Former NYPD Commissioner Alleges Mayor Adams Oversaw 'Coordinated Criminal Conspiracy' in Wild Lawsuit

Thomas Donlon, the former FBI official who seemingly came out of nowhere to lead the NYPD as interim commissioner in the days after Mayor Eric Adams was federally indicted and his previous NYPD commissioner left in a cloud of scandal, has popped out of the woodwork to file a blistering civil suit alleging that Mayor Adams ran a "coordinated criminal conspiracy" atop the NYPD with a group of current and former law enforcement executives—and that's just the beginning.

Donlon's 251-page lawsuit, filed on Wednesday in federal court, contains a veritable gumbo of misconduct allegations. The claims range from the very serious (a coterie of police brass—including current NYPD Chief of Department John Chell, former Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey, former Chief of Staff to the Chief of Department and current City Hall Deputy Commissioner for Operations Kaz Daughtry, all loyal to Adams—allegedly promoted unqualified cops with histories of misconduct and abuse against Donlon's wishes and with Mayor Adams's blessing) to the head-scratchingly trivial (Christmas party invitations were sent out way too late, without Donlon's knowledge?) to the outright bizarre (Donlon's wife was arrested last December for driving with a suspended license and not having her insurance, allegedly in retaliation for him blowing the whistle?). 

Donlon reserves special condemnation for former NYPD press head Tarik Sheppard, who he claims illegally promoted himself after stealing an official stamp with Donlon's signature on it, and later threatened Donlon's life, allegedly telling the commish, "I will fucking kill you" during a scuffle at a photo op for the New York City Marathon.

The topline allegations of Donlon's suit—that the police department was a sewer of corruption driven by people loyal to Mayor Adams—sound a lot like the claims made by four former NYPD leaders in their own lawsuits filed earlier this month.