NYC Mayor Eric Adams Names “Gun Violence Czar”

June 2, 2022 Crime, Dementia

The New York Daily News reports:

Mayor Adams named a veteran violence interrupter as his “gun violence czar” Thursday as the city braces for the summer months when shooting rates historically tend to surge. Andre Mitchell — founder of Man Up!, a Brooklyn-based anti-violence group that has attracted scrutiny from city authorities in the past — will serve in the newly created post on a volunteer basis.

“Everyone that impacts or touches the lives of the young people will be part of the solution of dealing with gun violence because we can’t continue to believe that because you made an arrest, you solved the problem,” Adams said during a rally outside City Hall. Adams pointed out more than once during the rally that he’s known Mitchell for 30 years — and through that connection he said he found him to be the most qualified person to fill the post.

From a 2019 report by The City:

Man Up! Inc. — which has received millions of dollars in city contracts over the last few years — had serious financial mismanagement issues. City investigators found evidence indicating that Mitchell had used the group to line his pockets and put his family on the payroll, records show.

Over the last two years, more than $15,000 from credit card and delivery sales raised by a Man Up!-run coffee shop in East New York wound up in Mitchell’s personal bank account, according to a June 18 Department of Investigation memo obtained by THE CITY.

The memo also states that Man Up’s payroll included Mitchell’s daughter, Dominique Yates, as a $65,000-a-year “director of administration,” and his son, DeAndre Yates, as a $30,000-a-year “program instructor.”

The New York Times reports:



It was not entirely clear what the gun violence czar — or “gun violence prevention chair” as the position is sometimes referred to in the city documents — would do. Officials declined to provide details about the matter.

“We will continue to roll out programs in the days, weeks, and months ahead to remove guns from our streets, protect our communities, and create a safe, prosperous, and just city for all New Yorkers,” Fabien Levy, a spokesman for Mr. Adams, said in a statement.

From 2019 to last year, shooting incidents roughly doubled in New York City, to 1,562 from 777. The last time the number of shootings in the city reached that level was 2006, when Michael R. Bloomberg was mayor.

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