.
You could go to an Easter celebration.
Could just, you know, be all these parades.
I love all these parades.
It's real diversity.
It's not like in California where, like, there's a lot of diversity, but everybody lives in their own enclave.
Right.
You got to pass through this neighborhood, whether you like it or not.
Like it or not.
Little Italy and Chinatown bleed into one another.
And so we got to be around each other.
And it's a very unique experience.
It is.
It is.
And I don't think, I think it's a tragedy that people don't appreciate and enjoy the power of the diversity.
Our educational process is not only the sterilized environment of a classroom, but it is in the community, the streets.
If you take your children around and have them be part of their education, is learning from different communities, your children will grow up and adapt.
Because boardrooms now can no longer, everybody can't look like each other, talk like each other, eat the same food.
So it's a huge advantage.
Closing Rikers for Mental Health00:05:47
Yeah.
Oh, the diversity is crucial.
How would the dismantling of the DOE affect New York City?
It's a good question.
We don't know.
That's a great question.
We don't know the answer yet, but I would challenge you and your listeners to go across the country and look at the reading and writing and math results of all of these cities.
Man, you got places where people are like 30% reaching academic standard.
Something is wrong.
So there's a perfect example where it's just like, all right, remember when, remember when Rikers, remember the horrible situation that happened, Rikers, and people were like, we got to shut down Rikers.
I don't even know what your position was on that.
But like, I'm like, Rikers isn't the issue.
Rikers is a building made out of concrete with bars, right?
It's like how that is maybe running.
That's that question.
I love your question.
But maybe that's the thing that's part of education.
It's like, if we're looking at the numbers and they aren't to where they need to be, you got to do something.
Something happens.
Maybe it's not to take away the whole thing.
Right, right.
But if you don't believe in some change, then you're just politicizing an issue that's going to end up hurting kids and their attention.
And especially when you are spending such a high number per student.
Right.
When do you get a return on your investment?
So let's switch to Rikers for a moment.
I got re-baptized on Rikers with the inmates.
Oh, really?
Yeah, I went up with the inmates last year.
So can you explain Rikers to the people not from New York that are a lot trained?
Yeah, Rikers Island is the New York City's.
Where men go to find their sexuality.
You know what?
I'm telling you.
Dangerous man.
You can't hang out with a guy, bro.
I don't know what is right.
Post headline tomorrow.
Mayor Adams baptized.
Rikers is our this is a perfect example of fantasy colliding with reality.
Yeah.
And that's what a lot of people who would like this job, you know, you know, idealism collides with realism.
So last administration, they made the decision.
Rikers is our jail system.
They made a decision that they need to close Rikers.
And we had a little over 3,000 people that were there.
They want to close Rikers down and build four more jails, one in each borough except for Staten Island.
51% of Rikers' population, they have a mental health issue.
20% have severe mental health.
What I'm saying to them is that the four more jails that they want to want to build, it was going to cost us $8 billion.
Now it doubled $16 billion to build it.
What I'm saying to them, instead of building four more jails that can't hold the prison population, because the four more jails are going to hold about 3,600 people, we have about 7,000 people there right now.
So you're building four more jails.
All right, keep going.
Right.
So, what I say to them, instead of building four more jails that can't hold the prison population, why don't we take one of those jails and build a state-of-the-art psychiatric facility so we don't criminalize people who are dealing with psychiatric disorder?
We give them the support that they need and take care of them.
But people are caught on the romanticism of we close Rikers.
Because they think that it will do something.
It's like it's not solving your problem.
Brother, you got 7,100 people.
And so I asked them, well, what are you going to do with the other 7,100?
Why you can't just let them go?
You know what you got to do to go to Rikers nowadays?
So, okay.
Okay.
So, you become mayor, right?
Yes.
Do you know what happened with Epstein?
Like, can you figure out what happened?
Because it happened in the tombs, right?
Yeah, no, no, no, no.
It happened.
He was in federal prison.
