NYPD experienced cops see no reason to stay with Mamdani's threat to cut overtime

More than half of the NYPD's Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) detectives can punch out right now with full pensions, and thousands of sergeants, lieutenants, and captains are in the same boat. That has officials sweating bullets over the future of terror prevention and crime fighting in New York City, The Post has learned.

Forty-five of the 82 JTTF detectives, or 55 percent, have racked up 20 years on the job, enough for a full pension, according to union data.

Out of 5,121 active detectives citywide, 1,193, or 23 percent, are eligible to retire with full benefits after two decades of service. And why wouldn't they?

The NYPD could lose 57 percent of its detectives because they've hit that 20-year mark and can walk away, officials said.

Another 698 lieutenants, about 42 percent of the 1,669 total, could retire immediately. Add in 518 captains, or 66 percent of the 780, and 954 sergeants, roughly 22 percent of the 4,300 total, who could bolt at any moment, per union figures.

Cops are worried that these thousands of veteran bosses and street-smart detectives will head for the exits if Mayor Comrade Zohran Mamdani slashes overtime, which would gut their pensions, union officials said. And he hates cops, based on his history.

Officers hired after 2000 get a pension based on half their pay in their final year.

Comrade Zohran Mamdani

If they believe anti-cop Mamdani is going to chop their future overtime earnings, it makes perfect sense for them to retire now, lock in their 2025 pay under cop-friendly Mayor Adams as the pension base, and get out while the getting is good.

"If they have a big overtime year, they have to go," said Detectives Endowment Association President Scott Munro, who has been pushing Albany hard for a three-year average instead.He said a perceived lack of mayoral support, and the public anti-cop vibe it fuels, is also driving officers away.

"What's happening is people are getting in our police officers' faces," Munro said. "They're harassing them out there in the street."

Unions are "losing control of people leaving," Lieutenants Benevolent Association President Lou Turco said.

"Once you hit 20 [years], the department loses control," he said. "If I have a really good year of overtime and the department decides it wants to cut overtime, I have to leave."

Detectives Endowment Association President Scott Munro has been lobbying Albany to get pension rules changed to keep cops from leaving.

At the start of the year, officers got word they needed to cut overtime by nine to 11 hours in February as part of a cost-cutting push, The Post reported.

The reductions hit during the shortest and coldest month, when major events were scarce, a spokeswoman called it "management 101" at the time.

But cops "see the writing on the wall," said retired NYPD Detective Michael Alcazar, an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice who put in three decades before retiring in 2019.

"I did 30 years because it was a good job, I was getting good overtime, and I was enjoying it," he said.

"But now these guys are not because they're backfilling patrol," he said of veteran supervisors forced back to the street to cover manpower shortages.

"Detectives and lieutenants are back on patrol," he said. "You know when you've got 20, 25 years you don't want to put the bag back on and get on foot post, which is what they're doing."Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch testified at a City Council budget hearing this week that 2025 retirements are tracking right along with projections, based on the big hiring wave two decades ago.

She noted the NYPD had its "largest hiring year on record, more than 4,000 officers" last year.The department "not only outpaced attrition in 2025, we essentially brought the NYPD back to its authorized uniformed headcount for the first time in three years," Tisch said. The agency wrapped 2025 with about 800 more officers than the average over the prior three years, officials said.

"We are not in a hiring crisis anymore," she told the City Council. "We ended 2025 at a headcount of 34,769, just 250 shy of our authorized headcount."

"It's the senior people we do not want to lose," Sergeants' Benevolent Association President Vincent Vallelong said.

There are 220 sergeants who serve as bosses in the detective bureau but don't get special assignment money, which is basically lieutenant pay, he said.

"If they gave them special assignment money, I promise right off the bat these guys wouldn't leave," the union boss said.

Part of the headache with veteran officers walking away is that there's no one ready to step up and replace them, Munro said.

"I have senior detectives telling their kids, 'Do not come on this job,'" said Munro, who has two police officer sons. "And that's not the way this job used to be."

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Comrade Mamdani addresses terror attempt

New York City's shiny new socialist Mayor Zohran "Smiley" Mamdani finally found a moment in his busy schedule to address the little incident outside his official digs. It only took him a full day after protesters were yelling "Allahu Akbar" and chucking a couple of homemade devices into a crowd. Devices that the NYPD bomb squad later confirmed were, surprise, actually lethal.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch dropped the official word on Sunday: "The NYPD Bomb Squad has conducted a preliminary analysis of a device that was ignited and deployed at a protest yesterday and has determined that it is not a hoax device or a smoke bomb. It is, in fact, an improvised explosive device that could have caused serious injury or death."

