New York City Mayor Eric Adams Allegedly Meets With Alleged Drug Dealers At Local Burger King, Echoing Memphis Mayor’s Ceasefire Talks With Gangs

As the New York Post reports, New York City Mayor Eric Adams allegedly met with alleged drug dealers who are reportedly using a local Burger King as a headquarters for their operations. 

A witness to the alleged meeting between the drug dealers and Adams told the Post that the meeting lasted approximately an hour and police officers were also present at the meeting.

A City Hall spokesperson told the paper, “Mayor Adams personally stopped by this past weekend to see the situation on the ground and hear from employees, patrons, and locals. The 1st Precinct has been, and will continue to be responsive to community complaints.”

As Business Insider reports, Kevin Kaufman, a resident and condo owner in New York City, filed a $15 million lawsuit against Burger King. Kaufman alleges that the restaurant has allowed “professional drug dealers” to operate with impunity.

According to the lawsuit, “The operation of the drug dealers at this Burger King attracts drug addicts, drunks, and emotionally disturbed people who have been terrorizing the neighborhood for months,” the lawsuit also alleges that the “quality of life that is crucial for a neighborhood’s well being has been jeopardized, profoundly harmed, and destroyed by the nature of this illegal activity.”

New York City’s Adams is not the only city leader to sit with those whom some would say are driving crime. In Memphis, Mayor Paul Young met with gang members in February to request a ceasefire. 

As WREG reports, Young’s meeting was facilitated by HEAL 901, a Memphis non-profit headed by Durell Cowan. 

Cowan, the executive director of the non-profit, told WREG that the gangs needed to be included in the conversation. 

“We can’t have conversations about how to help individuals without including them in a conversation. Doing violence intervention and prevention work, it’s easy to be in contact with these individuals and what we found out is that they were not hesitant in meeting with the mayor. And once again, this was not something that was in negotiation,” Cowan said. “It was hey, we got to do something about crime. I need a seven-day ceasefire. What would it take to bring to your community to prevent these things from happening?”

According to Cowan, it is important to his non-profit that gang members are not dehumanized.

“It is different gangs, but due to the fact that me as well as my brother Delvin Lane from 901 Block Squad, we communicated on who we are bringing to ensure that there is no true rivals in the space to where they can be able to have that conversation safely and free. That’s important.” 

Cowan continued, “These people are humans and don’t think that they want to be out here. Sometimes, the things that you see are a cry for help. See when we talk about mental health and things of that nature, typically there’s not a conversation until we see a situation has happened. We got to get in front of these things. We have to and the only way you are going to do that is by hearing from them directly.”

Young, for his part, understands that the city needs several approaches to dealing with violent crime in the city, and that includes involving gang members in discussions about how to accomplish that. 

As Young told Commercial Appeal, “If we are going to talk about how we’re going to reduce crime, I think it’s important to engage those that have been directly involved,” Young said. “It was really as simple as asking what it would take to get a seven-day ceasefire. They expressed a willingness to do it.”

Young also said that some of the gang members expressed a hope that he would talk with other gangs, it would mean more coming from him than members of other gangs.

“One of them expressed to me how powerful it was that we were sitting there, and how powerful it would be if we, rather than rely on them to convey the message to other those that are with their organization, that I went and impressed it directly,” he said. “It would be so powerful for them to see me in their neighborhood because that’s not common. These young people want to see the decision-makers. They want to see the ones that have come from these neighborhoods and made it out in different ways.”

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