New York’s top cop quits as federal probes engulf Mayor Eric Adams

New York City’s police commissioner stepped down Thursday amid separate federal corruption investigations targeting Mayor Eric Adams and his top aides.

Edward Caban, the first Latino to run the New York Police Department, was asked to resign on Monday, the New York Times and other outlets reported.

In an email to the officers he led, Caban wrote that “the news around recent developments has created a distraction for our department, and I am unwilling to let my attention be on anything other than our important work, or the safety of the men and women of the NYPD.”

“I hold immense respect and gratitude for the brave officers who serve this department, and the NYPD deserves someone who can solely focus on protecting and serving New York City, which is why – for the good of this city and this department – I have made the difficult decision to resign as Police Commissioner,” he said.

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Adams named a retired FBI veteran, Tom Donlon, as interim police commissioner. Donlon formerly led New York state’s homeland security office and was chief of the FBI’s National Threat Center.

“This is the first police commissioner to resign over a corruption probe since the 1970s,” Wilbur Chapman, a former New York deputy police commissioner, told USA TODAY. “It creates a challenge for the police rank and file to restore the confidence of the people they protect.”

On Sept. 5, investigators from the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan seized Caban’s mobile phones as part of an investigation of what local media reported was possible protection of local nightclubs from enforcement actions. The electronic devices of lower level police commanders and supervisors were also seized.

Caban is among several top Adams aides and confidantes who received federal search warrants earlier this month. They include Deputy Mayor for Criminal Justice Philip Banks III, First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, and Schools Chancellor David Banks.

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Philip Banks, a former top police official, was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in an earlier bribery scandal at the NYPD. David Banks, the city’s schools’ chief, is his brother, and Wright is David Banks’ live-in partner. Investigators also seized the devices of a third Banks brother, Terrence Banks, who runs a government consultancy, and of Timothy Pearson, a retired police inspector who is a close confidant of the mayor’s.

“Based on what I have seen, I do not believe that Mr. Banks has any criminal liability − period,” said Benjamin Brafman, a lawyer for Philip Banks. An attorney for Terrence Banks didn’t immediately return a call for comment.

In an interview with WNYC, Schools Chancellor David Banks acknowledged that federal agents had searched the home he shares with Deputy Mayor Wright. “I have been told by my lawyers that I’m absolutely not a target in this investigation,” he told host Brian Lehrer, “and I’m going to do everthing I can to cooperate with the investigation.”

No one in the mayor’s circle has been charged with wrongdoing.

Earlier this year, investigators seized the mayor’s electronic devices, apparently in the course of an ongoing investigation of illegal Turkish funding for his 2021 mayoral campaign.

Caban was first appointed in July 2023 following the resignation of his predecessor, Keechant Sewell, who served 18 months before leaving the department.

In a statement, acting Police Commissioner Donlan said he would work to “continue the historic progress decreasing crime and removing illegal guns from our communities, uphold the highest standards of integrity and transparency, and support our dedicated officers who put their lives on the line every day to keep us safe.”