NYPD Brooklyn commanding officer to be transferred following complaints

Under Mastronardi's leadership, the Civilian Complaint Review Board logged 1,364 complaints of police misconduct

John A. Mastronardi Image: New York City Police Department

Change is coming to Brooklyn’s 75 Precinct. Deputy Inspector John Mastronardi will no longer hold the position by the end of the month, as reported on Tuesday by The New York Post.

“The department is moving him because of some retirements,” a police source told the publication.

Mastronardi had developed a negative reputation while looking over the city’s largest precinct. A Change.org petition was created to remove the controversial officer from the precinct for excessive force and lack of leadership.

Read More: Retired NYPD officer accused of beating D.C. officer with flagpole during riots

“We are calling for the removal of NYPD Deputy Inspector John Mastronardi of the 75th Police Precinct which is the worst in New York City. Early in the pandemic, he has been seen on video using excessive force. He has over 20 police misconduct complaints against him. He has not provided the leadership of Police accountability in the 75th Pct,” per the petition.  

“The 75th pct has the highest Police misconduct complaints in the entire NYC. Under his leadership, the Civilian Complaint Review Board reported that 1,364 complaints of Police officers misconducts were logged & that every officer from that very precinct with a complaint was rewarded with multiple raises.”

During the early days of the pandemic, Mastronardi and other NY officers were seen without masks while enforcing civilians to wear them. He was also accused of slamming a man’s head down on the sidewalk.

“There is a small portion of the community that wanted him removed,” said the police source. Mastronardi is a New York City native who joined the force in 1999.

According to the de Blasio administration, civilians will have a say in who will take Mastronardi’s place.

“I think it’s an incredible synergy,” said Police Commissioner Dermot Shea back in late January at a press conference. “I think it’s a real opportunity for transparency.”

Read More: New evidence points to NYPD, FBI conspiracy in Malcolm X assassination, lawyers say

He says the strategy may not be perfect but it’s a start in a positive direction. “We’re essentially doing a lot of the same process, but we’re doing it with a light shined on it and with the community.”

“Finding a person is never the problem,” he adds. “It’s whittling down who the right person is and that’s something different, and what I anticipate a little bit here is the human factor.”

The final decision on who will replace the soon-to-be former deputy inspector will be left up to the NYPD.

John A. Mastronardi Image: New York City Police Department

The NYPD was recently in the headlines for its alleged involvement in the murder of Malcolm X as reported by theGrio.

Kelly Wood, the daughter of the late New York police officer Raymond A. Wood, said the letter her father wrote on his deathbed, where he confessed his involvement in the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X, is fake.

In an exclusive interview with NY1, Wood said that the letter was forged and accused her cousin Reggie Wood, who read the letter at a news conference on Feb. 20, of attempting to get attention.

“I know that my father did not write this letter,” Woods said to NY1’s Dean Meminger. “I know that is not his signature and I know the envelope they’re using to somehow justify that the letter was mailed is also a fake.”

In the letter, which was allegedly written in 2011 after he fell ill, the late officer admitted that he was obliged by his then supervisors at the New York Police Department to persuade two members of Malcolm X’s security team to commit crimes which led to their arrests days before his assassination.

With members of his security team absent, the entry of New York’s Audubon Ballroom was left unprotected and he was killed.

Additional reporting by Ashley Terrell

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