So it turns out that this jihadist and his buddy were seriously trying to kill people.

Tisch added that the second one was still getting the full lab treatment with "further analysis" needed.

Then came the gratitude portion of the program: "Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi were arrested on scene yesterday and are in custody in connection with this matter. The NYPD is working on this investigation with our partners at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York and the FBI through our Joint Terrorism Task Force. I want to again thank the brave members of the NYPD who ran towards the danger without hesitation and quickly apprehended the suspects."

Meanwhile, Comrade Mamdani released his own statement, which managed the impressive feat of moral equivalencing the guys who threw bombs at people with the people they were throwing bombs at.

"Yesterday, white supremacist Jake Lang organized a protest outside Gracie Mansion rooted in bigotry and racism," Mamdani complained. "Such hate has no place in New York City. It is an affront to our city’s values and the unity that defines who we are."

The leftist mayor kept going: "What followed was even more disturbing. Violence at a protest is never acceptable. The attempt to use an explosive device and hurt others is not only criminal, it is reprehensible and the antithesis of who we are. I want to thank the brave men and women of the NYPD who acted quickly to keep New Yorkers safe. Our officers ran toward danger without hesitation, demonstrating once again the courage and dedication it takes to protect this city every single day. My administration is closely monitoring the situation and I remain in close contact with our Police Commissioner."

Yeah, sure.

For context, there were two dueling protests in front of Gracie Mansion. One was a tiny gathering of less than two dozen folks led by January 6 defendant Jake Lang, billed as "Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City, Stop New York City Public Muslim Prayer." The other side pulled in over 100 people under the banner "Run the Nazis out of New York City, Stand Against Hate." [They forgot to add: Death to Israel; death to America.]

Cops kept them separated, but things still got ugly. Someone from Lang's group hit counter-protesters with pepper spray and got arrested. Then tensions boiled over further when Balat and Kayumi got nabbed for the homemade bombs.

In the grand tradition of progressive mayors who love to lecture about unity while carefully avoiding any mention of who actually tried to blow people up, Mamdani's response was a master class in deflection. The bombs were bad, sure, but let's not forget to lead with the real villain: the guy with the offensive protest sign. Classic gas lighting.

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Mamdani, Omar, AOC defend Iranian regime over Iranians

NYC's socialist Comrade Mayor Zohran Mamdani, fresh off a chummy White House sit-down with President Trump where they hashed out potential Big Apple housing deals, wasted no time joining the Squad's Alexandria Obviously-Commie (AOC) and Ilhan Omar, a woman who married her brother, in blasting the president for the joint U.S.-Israel airstrikes that hammered Iran.

"Today's military strikes on Iran, carried out by the United States and Israel, mark a catastrophic escalation in an illegal war of aggression," Mamdani declared Saturday, barely days after the Ugandan-born ever-smiling mayor seemed to find some common ground with Trump on pumping federal dollars into New York housing projects.

"Bombing cities. Killing civilians. Opening a new theater of war.  Americans do not want this. They do not want another war in pursuit of regime change. They want relief from the affordability crisis. They want peace."

The low information mayor insisted his top priority remains "making sure that every New Yorker is safe." He said he was in touch with Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and emergency management officials to take "proactive steps, including increasing coordination across agencies and enhancing patrols of sensitive locations out of an abundance of caution."

"Additionally, I want to speak directly to Iranian New Yorkers: you are part of the fabric of this city, you are our neighbors, small business owners, students, artists, workers, and community leaders," the far-left anti-Semitic mayor added. "You will be safe here." [Unless you're Jewish.]

Fun Fact: Iranian Americans overwhelmingly support President Trump and Israel's strike on the Iranian regime.

Over in Congress, Rep. AOC (D-NY) didn't hold back either, branding the strikes "unlawful" and accusing Trump of "dragging" Americans "into a war they did not want," while claiming the president "does not care about the long-term consequences of his actions."

"This war is unlawful. It is unnecessary. And it will be catastrophic," the former bartender ranted.

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) piled on too, slamming Trump for "unilaterally dragging this nation into an illegal and unjustified war with Iran without congressional authorization, without a clear objective, and without any imminent threat to the United States."

The far-left chorus came as Trump and Israel unleashed massive airstrikes aimed at crippling Iran's terrorist regime, with the president vowing the operations would continue as needed to deliver peace in the Middle East. 

