New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani speaks during a press conference at City Hall Park in New York City, US, November 20, 2025. © REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
(New York, NY) – It’d be fair to say that Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani needs to win over his critics when it comes to law enforcement. Already dealing with allegations of being “woke,” — and having previously called NYPD “racist” and “homophobic” — now Mamdani has made a hire that’s drawing scrutiny.
As part of his transition team’s “criminal legal system committee,” Mamdani has tapped Mysone Linen. A rapper from the Bronx who’s also worked as an activist since being freed from prison, the ex-con did seven years for two armed robberies in the late 1990s. Now 49-years-old, Linen was convicted in 1999 for two separate robberies of taxi drivers. First, Joseph Exiri was robbed in 1997 by Linen, and then in 1998 the victim was cabbie Francisco Monsanto.
Linen was an aspiring musician who showed some promise at the time — he’d just made his debut with popular record label Def Jam — as his album was about to drop. Once freed from prison, Linen continued to deny he had any involvement in the late 90s violence. He has also rebranded himself as a criminal-justice reform advocate — pushing for gun-violence prevention.
Also an advocate for criminal justice reform, Linen took to Instagram to announce his appointment to Mamdani’s team: “This is a testament to our decades of work advocating on behalf of black and brown communities and our expertise in gun violence prevention, legislative advocacy and criminal justice reform. We are building something different.”
Yet given Mamdani’s anti-police rhetoric in the past, many are outraged. Also outspokenly anti-Israel, Mamdani drew criticism on social media from pro-Israel account “Jews Fight Back,” which posted on X: “Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani just appointed a convicted armed robber to help shape NYC’s crime and policing policy. New York City is being handed over to radicals, extremists and outright terrorists. Watch this space. This is going to get even uglier.” That same post tagged a photo of Linen alongside Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakahan.
Mamdani did receive some praise from people on the right after it was announced that NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch will stay on the job — into the early days of Mamdani’s administration.
