Overview
- Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani confirmed Mysonne Linen’s role on the Committee on the Criminal Legal System, first made public in a Nov. 26 Instagram post by Until Freedom.
- Linen, 49, was convicted by a Bronx jury in 1999 in two taxi-driver robberies and served seven years in state prison before becoming a community activist.
- Asked about the choice on Dec. 9, Mamdani said his transition includes more than 400 New Yorkers and that their experiences and analysis will inform policy.
- Law-enforcement figures including COBA president Benny Boscio and retired NYPD Chief John Chell criticized the selection, and a widow of a cabbie from the 1990s cases condemned the move.
- Mamdani’s roster initially misspelled Linen’s name as “Mysoone,” a detail critics cited in questioning vetting, as the panel prepares to advise on policies such as a proposed Department of Community Safety and Rikers closure goals ahead of Jan. 1.