Bo Dietl and fellow former cop Eric Adams go way back, and Dietl raised $13,850 for Adams’ successful mayoral campaign. But the two have had a falling out since Dietl’s firm failed to win a contract to provide security at a migrant shelter and was dropped by an Adams fundraising entity.
“He made five arrests in 20 years,” Dietl said derisively in a video interview with The Real Deal publisher Amir Korangy. “I made five arrests in two hours.”
Then, 19 minutes into the interview, Dietl went beyond mockery. He said Adams’ indictment — for allegedly accepting travel benefits and straw donations in return for political favors — ignored a much larger scandal.
“Six-point-something billion dollars [spent] on the migrants,” Dietl said. “I was approached by his people to do security, to charge three times the going rate with a 20 percent back to some consultant firm. That’s corruption, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg.”
Politico reported a year ago that Adams pal Tim Pearson, who later left the administration under a cloud, tried to get Dietl’s company a contract to provide security at the Floyd Bennett Field shelter.
“I actually told the mayor about it,” Dietl told Korangy. “He goes, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ I said, ‘Well, you’re the mayor,’ and he hasn’t talked to me since. This is five months ago. … I’m real aggravated, because I would have gotten caught up in it, and I’ve refused to get caught up in kickbacks.”
Dietl told Politico in February 2024 that he positioned his company to win a deal, and that the mayor told him that the firm seemed to “check all the boxes.” “That was the last I heard,” Dietl told the publication.
Two months later, Politico reported that Dietl’s firm was fired by Adams’ legal defense fund, for which Dietl was vetting donors, after Dietl profanely berated a Politico reporter asking about that work.
It is possible that what Dietl called a “kickback” is actually a fee that city contractors can legally charge the city when they hire a subcontractor, which in this case would have been Dietl’s firm.
Dietl told Korangy the consultant he mentioned was in Texas, “Gardner or something like that.” When TRD reporter Kathryn Brenzel later asked for details, Dietl declined to provide any.
Garner Environmental Services, which would have been the contractor selecting Dietl, has a longstanding contract with the city that predates the Adams administration. A City Hall spokesperson said contractors choose their own subs. It is unclear if Pearson pointed Garner toward Dietl.
In the video interview, Dietl said investigators should examine all the city’s migrant-related contracts for corruption. “Follow the money,” he said.
The City Hall spokesperson responded, “The Adams administration has always remained dedicated to being fiscally responsible with taxpayer dollars. In fact, thanks to our strong fiscal management, we have saved taxpayers over $5 billion over three fiscal years. Any insinuation otherwise is baseless and false.”
Kathryn Brenzel contributed reporting.
What we’re thinking about: What 485x project will be the first to get a construction loan? Send your thoughts to eengquist@therealdeal.com.
A thing we’ve learned: Harold Schultz, who was instrumental in creating the city’s Third-Party Transfer Program, is now a board president at Neighborhood Restore, the nonprofit that runs the controversial program. Schultz started his career at HPD in 1974, straight out of law school, and was there for 33 years, rising to deputy commissioner.
Elsewhere…
Danielle Sassoon, the acting U.S. attorney in the Southern District, resigned Thursday rather than obey a Trump administration order to drop an indictment of Mayor Eric Adams.
“Because the law does not support a dismissal, and because I am confident that Adams has committed the crimes with which he is charged, I cannot agree to seek a dismissal driven by improper considerations,” the Republican prosecutor wrote to the Department of Justice in a letter obtained by the New York Post.
The letter noted that her office had been preparing to add a new charge, obstruction conspiracy, to the mayor’s indictment, alleging that Adams destroyed evidence and told others to do the same and to lie to the FBI.
The Jersey City Economic Development Corporation is looking for an executive director “to lead and expand [its] mission of fostering economic growth, job creation, and investment.” Candidates for the newly created position should submit a cover letter and resume to jcedcsecretary@gmail.com. The deadline is 5 p.m. Feb. 17.
Closing time
Residential: The priciest residential sale Thursday was $35.5 million for a 5,858-square-foot condominium unit at 56 Leonard Street in TriBeCa. Nick Gavin Properties at Compass had the listing.
Commercial: The most expensive commercial closing of the day was $25.7 million for 18 residential and two commercial co-op units at 38 Gramercy Park North. TRD reported early this month on the purchase by Legion Investment Group.
New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $9.95 million for a 3,693-square-foot condominium unit at The 74, 201 East 74th Street in Lenox Hill. Douglas Elliman has the listing.
Breaking Ground: The largest new building application filed was for a 111,568-square-foot, 30-story, 36-unit residential project at 5 West 13th Street in Greenwich Village. Ralph Bagley IV of Kohn Pedersen Fox filed the permit on behalf of Legion Investment Group.
— Matthew Elo