Former NYPD head accuses Mayor Adams, police brass of 'criminal enterprise'

Tom Donlon, former head of the NYPD, says the organization was rife with crime and corruption

Former NYPD Commissioner Tom Donlon filed a civil racketeering lawsuit against the city, Mayor Eric Adams and top department officials Wednesday, accusing the administration of running a criminal enterprise through city government.

The federal lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York, accuses top NYPD brass of falsely arresting the commissioner’s wife in a “coordinated humiliation” and leaking the arrest to the New York Post.

The suit also alleges high-ranking police officials spied on Donlon’s personal communications and blocked internal probes into executive misconduct within the NYPD's ranks.

The lawsuit, which was filed by Donlon’s attorney John Scola, accuses Adams and department officials of committing numerous crimes, including wire fraud, mail fraud and obstruction of justice. It also accuses senior NYPD officials of enriching themselves and their friends and associates by awarding unearned raises, inflated pensions, promotions and unchecked overtime.

“This lawsuit is not a personal grievance; it is a statement against a corrupt system that betrays the public, silences truth, and punishes integrity,” Donlon said in a statement.

City Hall spokesperson Kayla Mamelak Altus contested the allegations.

“These are baseless accusations from a disgruntled former employee who — when given the opportunity to lead the greatest police department in the world — proved himself to be ineffective," she said in a statement. "This suit is nothing more than an attempt to seek compensation at the taxpayer’s expense after Mr. Donlon was rightfully removed from the role of interim police commissioner."

Donlon is seeking unspecified damages to be determined at trial, should the case proceed to one.

In addition to Adams and the NYPD, the suit names former Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey, current Chief of Department John Chell and Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Kaz Daughtry as defendants, among others.

The suit alleges “Donlon's service as interim Police Commissioner was done amidst a daily and constant onslaught of personal attacks and professional sabotage committed by the indignant, inexperienced and insubordination of the NYPD top executives making critical decisions which defied logic, common decency and professionalism.”

Donlon was appointed interim commissioner in 2024 after Edward Caban resigned from the post following an FBI raid on his home.

Donlon says in the suit he served in “name only” and true control of the NYPD remained in the hands of Adams’ "corrupt inner circle." Adams' first pick to lead the NYPD, Keechant Sewell, resigned in June 2023. Donlon’s lawsuit asserts Sewell’s authority in the department was usurped by two of Adams’ political appointees, Tim Pearson and Philip Banks, who both have long-standing ties with the mayor.

Among the dysfunction and alleged criminality in the NYPD, Donlon cited the mishandling of an investigation into a department warehouse that caught fire in Red Hook in 2023.

The fire destroyed biological evidence — some of it dating back three decades — that was stored in cardboard boxes, barrels and paper bags, according to the suit. When Donlon took control of the department, he says he requested Maddrey provide him with a final comprehensive report on the fire. The lawsuit says Maddrey never did.

Donlon inspected warehouses used by the NYPD and uncovered a “pattern of systemic negligence” at the facilities, the lawsuit states. He says mishandling evidence undermined prosecutions and gave defense attorneys the upper hand in criminal cases.

About a month after Donlon left his post, the suit alleges, his wife Deirdre O’Connor-Donlon was falsely arrested, handcuffed and searched by officers after getting into a fender-bender in Manhattan in December 2024. The suit says her driver’s license was labeled as suspended because of an administrative issue at the time of the minor crash.

Officers detained her for two hours in the 17th Precinct stationhouse, according to the filing. The lawsuit says the officers were originally professional with her, but the desk sergeant took a call during the process and then ordered her to be handcuffed and detained. The officers ultimately let her go with a summons, according to the suit.

Donlon alleges Kaz Daughtry; Tarik Sheppard, the former head of the NYPD's public information bureau; and a third defendant, Deputy Commissioner for Legal Matters Michael Gerber, ordered his wife arrested and then leaked it to the media.

“For Donlon and his wife — who have always held the NYPD in the highest regard — this incident marked a devastating betrayal by a department they once trusted,” the suit states.

Any records associated with the summons issued to O’Connor-Donlon later vanished from an NYPD system, according to the lawsuit.

This story has been updated with additional information. Samantha Max contributed reporting.