Wednesday, August 13, 2025

MAYOR ADAMS ANNOUNCES PROGRESS IN SUPPORTING INDIVIDUALS WITH SEVERE MENTAL ILLNESS, RELEASES CITY’S FIRST-EVER INVOLUNTARY TRANSPORTS DASHBOARD PROVIDING NEW YORKERS WITH UNPRECEDENTED ACCOUNTING OF PROGRAM

 

Dashboard Allows New Yorkers to Track Trends in Involuntary Transports, Better Understand How City Connects Individuals With Emergency Psychiatric Care 

Nearly 11,800 Involuntary Transports Reported Since January 2024, Including Over 1,600 Originating from New York City’s Public Transportation System 

New York City’s Subway Outreach Program Reached 17,700 Contacts and Provided Services Over 5,400 Times 

Part of Administration’s “End Culture of Anything Goes Campaign,” Highlighting Mayor Adams’ Efforts to Change Culture, Laws, and Investments That Have Allowed for Public Disorder on City Streets 

New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Mayor’s Office of Community Mental Health (OCMH) Executive Director Eva Wong today released the city’s first-ever Involuntary Transports Dashboard, offering the public unprecedented access to data on involuntary transports for hospital evaluation of individuals appearing to be mentally ill and behaving in a manner likely to result in serious harm to themselves or others. The new dashboard reflects the Adams administration’s commitment to transparency on involuntary transports, providing data that no previous administration has ever shared before. Mayor Adams has implemented a bold vision to do everything in the city’s power to support those with severe mental illness by, among other things, launching new outreach programs, like Subway Co-Response Outreach Teams (SCOUT) and Partnership Assistance for Transit Homelessness, to connect with the hardest to reach New Yorkers. Since launching PATH, the city has made over 17,700 contacts with unhoused New Yorkers, providing services over 5,400 times.

The launch of the dashboard continues Mayor Adams’ “End the Culture of Anything Goes” campaign, which highlights the work the administration has done to change the culture and laws that prevented people with severe mental illness from getting the help they needed while making the investments necessary to support outreach, harm reduction, wraparound services, and housing to make lasting impacts in lives and communities. Mayor Adams is bringing the same energy and approach that proved to be successful in carving a new path to help people with severe mental illness to address other health crises playing out on city streets, and he will soon lay out how he plans to realize that vision. As part of the week-long campaign, Mayor Adams already announced the expansion of the New York City Police Department’s Quality of Life Division across Queens, as well as the city’s milestone achievement of connecting over 3,500 homeless New Yorkers to permanent housing, and the opening of 13 clubhouses across the five boroughs to engage adults living with severe mental illness

“Since the beginning, our administration has said that the days of ignoring people in need of help were over. We have made major strides in accomplishing that vision by implementing effective programs at the city level, getting key amendments passed to state law, and changing the very culture that is now allowing more people to get the help they need and deserve, even when they don’t recognize that need themselves. But a key part of this work requires a level of transparency and accountability that we have also always been committed to,” said Mayor Adams. “We are the first administration to ever report on involuntary transports, and now, we are taking that one step further, with the creation of the Involuntary Transports Dashboard, which will be a public resource where anyone can look at data from multiple agencies over time. We are working every day to make New York a safer city, and it’s clear that our laser focus on supporting people with severe mental illness from the very start has not only done just that, but has also made our city a more compassionate and supportive one for our most vulnerable.”

“The Adams administration continues to build on its unwavering commitment to our city’s most vulnerable, ensuring that those facing mental health crises — from acute episodes to chronic conditions leading to severe self-neglect — receive the critical care they deserve, while safety for all New Yorkers in public spaces remains a significant priority,” said OCMH Executive Director Wong. “The launch of the Involuntary Transports Dashboard reflects the city’s strategic focus on transparency, accountability, and continuous improvement in coordinated agency response to urgent and multifaceted needs.” 

The dashboard aggregates data from multiple city and state agencies — including the New York City Police Department, the Metropolitan Transit Authority Police, the New York City Department of Homeless Services, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and NYC Health + Hospitals, which all respond to mental health emergencies. By analyzing involuntary transport data over time, the city aims to identify patterns, assess the impact of interventions, and inform future mental health and public safety policies. As seen in the dashboard, the number of 9.58 clinician-led transports increased each month since launching the city’s PATH and SCOUT programs. In addition, the majority of 9.41 NYPD officer-led transports are the result of calls to 911 for help.  

