Mamdani appoints convicted armed robber to public safety transition team
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has chosen a formerly incarcerated rapper to serve on his City Hall transition team as he prepares to take office in New York City Jan. 1, according...
By Fox News · Fox News
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has chosen a formerly incarcerated rapper to serve on his City Hall transition team as he prepares to take office in New York City Jan. 1, according to reports. The controversial selection comes as Mamdani, who won November’s election on a progressive platform, assembles his transition team. Mamdani's appointment of Mysonne Linen, 49, was announced in a Nov. 26 Instagram post from Until Freedom, a New York City–based social-justice organization, where Linen is a leader. Linen is featured in the social media post alongside Tamika Mallory and Angelo Pinto. "We are proud that Until Freedom leaders have been chosen to serve on Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani’s transition team on committees for public safety and criminal justice respectively," the post reads. MAMDANI BREAKS WITH ADAMS, VOWS NYC WILL STOP CLEARING HOMELESS ENCAMPMENTS IN JANUARY "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." Over the years, Linen has built a public presence as a community activist, frequently posting about anti-violence initiatives and civic engagement, and promoting his involvement with Until Freedom. According to past reports, Linen, a Bronx native who was once signed to Def Jam, was convicted of two felony robberies in the late 1990s. In 1999, a Bronx jury is said to have found him guilty in two armed robberies of taxi drivers, per the New York Daily News . MAMDANI SAYS NYPD COMMISSIONER APOLOGIZED AFTER HER BROTHER CALLED HIM 'ENEMY' OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE AT GALA Prosecutors said Linen was part of a group that robbed cab driver Joseph Exiri on June 8, 1997, striking him with a beer bottle, and later held up cab driver Francisco Monsanto at gunpoint on March 31, 1998, stealing cash and a ring before fleeing. Both cabbies testified and identified Linen as one of the robbers. The New…