NYC Mayor-elect Adams selects Brooklyn powerbroker Frank Carone to be his chief of staff
Eric Adams, the Mayor-elect, has chosen Frank Carone as his Chief of Staff, a crucial role that gives him significant policy influence across the municipality.
This appointment is just one day before Adams will be sworn into office as the 110th mayor of the city during the New Years Eve ball drop at Times Square.
Adams and Carone did not immediately respond to requests for comment by spokespeople. However, a source confirmed that Adams has been appointed chief of staff. The appointment was first reported by the New York Times.
Adams has been friends with Carone since 2004 when he ran for State Senate. He is one of Adams’ closest advisors. Carone is also a highly-skilled lawyer, who served for many years as Brooklyn Democratic Party’s counsel.
Carone was part of the party’s work in removing a challenger from the 2013 Brooklyn borough president ballot, which helped cement Adams’ election to that position.
Carone’s work sometimes has landed him in serious trouble.
He represented Jay and Stuart Podolsky in 2019, a pair of notorious brother landlords with criminal records who sold 17 apartments in Brooklyn and Bronx to the city to make them affordable.
Mayor de Blasio’s government agreed to pay $173 million for this deal, even though the assessed value was much lower and the buildings were in poor condition and plagued with code violations, exclusively reported by The News.
It was discovered that Carone had contributed to and solicited donations during the negotiation process for a political committee de Blasio was using for his failed 2020 presidential bid. Both de Blasio, and Carone denied any wrongdoing. They maintained that they didn’t discuss the Podolsky agreement as part of any political operation.
George Arzt, Carone’s spokesman, stated that he had resigned as counsel at the Brooklyn Democratic Party in advance of his entry into City Hall. Arzt said that he is also being bought out by Abrams Fensterman in Brooklyn, where he is an executive partner.
Carone will likely play the chief of staff role in the execution of some of Adams’ top policies, including beefing up NYPD and fighting back against the recent rise in COVID-19 caseloads.