In January 2025, the Adams administration released the first Involuntary Transports Annual Report, which showed that, in 2024, there were 7,700 involuntary transports to the hospital for emergency psychiatric evaluation. The dashboard takes this report a step further, showing monthly data on how and from where these transports were initiated and subsequently ended. Between January 2024 — when the city started tracking this data — and May 2025, there have been nearly 11,800 involuntary transports reported across agencies, including over 1,600 originating in the public transit system.

The data in the dashboard represents transports — not individuals — as the same person can be transported multiple times. Likewise, a large portion of such transports originate from 911 calls, and the vast majority come from 911 calls originating from private dwellings. In contrast, Mayor Adams has launched outreach programs, such as PATH, which operate in the subway system, in an effort to reach the hardest to reach New Yorkers and offer services to unsheltered New Yorkers, including facilitating involuntary transports to a hospital, when necessary. Data on the dashboard will be updated every month, however, because of how agencies collect and report data, users should expect a three-month lag.

Mayor Adams was one of the first – and loudest – voices to call for wider use of involuntary transports and commitments, when appropriate, to help people get help when they don’t recognize their own need for it. In the second month of the Adams administration, the city announced its “Subway Safety Plan” to address unsheltered homelessness. Later that year, the administration released a major policy shift for the city that expanded the city’s efforts to get people who need care but don’t realize it help involuntarily. Following three years of relentless advocacy by the Adams administration in Albany, the administration was successful this year in passing amendments to the state’s involuntary commitment law that now make the guidance more explicit under state law.  

The Adams administration has undertaken many efforts to strengthen mental health operations and transparency over the last three years. Since the launch of Mayor Adams’ “Subway Safety Plan,” over 8,400 New Yorkers have been connected to shelter, and over 1,000 are now in permanent affordable housing. Further, in 2025, the Adams administration opened 1,400 Safe Haven and stabilization beds and invested in a $650 million homelessness and mental health plan to give those receiving treatment supportive and therapeutic places to go after being discharged from the hospital.  

Alongside the Adams administration’s focus on mental health, in 2023, Mayor Adams launched “HealthyNYC,” an ambitious plan to extend the average lifespan of all New Yorkers to 83 by 2030. The effort sets ambitious targets to address the greatest drivers of premature death, including chronic and diet-related diseases, screenable cancers, maternal mortality, and reducing the impact of mental health-related deaths like overdoses, suicide, and violence. Additionally, HealthyNYC expands access to culturally-responsive mental health care and social support services, including early intervention for communities of color and LGBTQIA+ youth, and helps address the impact of social media on youth mental health and suicidal ideation to reduce suicide deaths.  

Governor Hochul Announces $23 Million Awarded to Create Healthier Learning Environments in Under-Resourced School Districts

kids entering a school building

Environmental Bond Act Funding Awarded for Four Major Energy Efficiency Projects Through the Clean Green Schools Program

Funding Makes Clean Energy and Building Upgrades More Affordable for Schools

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced $23 million in funding has been awarded to four under-resourced school districts across New York State to create healthier, more comfortable learning environments under the Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act (Environmental Bond Act). Through the Clean Green Schools Initiative, the funding will make it more affordable for the awarded school districts to install the latest clean energy and building technologies, reduce energy use and achieve carbon emission reductions.

“The Environmental Bond Act has unlocked historic investments in securing a clean, resilient future for New York State,” Governor Hochul said. “These awards represent the first of several under-resourced school districts to benefit from these funds and will help to create healthier learning environments for New York students who need it most.”

Administered by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), the Clean Green Schools Program provides incentives to eligible school districts to implement construction projects that improve the energy efficiency of their buildings, such as comprehensive retrofits that impact energy consumption and overall building load, electrification readiness projects, and conversion of central heating and/or cooling plants to clean energy technologies such as heat pumps. The awarded school districts serve nearly 10,000 students in total and at least four of the school buildings are located in disadvantaged communities, as defined by the Climate Justice Working Group. In total, the projects are expected to save 19,000 MMBtus of energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 840 metric tons, which is equivalent to removing over 200 gasoline-powered cars from the road annually.

New York State Energy Research and Development Authority President and CEO Doreen M. Harris said, “Today's awards will create comfortable, healthy learning environments that demonstrate the impact of energy efficient and clean heating and cooling technologies in school buildings. Transforming schools in New York's under-resourced communities will ensure that all students are able to unlock their full potential as we make progress toward a cleaner future for the next generation.”

