Widow of cab robbed by Mamdani’s appointment to criminal justice panel speaks out – what she said

A day after it was revealed that New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani had hired former convicted rapper-activist Mysonne Linen as a criminal justice adviser to his transition team, the widow of a cabin robbed by the Mamdani appointee’s former crew has spoken out. “Are you crazy?,” a shocked woman from the Bronx told the New York Post when she learned that Linen, who served seven years in prison, had been assigned to advise Mamdani on the criminal justice system. The woman went on to call the appointment “wrong” — “Someone who committed that kind of crime and then you make him an advisor on crime?” she told NYP. Linen, 49, was appointed to the 20-member criminal justice panel of Mamdani’s transition team last month, a move the rapper-turned-community activist hailed as a “testament to our decades of work advocating on behalf of black and brown communities and our expertise in gun violence prevention, reform and legislation. But the widow of cabin boy Joseph Eziri, who was robbed in the 1990s by a crew that Linen was a part of wasn’t having any of it. “Please… He’s no good to me. Why are you giving him such a position?”, he was quoted as saying by NYP. The woman called Eziri back that evening and went on to say, “My husband went to work that evening. Later that night, he called me and told me that a guy he picked up—I think it was on Ogden Avenue—took his money, and then used a knife…” Eziri died of a heart attack last year, but the wife said that if he had been against it, he would have known about it for my husband. Linen was among 400 New Yorkers appointed by Zohran Mamdani to various panels last month. “We have a team of more than put together 400 New Yorkers who are on 17 different committees, and they are New Yorkers who bring both policy fluency and city politics, the places where they followed up the places they failed,” Mamdani said following the appointments. What was Mysonne Linen in prison for? Linen, a promising rapper in the 1990s, was convicted in 1999 of being part of a robbery team carried out two New York cabs, including Eziri, whose widow spoke to NYP. Prosecutors said at the time that Linen and his crew were behind the June 8, 1997, robbery of cabbie Francisco Monsanto. Linen was slapped with a seven- to 14-year sentence, and was released on parole in 2006. turned to community service, volunteered as a violence interrupter and later founded Rising Kings, a nonprofit group that holds classes for Rikers Island inmates. Linen also reportedly joined hands with anti-Israel activist and Mamdani adviser Linda Sarsour to found the social justice nonprofit Until Freedom. Despite Linen’s recent record of community service and activism, many criticized Mamdani for the appointment, including Benny Boscio, the Correctional Officers’ Benevolent Association, and John Chell, a recently retired NYPD chief. In response, Linen’s organization Until Freedom said the rapper-turned-activist is focusing on where it matters. We outside are doing real work. Mysonne is the BOSS at Until Freedom,” the organization said in a post on Instagram.