Ken Wydro, a playwright, director and producer who with his wife, Vy Higginsen, poured their life savings into the Off Broadway gospel musical “Mama, I Want to Sing,” an enduring work of Black theater that ran for more than 2,800 performances, died on Jan. 21 at his home in Harlem. He was 81. The cause … Read more
It was just before midnight on Thursday and dozens of couples were waiting on and around the steps of the Bexar County Courthouse in San Antonio. There were men in cowboy hats and suit jackets, and women in classic wedding dresses and veils. They were there to get married. At 12:01 a.m. on Valentine’s Day, … Read more
When the Justice Department demanded all the names of F.B.I. personnel who had worked on investigations into the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, it made a similar request about a high-profile terrorism case involving Hamas. But why the department’s acting deputy leader, Emil Bove III, sought the information remained unclear, leaving agents and prosecutors … Read more
At least six Justice Department officials decided this week to quit rather than obey an order to drop the corruption case against New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams. The sheer number of resignations in such a short period of time has reminded legal experts of the Saturday Night Massacre. It was Oct. 20, 1973, and … Read more
When the Justice Department ordered federal prosecutors on Monday to drop the corruption case against Mayor Eric Adams of New York City, he hoped that it would save his political career and allow him to better focus on governing the nation’s largest city. Instead, the mayor is in even more peril, his political future is … Read more
Speaking to U.S. attorneys in 1940, Attorney General Robert H. Jackson reflected on the enormous scope of prosecutorial power and the crucial importance of shielding it from politics. “The prosecutor has more control over life, liberty and reputation than any other person in America,” Mr. Jackson, who would go on to be a Supreme Court … Read more
Hagan Scotten, the lead prosecutor on the federal corruption case against Mayor Eric Adams of New York City, resigned after Justice Department officials ordered the dismissal of charges he had helped bring, suggesting that only a “fool” or a “coward” would obey. In an undated, scathing resignation letter, Mr. Scotten wrote that any federal prosecutor … Read more
The current crisis at the Justice Department over the corruption charges against Mayor Eric Adams of New York stems partly from the particulars of the law and a recent decree from Attorney General Pam Bondi. In recent days, the acting deputy attorney general, Emil Bove III, has demanded that career lawyers submit a court filing … Read more
Mayor Eric Adams of New York City announced on Thursday that he would issue an executive order to allow federal immigration authorities into the Rikers Island jail complex, a significant shift in the city’s sanctuary policies. The mayor said that he would move to allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents into the jail to assist … Read more
BY EMAIL Re: United States v. Eric Adams, 24 Cr. 556 (DEH) Mr. Bove, I have received correspondence indicating that I refused your order to move to dismiss the indictment against Eric Adams without prejudice, subject to certain conditions, including the express possibility of reinstatement of the indictment. That is not exactly correct. … Read more