Oh, I didn't.
He was in federal.
What's the tombs?
It's around here.
It's downtown in lower Manhattan.
But that's just a weekday jail.
It's a jail also.
Any jail is bad.
Nobody wants to put people in jail.
Fair, fair.
But he was at federal, so you wouldn't have to do it.
FCC, right?
Like, it's like right next to it.
Yeah, yeah, it's right next to you.
The president is talking about releasing the Epstein information.
They ain't never going to release that.
We're never going to know about JFK.
They just keep on saying that shit.
Okay, but is there ever a part of you that like when you become mayor, do you go, yo, tell me what?
Tell me who did it or tell me what happened.
Like, can you ask those questions?
You always try to seek information.
Okay, good.
But if they release, as Obama said, if you say it, they got to kill you.
God.
Oh, wait.
So do you know?
No, no, no.
I have no idea.
The cameras malfunction.
The guards fell asleep.
There's nothing else you need to know.
That's all you need to do.
Nobody said we got to get rid of that jail.
It's just Rikers.
Oh, yeah, Okay.
And then, and then what's the guy from the crypto guy?
What's his name?
Sam Bankman.
Sam Bankman.
He's in, he's also in federal?
Yeah.
So this is just a federal holding house that you don't have any.
The federal is a different system.
Right.
You know, you have federal jurisdictions and you have state, you have city.
After you, if you're in Rikers, you have, you're doing it, you're either waiting for trial.
Or you're going upstate.
Right, exactly.
So it's a different system.
Where's Luigi Mangioni being held?
Is he federal?
Federal picked that up also.
He's also being fed.
Sorry, did I hear?
I think Jory's telling me right before they said they're seeking the death penalty for Luigi.
That's what the federal government is doing.
We don't make that call.
The federal government, you know, to intentionally assassinate someone.
The Dirty 30 and Corruption00:03:06
I don't even remember any time in my law enforcement history back then of someone using a silencer.
He intentionally sought out the CEO and assassinated him.
So back when you were a law enforcement, did you ever have any run-ins with the Supreme Team?
Did you ever have T-Unit?
Do you ever see the video, Supreme Team video?
Which one?
With you?
There's a video.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Because you hear about these iconic gangs like that.
I grew up there.
Yeah, those guys were larger than life, man.
So what was it?
Can you explain, obviously, without putting yourself in any kind of position, but like, can you explain?
We hear them in almost folklore.
We hear them through like rap stories and folklore was real, man.
Was it like complete control of the neighborhood?
Crack just cocaine and crack just came online back then.
You know, Kilo, Tinker, the whole, those whole team, these guys used to drive around with Roll Royce's in NYCHA, and they just had a real lock on the drug scene in the city.
Then rap started to come around.
So they're telling the stories of it.
Right, right, right, right.
And then when you were in law enforcement, was law enforcement scared of them?
Did they pose a threat to law enforcement?
Did they try to work with law enforcement?
Like, how did law enforcement even go about handling a violent?
Yeah, you know what was interesting, the level of violence was not the same as you saw during the 80s going through the 80s in the 90s.
Back then, you know, those guys were about making their money.
They were having beef.
And then the inner gang, once that started happening.
Yeah, right.
80s is when you really saw the violence because it was just so much money.
It was a lot of money on the street.
People wanted to take over areas, take over streets.
But back during, you know, when you look around 75, coming to the 80s, you know, crack started to really start to make his way.
And really, crack really escalated to violence, you know, when you start dealing with crack cocaine.
Because of profitability or before?
Profit.
For whatever reason, you know, even heroin wasn't, you know, it didn't bring that level of violence going into the 60s.
I would say that the cost per kilo also, you can get a lot of money, like 20 grand for a key.
Yeah.
Oh, God.
So it's just so professing and transport easily.
And then you had those who were participating in law enforcement that was part of making that money also.
There was some illegal stuff that was going on.
So they were corrupting police officers.