The awarded projects include:

  • $1.4 million for Bradford Central School District (Schuyler County): The district will fully electrify HVAC systems at the K-12 building with variable refrigerant flow (VRF) heat pumps and air source heat pumps, providing space heating and cooling. In addition, Energy Recovery Ventilators will be utilized to maximize energy efficiency and improve indoor air quality. This project is expected to reduce energy use in the building by 15 percent.
  • Over $1.4 million for Canajoharie Central School District (Montgomery County): The district will install a ground source heat pump, air source heat pumps, and a solar PV system across three buildings, significantly reducing fossil fuel usage to provide space heating and cooling. This project also uses the ground source heat pump and distribution room as a learning laboratory, serving as an educational space for students. This project is expected to reduce energy use in the three buildings by 40 percent.
  • Over $10 million for Cuba Rushford Central School District (Allegany County): The district will install ground source heat pumps and air source heat pumps, which combined will serve 90 percent of the buildings’ heating, cooling, and domestic hot water loads. Upgrades to the Building Automation System will be included to control and monitor the new clean systems. Additionally, the district is developing lesson plans around the new clean energy systems and plans on coordinating post-construction facility tours for students. This project is expected to reduce energy use in the buildings by 45 percent.
  • Over $10 million for North Rockland Central School District (Rockland County): The district will fully electrify HVAC systems at two buildings with VRF heat pumps, providing space heating and cooling with upgraded filtration to improve indoor air quality. The project also includes the installation of high-performance windows and supports the district in developing new course work around clean energy. This project is expected to reduce energy use in the two buildings by 50 percent.

Today’s announcement represents the first school districts to be awarded as part of $100 million in Environmental Bond Act funding announced by Governor Hochul in January 2024. NYSERDA is in the process of negotiating contracts with additional school districts across the state, which are expected to be finalized and announced later this year.

All New York State public school buildings located in disadvantaged communities or designated as high-needs by the New York State Education Department were eligible to participate in the Clean Green Schools Initiative. Of the 3,100 eligible schools in New York State, 1,960 schools across 146 districts and 55 counties are receiving technical assistance to assess indoor air quality, reduce energy use, and identify potential clean energy upgrades. NYSERDA anticipates announcing an additional round of Clean Green Schools funding to support P-12 installation projects in fall 2025.

NYSERDA also provides technical assistance to schools through the Flexible Technical Assistance Program, which can help schools identify and evaluate opportunities to reduce energy costs and incorporate clean energy into their capital planning. Additional information can be found here.

NYC Comptroller Lander Presents Analysis of New York City’s FY 2026 Adopted Budget to Financial Control Board

 

At the annual meeting of the New York State Financial Control Board, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander presented his office’s comprehensive analysis on New York City’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Adopted Budget.

The Comptroller’s remarks, as prepared:  

“Good morning. I’m honored once again to join Governor Hochul, Mayor Adams, Comptroller DiNapoli, former Comptroller Bill Thompson, former First Deputy Mayor and Budget Director Dean Fuleihan, and former Deputy Comptroller for Public Finance Marjorie Henning. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today, as we both mark the 50th anniversary of New York City’s fiscal crisis and stand at another pivotal moment for the City’s financial future.

The 50th Anniversary of the Financial Emergency Act and the Creation of the Financial Control Board 

Fifty years ago, New York City faced a near-collapse of its finances, saved through decisive action by key stakeholders, including through the creation of the Financial Control Board under the Financial Emergency Act of 1975. The fiscal crisis ushered in a new era of fiscal discipline, transparency, and accountability — principles that remain indispensable today.

I want to recognize and applaud the legislation passed earlier this year that extends the Financial Emergency Act through at least 2035. This is an important recommitment to the foundational principles that have safeguarded New York City’s fiscal health for the past half-century. But we cannot stop there. My office has proposed a comprehensive update to the City’s fiscal framework — one that includes making the Financial Emergency Act permanent, and institutionalizing requirements for rainy day fund deposits and long-term efficiency planning. I urge the Governor and the Mayor to support these reforms, and also to appoint an Executive Director to the Financial Control Board. The stakes are too high for the FCB to remain without permanent leadership.