Talk about timing: one minute Comrade Mamdani is pitching Trump on 12,000 new homes, the next he's leading the condemnation parade. Classic Squad hypocrisy on full display.

Ask the Iranian people what they want, dolts.

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NYPD ups synagogue security before Passover holiday and surge of anti-Semitic hate crimes

As the festival of Passover looms on the horizon, the New York Police Department finds itself compelled to bolster its ranks around synagogues and Jewish institutions throughout the sprawling metropolis. The reason? A chilling surge in anti-Semitic hate crimes, which now constitute a staggering 62% of all such offenses in the city—a statistic that ought to make any decent person’s blood run cold.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, with a resolve that echoes through her words, has vowed to shield the Jewish community from this rising tide of malice. “No one should feel afraid to worship. No community should feel like a target,” she declared, laying out a plan of intensified patrols, a conspicuous police presence, and close collaboration with community leaders throughout the holiday. It’s a promise that carries the weight of necessity, for the alternative—a city where fear dictates faith—is unthinkable.

Deputy Inspector Gary Marcus of the Hate Crimes Task Force minced no words in calling anti-Semitism “the single largest category of hate” in New York. The numbers bear out his grim assessment: 2024 saw a 7% uptick in anti-Jewish incidents, with 345 cases staining the city’s record, a trend that has stubbornly persisted into 2025. But it’s not merely the quantity that alarms—it’s the sheer audacity and savagery of these acts.

Consider the Brooklyn woman, struck in the face at a subway station as her assailant shrieked, “You dirty Jew, I hate all of you.” Or the Jewish teenager in Manhattan, hurled to the ground by a pack of peers spewing antisemitic venom. Then there are the repeated desecrations—swastikas and hateful graffiti defacing synagogues and Jewish schools in Queens and the Upper East Side. 

These are not mere statistics; they are wounds inflicted on a community, verbal daggers, physical blows, and symbolic outrages that demand our attention.

The Jewish population of New York, a city that prides itself on its diversity, now finds itself gripped by a creeping dread. To walk to synagogue or don attire that marks one’s faith is to invite peril, unless it's a hijab—a reality that should shame us all. 

The NYPD, to its credit, has called on the public to stay watchful, to report anything that smacks of threat or suspicion. Meanwhile, voices from within the community demand more—education to uproot ignorance, laws with teeth to punish the perpetrators.

With Passover just days away, the NYPD insists this heightened security is no mere show. It’s a clarion call, a line in the sand: New York will not abide antisemitism. And yet, one cannot help but wonder—how has it come to this? In a city that fancies itself a beacon of tolerance, the shadows grow long indeed.

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Illegal alien charged with setting sleeping woman on fire, pleads not guilty

El Scumbaggio

It happened on the F train in Brooklyn's Coney Island Stillwell Avenue station, on a train this writer has taken thousands of times. 

Sebastion Zapeta, 33, an illegal alien from Guatemala, allegedly [he is seen on video] lit a sleeping woman on fire, fanned the flames with his coat, and watched as she burned to death. He pleaded not guilty to murder and arson charges Tuesday.

The illegal alien was indicted on one count of first-degree murder, three counts of second-degree murder, and arson. Prosecutors said that he fanned the flames before sitting down to watch her burn as police and a subway worker tried to put out the fire.

According to court documents, Zapeta later told detectives he was in a drunken blackout during the attack. It's as if alcohol kills people just like guns do, and forks make people fat. 

"I am very sorry. I didn't mean to. But I really don't know, I don't know what happened, but I'm very sorry for that woman," he allegedly told detectives, according to a transcript from his interrogation translated from Spanish to English.

How did he not mean to burn her alive? He even fanned the damn flames.

Zapeta listened through an interpreter but remained silent during the 4-minute hearing. His lawyer, at the end, said his client needed medical attention, but additional details were not immediately available. It's possible that he got burned standing too close to his victim while fanning the flames. Poor guy.

The judge ordered him held without bail.

Zapeta entered the U.S. illegally in 2018 and was deported. Like so many Democratic hopeful voters, he returned to the U.S. at an unknown time and slithered to New York City. On December 22, he allegedly lit the sleeping Debrina Kawam, 57, on fire. She was from Toms River, New Jersey.

She was so badly burned it took over a week to identify her remains.

Zapeta told detectives he was drunk at the time of the slaying and often blacked out between his home and the subway platform or vice versa, trying to use that as an excuse for his actions.