77 Mark Boys.
The Brooklyn.
Yes, 77%.
Yeah, you had the Dirty 30.
Because guys were seeing so much money being made on the street.
There is something I've thought about, which is like you cannot, when you bestow responsibility on somebody, you cannot underpay them to a point where they're corruptible.
Underpaying Leads to Bribery00:07:59
Well said.
Now, I'm not saying you have to pay every single politician or every single police officer a million dollars or whatever it is, but they can't be living like below the poverty line or at it because it would be too enticing.
They have so much power.
It would be too enticing not to do that.
And you know, you do these jobs because you believe in the job, but at the same time, you know, you should always compensate people because they take care of their family.
And even when the Milan Commission and others did their review over some of the actions, they said it's important to pay a law enforcement.
I would think the highest pay professional should be cops, teachers, doctors.
These are positions you want the best people going to.
And if I'm a cop making great money, the idea that I might mess around and do some corrupt stuff or treat somebody badly and it might cost me this job that pays me well.
Right.
I don't think it's worth it.
Good point.
You want to weed a lot of them out.
And even teachers, you know, you go someplace like Korea, teachers are held to an extreme high level of respect.
Here, you know, we gave our teachers great contracts, gave our cops great contracts, but you're right.
You should make sure that they're receiving the suitable pay that they deserve.
That's what it comes down to.
Do you can you still give out keys to the city?
Yes.
You know, we didn't give you a key yet.
Oh, now we talk.
I didn't ask.
Now we talk.
I didn't ask.
I would never ask for something like that.
I would just wonder if there's some keys around.
I would never ask for something like that.
I just want a rent-controlled apartment.
Forget the keys.
You want to keep to the apartment.
Rent control department.
But this man deserves a key to the city.
Nobody rides for New York harder than this guy.
Okay, quick, quick, couple, quick, New York questions.
Okay, which borough has the most attractive women?
I think all of them have great shorties.
Politically.
And we're not, you know, because you say, you know how many times you go viral?
I drive my team crazy.
I bet.
She's writing notes right now.
Kate's got crazy.
Don't give him a mic.
No, we just locked up the next mayoral election, so don't even worry about that.
But it is Queens, though.
They are doing that.
You're tripping.
You're tripping.
Okay.
Maybe the best strip clubs.
But outside of it.
Okay, okay.
Okay.
We need it in 11 in New York.
This is my God.
You know what I'm saying?
Why don't we have an 11 in New York?
I spoke to some folks.
We may be really.
Think about all the things we gave Miami.
We gave them Carbone.
That's true.
We gave them so many places they can't give us one little 11 a nice nightclub where you don't have to feel like a scumbag in a strip club, but there's strippers there.
Yeah, they happen to go for some reason.
Yes, what a great coincidence.
That's 24 hours.
Why do people get too far?
Of course.
No, we're going to work on that.
I'm going to say a lot of places have to close at four.
Yeah, no, we need a 24-hour district, you know, and these community boards.
And we should have a 24-hour district with red lights.
No, we do not need that.
The last thing we need, yo, New Yorkers, go to sleep.
Go to sleep.
We need that.
Because then you have illegal after parties, and you don't want that.
Right, right, right.
But I haven't been to those.
Of course.
And that's your problem.
I've never been to the after parties.
Yo, out of nowhere.
Unprompted.
We need an 11.
A moment to think about.
Listen, listen.
You want to make New York City abundant, right?
Like, that's one of the problems we've got to solve.
That's true.
That's right.
It's crazy.
It's a disaster.
We don't have an 11.
It is, brother.
I know that other guy running for mayor wouldn't make an 11.
Heck no.
Have a dream of it.
That old cornball, that other guy with a nibble piercing.
He'd be dancing on the pole or the running.
How are we going to elect?
How are you going to have a nibble person and run for mayor of New York City?
That's insane.
Queens, maybe.
Listen, I didn't say who it is, so we don't even know who it is.
