New York Post By Allie Griffin and Craig McCarthy
A Brooklyn bar owner has alleged the twin brother of the ousted Police Commissioner Edward Caban tried to “extort” him when he sought help getting the NYPD off his back last summer, according to a report.
Shamel Kelly told NBC New York that he was introduced to the top cop’s brother, James Caban, by a City Hall staffer — who was fired Wednesday over his alleged involvement in the arrangement.
Kelly reportedly said that James Caban told him that he’d take care of his problems with the police department if he paid him $2,500.
“He said he will mediate my issues,” Kelly told the local station of the alleged conversation. “He said he could bring the NYPD to me and resolve our issues is what he said he could do.”
But the struggling business owner refused — and he claimed the constant police presence at his Coney Island bar only got worse, to the point that he eventually shuttered the establishment.
“After he said I had to pay him for it, I felt like he was trying to extort me and I said, ‘Nah I’m good.’ I’ll just deal with how I’m gonna deal with it, and it got worse,” Kelly said.
Kelly’s business, “Juice and Moore Bar” — a juice bar by day and bar and lounge by night — had all the required permits and liquor licenses, but was facing a slew of noise complaints in the summer of 2023.
He was introduced to a staffer from the Mayor’s Office of Entertainment and Nightlife, Ray Martin, who he hoped could help him sort out the near-constant police presence at his bar that he said was hurting his business.
Instead, Martin allegedly acted like a fixer for James Caban.
“He went on about how he thinks I should just close the bar, and if I don’t close the bar, there’s only one way to get the police to stop doing what they are doing, which was to speak to one of his friends, which was the James Caban guy,” Kelly told NBC.
James Caban, a former NYPD cop himself, is the twin brother of Edward Caban who resigned from his gig as the NYPD police commissioner on Thursday.
The twins are being eyed in a sweeping federal corruption probe that extends to major aides of Mayor Eric Adams and top NYPD brass. Neither has been accused of wrongdoing in the investigation…
READ FULL ARTICLE HERE… (nypost.com)
Home | Caravan to Midnight (zutalk.com)