"Sometimes, when I drink and erase the memory, and I don't known right?" he said, according to the transcript. "When I wake up, I'm already in the house, already sleeping. I wake up when I'm already at home. Or there are times when I wake up, and I'm already at the train station…or on the train…"

He's using the "Wolfman Excuse" it seems, but it doesn't excuse what he did.

You can read the transcript of Zapeta's interview with detectives:

Mayor Eric Adams (D) said surveillance video of the attack was so twisted he couldn't finish watching it.

According to the transcript, detectives played the clip for Zapeta and he claimed that he didn't remember any of it. He did, however, allegedly admit it showed him on the screen.

It seems like the guy's cognition to use a cigarette lighter to immolate the poor lady, and then fan the flames to ensure it would engulf her, demonstrates that he was sentient enough to know what he was doing and his blackout story is garbage, in my opinion.

"As the train pulled into the station, the suspect calmly walked up to the victim," New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told reporters at a news briefing. "The suspect used what we believe to be a lighter to ignite the victim’s clothing, which became fully engulfed in a matter of seconds."

Then the man walked out of the car to a nearby waiting bench, sat down, and watched as help arrived, albeit too late.

 Responding officers were already in the station, and a transit worker grabbed a fire extinguisher. The suspect even appeared on body-cam video, Tisch said.

The suspect was arrested after three teenagers riding another subway train recognized him from a wanted poster and called 911. He was taken into custody at the next stop.

Zapeta faces a maximum sentence of life without the possibility of parole if convicted. Too bad for him that by the time his court date rolls around, Biden will be out of office and will not be able to pardon him. Maybe Biden can do it preemptively.

The suspect is due back in court on March 12.

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Illegal alien who 'allegedly' immolated woman on NYC subway indicted

Illegal alien Sebastian Zapeta, 33, is accused of setting a woman on fire, killing her as he fanned the flames with his coat, has been indicted by a grand jury, which in New York, may be considered surprising since the woman was white.

The woman's name has not been confirmed by the NYPD but it was posted on X that her name is alleged to be Amelia Carter.

The horrific attack occurred on Sunday and people in the vicinity, including a police officer--I've been told--did nothing but look on to watch.

Zapeta was charged with murder and arson on Monday and the indictment was returned Friday.

Charges are issued when a prosecutor formally accuses someone of a crime, but an indictment happens when a grand jury decides there's enough evidence, presented by the prosecutor, to charge someone.

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced to reporters that the indictment against Zapeta will be made public on January 7. If Zapeta is found guilty on the most serious charge, he could face life in prison without the possibility of parole.

"This was a malicious deed. A sleeping, vulnerable woman on our subway system," Gonzalez stated, as reported by the Associated Press.

The incident took place on a Sunday where Zapeta was seen on video surveillance watching an unidentified woman stand in a subway car while she was burning. The video also captured other passengers, including a police officer, passing by without intervening.

Investigators have stated that Zapeta and the woman had no prior relationship or interaction before Zapeta allegedly lit a lighter and threw it at her. She was a stranger, a victim of our empty-suited leaders who do nothing about our nation's sovereignty, 

“The suspect used what we believe to be a lighter to ignite the victim’s clothing, which became fully engulfed in a matter of seconds,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Sunday at a press conference on CBS.

Finally, officers and a transit worker grabbed a fire extinguisher and attempted to save the woman, but she died on the scene, CBS reported.

“Unbeknownst to the officers who responded, the suspect had stayed on the scene and was seated on a bench on the platform just outside the train car, and the body worn cameras on the responding officers produced a very clear, detailed look at the killer,” Tisch said on Sunday. “Three high school age New Yorkers called 911 to say that they recognize the suspect. They saw something and they said something, and they did something.”

Big effing deal. At least the kids did something but no bystander had the guts to help her.

Zapeta, an obvious piece of human waste, reportedly entered the U.S. illegally in 2018 during the first Trump administration. He was deported within days but then re-entered the U.S. again and traveled to New York where he was living in a migrant shelter.

The New York Post reported that it is unknown how long he had been in New York, but law enforcement sources told the outlet that the man stayed at multiple taxpayer-funded migrant shelters around New York City. Those same sources told the Post that the suspect’s previous criminal history is “largely clean” except for entering the country illegally.

Again, big effing deal. Just because his previous record is "largely clean," suggesting that it wasn't "squeaky clean," doesn't mean it was okay for him to be in the country living off of taxpayer money. And the "largely clean" no longer seems to apply.

We elected Donald Trump to fix this problem among the many others the Biden administration has created. Let's hope he can do it--we know he will try his level best.

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