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Who is Mysonne Linen? Zohran Mamdani appoints ex-con rapper as criminal justice adviser on transition team
Zohran Mamdani has picked Mysonne Linen, who was in state prison for armed robbery, to advise him on the criminal justice system.
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is facing early turbulence in the lead-up to his Jan. 1 swearing-in, after one of his transition team picks ignited questions from law-enforcement groups and conservative commentators. The blowback centers on his decision to pick a controversial figure for the committees shaping his public safety and criminal legal system agenda. The individual in question is Mysonne Linen, a rapper-turned-activist with a criminal past.
The appointment first surfaced publicly in a late November Instagram post by the social-justice organization Until Freedom, which praised Mamdani for bringing community voices directly into policy discussions. But as news spread, police unions, advocacy groups and former NYPD officials questioned whether the incoming mayor’s choice signaled an erosion of confidence in the city’s safety priorities.
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Who is Mysonne Linen?
Linen, 49, is a Bronx native who once appeared poised for a major music career, even landing a deal with Def Jam before legal troubles derailed his rise. As reported by Fox News and the New York Post, he was convicted in 1999 of two armed robberies involving taxi drivers, in cases where both victims identified him in court.
Prosecutors said he participated in a 1997 robbery in which one driver was struck with a beer bottle, and a 1998 holdup where a driver was allegedly threatened at gunpoint. Linen maintained he had been falsely accused but ultimately served seven years of a potential 25-year sentence before being paroled in 2006.
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Following his release, Linen rebuilt his identity as a community activist. He became a “violence interrupter,” volunteered at Rikers Island, founded Rising Kings to mentor incarcerated men, and eventually co-founded Until Freedom with Tamika Mallory and Angelo Pinto, a group deeply involved in gun-violence prevention and justice reform.
Until Freedom publicly celebrated Mamdani’s move, declaring in a Nov. 26 Instagram post, “We are building something different.” Linen echoed the message on his own channels.
Law-enforcement figures reacted swiftly. Benny Boscio, president of the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, told the New York Post that appointing individuals with felony convictions to shape public-safety policy was “deeply disturbing.”
Recently retired NYPD Chief of Department John Chell similarly condemned the pick, saying it aligned with other questionable decisions by the mayor-elect.