But that other guy, right?
Like, I can't believe it.
Wearing white shirts, wearing a blouse with a nibble ring, saying he's going to run for mayor.
This guy's got to be crazy.
Against Adams.
Against Adams.
Do you really want to make New York great legalized sex work?
Small business owners?
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Let's not get too crazy.
I think it's the move.
Okay, okay.
Here's one question.
One question.
All right.
So Canal Street has now become like an open-air bazaar.
When I was growing up, it's a souk.
When I was growing up, you could get the fake bags, but there was like a little, like, I got my PlayStation hacked so I could play the fake video games and shit.
Like, but you had to go down into one of the underground walls.
And it was a kind of nice undercover thing.
And sometimes, and I asked the cops that were on the corner, was like, yo, what do you do about this?
And he was like, listen, bro, we could lock them up and then they're out in a few days.
It's like, they've kind of, unfortunately, we're kind of like clipped and aren't going to do anything here.
Do you, what do we do about a circumstance like that?
Like, you know, and Deputy Mayor Daughtry, Cas Daughtry, he has done a great job.
What we've done, we've gone after the mother load and going after some of the warehouses that are holding our fake out.
So if you go and just round up who's on Canada, there's going to be another person.
Exactly.
So we've hit a couple of locations.
If you were to go online, you'll see we've taken millions of dollars in supplies.
We're still doing investigations.
We want to go after the feeder.
If not, you're just really...
You're not even locking the person up, you're confiscating the problem.
This is important information to get out to the people because, like, I remember seeing it every single day.
And I think, why, I think two things.
I would think that, like, the average person walking around here feels that the police do not have authority.
Right.
Which I think New Yorkers, we don't want to feel like that.
Right.
We don't like to be told what to do, but we would still know that the police can handle some shit every day.
But, but also, it feels like, is the city doing anything to stop this?
The fact that you're going after the mother load.
Yes, that's the goal.
Because we've done a number of sweeps and the guys out.
That's the next thing.
So now we've hit several warehouses and we're now zooming in.
That's the same thing we did with the illegal cannabis shops.
We started going after the mother loads and we closed down six, I think it's about 1,600 of them.
And now the illegal cannabis shops are making money now.
So we want to go after those mother loads and get it to close down.
Why not just increase the presence of police on Canal?
Just have a bunch of police always stationed on Canal.
Yeah, but you know, if you, if, and we do.
Because they do that in the hood.
Like, yeah, the precinct is there, but you don't want those guys going after one after the other doing the confiscation when you have some heavy crime that's taking place.
No, no, but I mean, like, if there was a cop right there in the corner, they're not even going to set up.
But no, they do.
Yeah, they're there.
Yeah, they know if you confiscate the merchandise, they're going to go right back and get a new shipment of it and just be back out there.
But there maybe is a point to that.
Like, if you confiscate every single day for six months, eventually they just want the manpower that takes, man.
That's some serious manpower.
That's another thing.
And also, you two guys go confiscate one person.
Then everybody else on the block is like, all right, we're good.
You would have to have 100 cops confiscate the 200 people that are throughout Canal selling.
Tabloids Disseminating Info00:06:03
And you can't, and you can't throw up your hand.
You know, the complexity of solving the problem is not an answer.
There's several investigations that are underway now of going after the large shops.
Okay.
What is the best bodega boner pill?
You know, you know, if I answer that, I'll be on the front page.
Okay, any other questions before Mayor Adams gets out of here?
About to be second term Mayor Adams.
Yeah, well, let me.
You are definitely running.
Oh, yeah.
100% as a Democrat.
I'm brother, 100% as a Democrat.
And listen, look, it breaks my heart that New York has had to go through these last 15 months.
And what I wanted to do to New Yorkers is that to let them know that no matter what I was going through, I was going to stand tall and fight for the city.
And I also wanted to send a symbol because everybody's going through something.