The frameworks adopted in the aftermath of that crisis — including balanced budgets and multi-year planning — are the foundation that have allowed the City to navigate economic downturns, national policy shifts, and global recessions with stability and integrity. With this foundation, the City has weathered 9/11, the Great Financial Crisis, Superstorm Sandy, and, most recently, Covid-19. The city has emerged with more private-sector jobs than prior to the pandemic. While there are certainly still very real challenges in the shift to remote and hybrid work, commercial office vacancies, and ongoing issues like housing affordability that threaten the city’s growth and thriving, a year ago, the city looked well poised for a strong emergence from the pandemic.

Today’s Risks are Largely Coming From Washington 

Unfortunately, the fiscal and economic policies of the Trump Administration pose very real risks for New York City. Just this week, the City indicated that it would need to pick up the cost of housing subsidies following the federal government’s cuts to 7,700 emergency housing vouchers held by New Yorkers. Cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, and other key programs in the budget reconciliation bill risk having grave impacts. The mandatory spending cuts in the reconciliation bill could be augmented by proposed reductions to discretionary spending outlined in the Trump Administration’s FY 2026 Budget Request to Congress, as well as through the Administration’s numerous unilateral attempts to terminate, pause, and rescind many Federal grants already awarded (including the $80 million from the FEMA Shelter and Services program which was approved, paid, and then clawed back, and is still in litigation).

The Trump Administration has also added restrictive language to contract renewals to reflect terms imposed by executive orders and policy changes, and is expected to release new guidance for Federal audits, particularly the annual Single Audit. Both could impact future Federal funding.

Simultaneously, the Trump Administration’s immigration and trade policies threaten to worsen the U.S. and New York City economies. The Office of the New York City Comptroller projects slow economic growth over the next year nationally and for the city, with the possibility of a mild recession on the horizon, depending on the length and depth of Trump’s tariffs.

Failing to Plan in the Face of Known Risks 

Unfortunately, despite those risks looming on the horizon, some of the critical lessons learned 50 years ago are not reflected in the Adams Administration’s FY 2026 Adopted Budget. The budget — totaling $115.91 billion — added nothing to the Rainy Day Fund, even though current long-term reserves are around half of what would be needed for an average recession, and includes no increase to the City’s general reserve, despite clear and present threats of cuts from Washington.

Instead of planning for uncertainty, the Adams Administration has continued the opaque fiscal practice of underbudgeting of key services like shelter, special education, rental assistance, and overtime. Our estimates suggest that the June Financial Plan underestimates expenditures by $5.15 billion annually. That is not fiscal discipline — it is fiscal denial.

Our models show that even under conditions without a recession, we face a $4.2 billion budget gap in FY 2026, growing to nearly $10 billion by FY 2028. If a mild recession occurs those gaps increase even further.

And yet, the Administration has failed to make a deposit into the Rainy Day fund or increase the general reserve, did not adopt a savings plan, rejected calls for regular efficiency reviews, and continued to pass budgets that avoid confronting long-term liabilities. Meanwhile, costs related to health insurance, class size mandates, early childhood education, and rental assistance programs are rising. The failure to plan for these is a disservice to New Yorkers who rely on public services and to future administrations who will inherit these deficits.

It is time to reaffirm the values of the Financial Emergency Act — not only in ceremony, but in action. We must restore responsible governance by:

  1. Instituting a formal Rainy Day Fund policy and adhering to it;
  1. Launching a rolling program of efficiency and savings planning;
  1. Honestly budgeting for known obligations;
  1. Refusing to let short-term thinking compromise long-term stability.

Stewardship of Pension Assets and a Vision for Equitable Growth 

One bright spot this year is the 10.3% return on pension investments in FY 2025, which will save the City over $2.18 billion over the next five years. Our responsible investment strategies, like the purchase of the mortgages on the 35,000 units of rent-stabilized and rental housing put at risk when Signature Bank failed, contributed to positive returns and enhanced portfolio value and resilience.

In 1975, the State stepped in to ensure that New York City would not sacrifice long-term solvency for short-term expediency. Fifty years later, we must honor that promise — not with slogans — but with structure, transparency, and a commitment to the future.

Thank you.”

Read the Comptroller’s comprehensive analysis on New York City’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Adopted Budget.

