Zohran Mamdani’s Glorious People's Republic of Brooklyn Takes Shape, Backed by Leftist-Islamist Coalition That Swears It's All About the Vibes

Comrade Zohran Mamdani

Zohran Mamdani’s political takeover of New York City was backed by a leftist-Islamist coalition, but abstract ideology only gets you so far. Plenty of the Muslim donors and voters weren’t there just for religious and racial reasons, but they hoped to reap tangible benefits from the move. And that’s where the corruption tends to come in.

Sure, everyone's been distracted by the shiny ‘free grocery store’ promises that now will take 3 years to do, but plans like this may be much closer to where the money is really going as Mamdani proposes massive rezoning of an area that has a large Muslim population. 

The City Planning Commission is referring to its new initiative as the “South of Prospect Plan” and aims to rezone the commercial corridors of McDonald and Coney Island avenues, as well as surrounding blocks, for taller buildings and more housing development.

The blocks currently feature long stretches of single-story businesses, auto body shops and low-rise homes. When I was a kid growing up in Brooklyn, I could walk to McDonald Ave. and Coney Island Ave. in five minutes. 

Four subway lines connect the neighborhood to Manhattan, and in the coming years, a new light rail line could traverse the area, providing direct access to Queens, making the Brooklyn blocks prime real estate for new housing.

And anyone owning real estate in the area, including the small houses that the mostly Bangladeshi and Pakistani Muslim occupants in the area have settled in, will stand to make tens of millions of dollars. Mazel tov, comrades!

The area south of Prospect Park overlaps with districts represented by Council members Shahana Hanif, Rita Joseph, Farah Louis and Simcha Felder.

Hanif and Joseph each said they support the plan.

Shahana Hanif is a Bangladeshi Muslim councilwoman affiliated with the DSA, and a Mamdani ally who represents the Bangladeshi settler population in the area. Diversity is our strength, especially when it comes with waterfront property values.

I certainly hope the FBI and the DOJ are going to keep a close eye on who profits from this Mamdani plan. Or, knowing how things work in New York, maybe they'll just rename it the "Equity and Inclusion Development Fund" and call it a day.

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Democratic Hochul aide under investigation over alleged migrant shelter bribes

Federal prosecutors are investigating whether a New York City council-member and her sister, a top aide to Gov. Kathy Hochul, accepted bribes or kickbacks tied to city funding steered to a migrant shelter provider, according to a search warrant obtained by The Associated Press.

The March 19 warrant seeks evidence of possible criminal conduct involving Council-member Farah Louis, a Brooklyn Democrat, her sister, Debbie Louis, Hochul’s assistant secretary for New York City intergovernmental affairs, and Edu Hermelyn, husband of Assembly member Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, the chair of the Brooklyn Democratic Party.

A spokesperson for Hochul said Debbie Louis was placed on leave last week after the governor became aware of the federal corruption probe. Someone answering a phone number associated with Louis ended the call when asked by the AP about the investigation, and the AP reported messages left for Farah Louis and Hermelyn were not returned.

New York City Council-member Farah Louis is reportedly under federal investigation for an alleged bribery scheme.  According to the warrant, investigators are examining whether the three received benefits in exchange for actions taken on behalf of BHRAGS Home Care Inc., a Brooklyn nonprofit that historically provided in-home care for sick and elderly clients.

As New York City’s migrant influx intensified in 2022, BHRAGS broadened its work to include emergency shelter operations for asylum seekers and other homeless services. Since then, public records show the group has been awarded more than a dozen contracts worth upward of $200 million from the city’s Department of Homeless Services.

"This is political persecution driven by the far-right, targeting immigrants and the leaders who stand with them," a political insider tied to Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn told the New York Post on Monday. "There are no charges at this time, and the facts will ultimately lead to this case being dropped on its merits."

An attorney for BHRAGS Executive Director Roberto Samedy declined to comment to the AP.The warrant also seeks records of money transfers and communications involving Edouardo St. Fort, a former New York Police Department sergeant who retired in 2023. That same year, records indicate his firm, Fort NYC Security, secured a $3 million contract from the Department of Homeless Services. AP calls and emails seeking comment from St. Fort were not returned.The warrant’s existence does not mean charges are imminent. It indicates only that federal investigators convinced a judge they had sufficient grounds to search for and seize potential evidence.

The probe lands amid broader scrutiny over how New York City awarded emergency shelter contracts during the migrant crisis, when the arrival of tens of thousands of asylum seekers strained the city’s shelter system and prompted officials under then-Mayor Eric Adams to rapidly expand housing capacity through outside providers.

Some of those arrangements have drawn criticism from watchdogs and political opponents, who questioned the speed, scale and oversight of the contracting process.

The figures named in the warrant are all connected to Brooklyn’s Democratic political establishment, which has been rocked by a series of ethics controversies in recent years. Hermelyn, who once served as a senior adviser to Adams, stepped down after questions were raised about whether his role as a Brooklyn district leader conflicted with rules barring certain dual government positions. He also went on to advise former Gov. Andrew Cuomo during Cuomo’s unsuccessful mayoral campaign.

The Trump administration, led by fraud investigation czar Vice President JD Vance, has prioritized federal law enforcement investigations nationwide.

Just this week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's Treasury Department announced it is offering whistleblowers a major financial incentive to help expose fraud, directing would-be tipsters to the Treasury.gov website, telling Fox News on Monday that the administration has already received more than 700 leads.

The Treasury’s whistleblower page says eligible tipsters can receive between 10 percent and 30 percent of monetary sanctions collected for successful actions.

While Minnesota fraud among the state's Somali community has made headlines thus far thanks to independent journalist Nick Shirley's reporting, Bessent actually praised that state for having some level of transparency that is not permitted in California or New York.

"That's why that young man, Nick Shirley, was able to go to see the scams, because it was: This is the name of the facility, this is the address, this is how much money they got," Bessent said. "Oh look, it's an empty storefront. There's no one here. New York, California are hiding it."

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