I mean, we sit here and we talk and we're laughing, but I know if you go into the crevices of your mind, there's something in your life that you're wrestling with.
It could be a health issue, it could be a family member, etc.
And I wanted them to say, listen, look at all that this guy's going through.
And he's still getting up every day and he's delivering for us.
He's building the houses, keeping our city safe.
And I'm hoping that they would draw on it when they're dealing with their experience.
Saturday, man, it broke my heart.
I had to go on Ocean Parkway and the mother and the two children were killed in that accident.
And I had to sit in that room with the dad and talk with him.
You know, I do that so often.
Yeah.
And I got to tell people that, hey, you know what?
You're going to get through this.
I can't say that if I'm jumping ship when I'm going through something personally.
I want to show New Yorkers the grit and grind of those who grew up here.
We're grit and grind.
We fight.
We never surrender, never give up.
And this, you know, I'm hoping your listeners will go look at our record, man.
I think you guys can do, I think that there is a version now with social media of posting the accomplishments.
Yes.
And I think that's something that the Trump administration and Trump specifically, because he's so entertainment-minded, like any kind of win, even if it's not a win, anything that they're doing, they're letting you know they're doing it.
I don't know if we're taking Greenland, but sending JD Vance to walk around.
It's a lot of marketing.
And I think there's a version where it's like you even saying that about Canal Street makes me feel like, oh, at least that this is being thought about.
At least they're trying to do something.
And I think there's a version where maybe it's through social media or whatever it is, but it's not through you doing a conference every single day.
There's other things you can do with your time.
But I think disseminating that information to New Yorkers, one, gets us excited about a chip plan in the Bronx, but two, makes us feel seen when we go, hey, the price of this is expensive.
And you're like, we're the richest city in the world.
Maybe we got to subsidize eggs.
But no kid in New York City should not be able to afford an egg in the bank.
Give us that information that you got what you want.
If I had to say one thing where we failed at, we failed to get our success out.
And our biggest failure on that is that what I've learned is that if Colgate had to depend on the tabloids to tell their success, they would never be in business.
We had to depend on traditional tabloids to tell our success.
Right.
The word of mouth is what is more popular.
The tabloids are not going to be in your favor.
Heck no.
We don't need them anymore.
Someone shared with me the other day that was very interesting that they are, people forget that they are their business.
They're in the business to make money.
And if it bleeds, it leads.
There we go.
So it's talking about we building a chip plant in the Bronx.
It's like.
Nobody cares.
But we do New Yorkers do.
And I'm the most clickable mayor in the history of.
No.
I don't want.
I said, I made your mind.
I made your career.
Exactly.
I'm paying their rent.
No, for real.
For real.
They sit around all day.
I say, and I told them, go back when I first got elected.
I told them, I said, let me tell you all something.
You are going to have so much fun with me being mayor.
All of your careers are going to be made because of me.
No one knew who you were.
Well, listen, we're very excited.
And I appreciate you coming on.
I also appreciate you.
I like the fact that you wanted to have that contentious conversation.
I think that's good.
And I think that's important.
And I think it's something that New Yorkers, I think we identify as.
It's like we're not afraid of having a tough conversation.
I'm glad that you addressed a lot of the controversy and stuff going on and then cleaned it up.
And if there are things that you guys need help with in terms of like disseminating information to the city, not on behalf of you or your organization, but on behalf of what the city is accomplishing.
Let us know.
We would love to short this.
This guy really cares about the PR of New York.
Yeah, yeah.
I'm ready to move.
This guy really cares.
It's a good product.
And listen, brother, man, you know, God has been good to me, man.
You know, you go from being called the dumb student in school.
You, you know, you get arrested as a child.
Really?
Beat by police officers.
No, go on to become a police officer, a captain, becoming, you know, a lawmaker.
You know, mommy, before she transitioned, she saw a baby go from breaking the law to enforcing the law.
And I went to Albany to write the law.
And now I'm the mayor of the most important city on the globe.