Attorney General James Sues Company Behind Zelle for Enabling Widespread Fraud

 

Users Lost More Than $1 Billion While Zelle Operator Controlled by Major Banks Knew the Platform Was Vulnerable to Scammers 
AG James Encourages New Yorkers Who Lost Money to Zelle Scams to File a Report with OAG’s Consumer Frauds Bureau

New York Attorney General Letitia James today sued Early Warning Services, LLC (EWS), a company owned and controlled by a group of the largest banks in the United States that was tasked with developing and operating the electronic payment platform Zelle, for failing to protect its users from massive amounts of fraud. An investigation by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) revealed that EWS designed Zelle without critical safety features, allowing scammers to easily target users and steal over $1 billion between 2017 and 2023. EWS knew from the beginning that key features of the Zelle network made it uniquely susceptible to fraud, and yet it failed to adopt basic safeguards to address these glaring flaws or enforce any meaningful anti-fraud rules on its partner banks. Attorney General James filed this lawsuit after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) abandoned a similar lawsuit, filed in December 2024, following the change in the federal administration. With this lawsuit, Attorney General James is seeking restitution and damages for affected New Yorkers, as well as a court order mandating Zelle maintain anti-fraud measures necessary to protect its users.

“No one should be left to fend for themselves after falling victim to a scam,” said Attorney General James. “I look forward to getting justice for the New Yorkers who suffered because of Zelle’s security failures.”

EWS is a financial technology company owned and controlled by a group of the country’s largest banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Capital One, and Wells Fargo. Those banks tasked EWS with hastily launching an electronic payment platform to compete with payment apps like Venmo, PayPal, and CashApp, which were not controlled by banks. In their rush to launch, EWS prioritized attracting new users through a simple registration process and quick transfers that left consumers vulnerable to scammers. 

zelle(1)

zelle(2)

Zelle’s advertisements misleadingly promised safe and secure money transfers. In reality, Zelle failed to adopt basic anti-fraud safeguards.

Beginning in 2017, the year Zelle launched, anyone with a U.S. bank account could enroll in Zelle and send or receive near-instant money transfers through linked email addresses or U.S.-based mobile phone numbers. Scammers could sign up through a quick registration process that lacked important verification steps, allowing them to utilize misleading email addresses such as those associated with trusted businesses or government entities. Zelle’s emphasis on immediate and irreversible transfers means that by the time consumers realize they have been targeted by fraudsters, their money is often already gone.

As a result, Zelle quickly became a hub for fraudulent activity. The most common scams involved fraudsters gaining access to users’ accounts and making unauthorized transfers, and scammers convincing users to send funds under false pretenses, for example by offering non-existent goods or services or by impersonating a trusted institution like a bank or government office.

In one example of a common scam using Zelle, a New York user received a call from an individual impersonating a Con Edison employee advising that the consumer was delinquent on his energy bills and that his “electricity was going to be shut off that day” unless he paid Con Edison via Zelle. The fraudster identified “Coned Billing” as the name associated with the account. The consumer transferred $1,476.89 to a Zelle account named “Coned Billing,” but after realizing the call was a scam, was told by their bank, JPMorgan Chase, that the bank “can’t get [him] that money back.”

The OAG’s investigation revealed that EWS and its partner banks knew for years that fraud was spreading on Zelle and failed to take meaningful action to stop it. When participating banks received complaints from Zelle users about fraud, EWS allowed banks to report that fraud to EWS long after it occurred, which enabled bad actors to scam additional consumers. In fact, when Zelle launched, EWS did not require participating banks to report scams like the “Coned Billing” scheme in which fraudsters convinced users to send funds under false pretenses. Even when EWS did receive reports of fraud, it failed to promptly remove the fraudsters from the Zelle network or require banks to reimburse consumers for certain scams. EWS developed basic safeguards to address these issues as early as 2019, but failed to adopt them. EWS failed to meaningfully enforce even the limited, inadequate anti-fraud rules that it did have in place against participating banks despite knowing of widespread violations of those rules.

EWS aggressively marketed Zelle to New Yorkers, promising safety and security. However, EWS’s failures enabled fraudsters to run rampant on the Zelle network, leading to millions of dollars in losses for New Yorkers. 

Attorney General James alleges that EWS violated New York law by creating a payment platform highly susceptible to fraud and doing little to stop it for years while falsely marketing it as a safe and secure service. With this lawsuit, Attorney General James is seeking restitution and damages for all affected New Yorkers and court orders mandating EWS maintain necessary anti-fraud safeguards and take other steps to protect their customers from fraud.

Attorney General James encourages all consumers who have lost money to scammers through Zelle to report their experiences to the OAG’s Consumer Frauds Bureau.

