New York City’s incoming mayor has just tapped a former armed robber to help reshape criminal justice policy.
As Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani gears up to take office next month, he’s made waves by naming Mysonne Linen, a one-time rapper with a serious rap sheet, to his transition team’s Committee on the Criminal Legal System.
Let’s rewind to the late 1990s, when Linen, now 49, was convicted for sticking up two Bronx taxi drivers in a pair of armed robberies.
He served seven years in state prison for those crimes, a detail that’s hard to ignore when considering his new role.
Before his conviction, Linen was on the cusp of music stardom with a debut album lined up at Def Jam, but that dream was derailed by his criminal actions.
Fast forward to today, and Linen has pivoted to advocacy, focusing on criminal justice reform and efforts to curb gun violence.
Still, seeing his name—misspelled as “Mysoone” on Mamdani’s roster—on a committee tasked with policy and personnel recommendations for the city’s legal system feels like a gamble.
Mamdani, set to assume power in January, oversees 17 transition committees, with Linen’s group specifically focused on reshaping how crime and punishment are handled.
Is this a fresh perspective or a risky move?
Mamdani’s broader crime strategy includes a whopping $1.1 billion “Department of Community Safety” to dispatch civilian teams for non-violent and mental health calls instead of police officers.
While he plans to maintain NYPD staffing levels, his vision also scraps police-led sweeps of homeless encampments, favoring outreach to secure housing for those in need.
On that note, Mamdani has criticized such sweeps, saying they “push New Yorkers who are living in the cold to another place where they will live in the cold” (as reported by CBS News).
That’s a poetic jab, but does it solve the problem or just shift it down the block?
Mamdani also aims to slash the jail population to shutter Rikers Island, pushing for borough-based facilities, though he’s called the outgoing administration’s 2027 timeline for this shift “functionally impossible.”
Back in 2021, he even signed a letter demanding officials “truly and fully end solitary confinement” after a surprise visit to Rikers, showing his long-standing focus on detention reform.
