New York City Mayor Eric Adams is facing an escalating legal barrage from former NYPD leaders who say the nation’s largest police force has been turned into a vehicle for graft and political patronage. On 8 July four former high-ranking officials—including ex-Commissioner Edward Caban, former Chief of Department Jeff Maddrey, current Chief of Department John Chell and former Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks—filed separate suits alleging that promotions were sold for about $15,000, whistle-blowers were sidelined and investigators who probed misconduct were punished. The controversy deepened on 16 July when Thomas G. Donlon, interim police commissioner for less than two months in 2024, filed a 251-page racketeering complaint in Manhattan federal court. Donlon accuses Adams, Deputy Mayor Kaz Daughtry, Chief Chell and other senior figures of running the NYPD as a criminal enterprise that forged signatures, blocked internal probes and retaliated by orchestrating the arrest of Donlon’s wife. The suit seeks unspecified damages and calls for an independent authority to oversee key department decisions. City Hall spokesperson Kayla Mamelak Altus dismissed the allegations as “baseless” and described both Donlon and the earlier plaintiffs as disgruntled former employees. The Adams administration, which cites falling citywide shootings as evidence of effective policing, says it will contest the claims in court. The five lawsuits filed in the span of nine days compound scrutiny of Adams’s management of the department as he campaigns for re-election this November. Although no criminal charges have been brought, the civil actions portray a culture in which political loyalty allegedly trumped merit and public money was used to reward allies, raising the prospect of further investigations and potential federal oversight of the NYPD.