Mexican Cartel Leader Servando Gomez-Martinez In U.S. Custody On Drug Importation Charge

 

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, and Special Agent in Charge of the New York Division of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”), Frank A. Tarentino, announced the unsealing of an Indictment charging SERVANDO GOMEZ-MARTINEZ, a/k/a “La Tuta,” with conspiring to import cocaine and methamphetamine into the U.S.  GOMEZ-MARTINEZ was taken into U.S. custody from Mexico yesterday and will be presented on the charge contained in the Indictment today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry J. Ricardo. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl. 

"As alleged, Servando Gomez-Martinez was a leader, enforcer, drug trafficker, weapons supplier, and public spokesman for the violent drug trafficking organization, La Familia Michoacana, based in Mexico,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton.  “La Familia Michoacana imported vast quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine into the United States from Mexico and engaged in extensive violence in furtherance of its drug trafficking activities, including against those Mexican law enforcement officials who stood in its way.  This Office and our partners in the DEA are committed to bankrupting the cartels and bringing their leaders to justice.” 

“The expulsion of Servando Gomez-Martinez marks a significant step in our fight against the world’s most violent and prolific drug trafficking organizations,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge Frank A. Tarentino.  “For years, Gomez-Martinez allegedly fueled the cocaine and methamphetamine trade that devastated communities across the United States, and the DEA remains committed to bringing such ruthless cartel leaders to justice.”

According to the allegations contained in the Indictment:[1]

GOMEZ-MARTINEZ was the operational chief of La Familia Michoacana (“LFM”), a powerful, violent drug trafficking organization based in the state of Michoacan, in southwestern Mexico.  LFM controlled drug manufacturing and distribution within and around the state of Michoacan, as well as a port that served as a key transshipment point for drug shipments.  LFM imported vast quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine into the United States from Mexico.  In addition, LFM forbade the sale or use of methamphetamine in the areas under its control in Mexico, and instructed its members that its methamphetamine was solely for export to the United States.  GOMEZ-MARTINEZ made public statements on behalf of LFM and was responsible for, among other things, ensuring that LFM’s drug trafficking activities were not impeded by law enforcement, and for acquiring weapons for use by LFM.

Under the leadership of GOMEZ-MARTINEZ and others, LFM engaged in extensive violence, including assault, murder, and kidnapping to support its narcotics trafficking activities.  On or about July 17, 2009, days after the bodies of 12 Mexican federal police officers believed to have been murdered by LFM were discovered in Michoacan, GOMEZ-MARTINEZ gave a recorded statement to a local television station in Michoacan.  In the statement, GOMEZ-MARTINEZ publicly acknowledged that he was a member of LFM and, among other things, claimed that he was in charge of the port city of Lazaro Cardenas in Michoacan; that LFM was in a battle against the Mexican federal police and prosecutors; and that LFM kidnaps people who owe LFM money and those whose family members work in state and federal governments.

GOMEZ-MARTINEZ was transferred on August 12, 2025, from Mexico to the United States pursuant to Mexico’s National Security law.  He was among more than two dozen wanted fugitives facing a range of federal and state criminal charges from around the country, including charges relating to drug-trafficking, hostage-taking, kidnapping, illegal use of firearms, human smuggling, money laundering, the murder of a sheriff’s deputy, and other crimes.

GOMEZ-MARTINEZ, 59, a Mexican national, is charged with conspiring to import cocaine and methamphetamine into the United States, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison.

The mandatory minimum and maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.

Mr. Clayton praised the outstanding investigative work of the DEA’s New York Field Division, Houston Field Division, and Mexico City Country Office, as well as the assistance of the Office of International Affairs of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Government of Mexico.

This prosecution is being handled by the Office’s National Security and International Narcotics Unit.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Daniel G. Nessim, Henry L. Ross, and Kyle A. Wirshba are in charge of the prosecution.

The charge contained in the Indictment is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

[1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the Indictment and the description of the Indictment set forth herein constitute only allegations, and every fact described should be treated as an allegation.

Van Cortlandt Park Alliance - You Can Help Shape VCPA’s Future

 

Van Cortlandt Park Alliance has been working to make your favorite park even better since 2019… that’s 6 years!   

Now is a great time for us to take a look at what we’ve accomplished and make plans for our future.   

You can help shape VCPA’s future by completing this survey 

Deadline to participate is 8/22.  

Please let us know your thoughts on what we have done for the park and what you would like to see us do in the next few years. 


Note that the survey will take at least 30 minutes to complete – but it will auto-save, so you can come back to finish it in more than one sitting.