DA McMahon’s Machine Accused of Rigging Ballot to Crush NYPD-Backed Widow
By Rick LaRivière
Courtroom, Not Campaign Trail
Kamillah Hanks doesn’t want your vote—she wants a judge’s stamp.
Facing a tough re-election battle, the Staten Island North Shore Councilwoman is trying to boot Jozette Carter-Williams—the widow of slain NYPD Officer Gerard Carter—off the June 24 Democratic Primary ballot.
Rather than campaign on her record – which is abysmal – Hanks and her political allies are using the courts to eliminate her opponents.
Hanks’ campaign treasurer, Selina Gray, filed the official challenge to Carter-Williams’ petitions. Her husband, Otis Gray, conveniently works at the Staten Island Board of Elections.
Even more incestuous, Hanks’ millionaire husband Kevin Barry Love has two of his children on the Board’s payroll. Sources say Love personally visited the office and threatened staff after one of his relatives faced discipline for chronic absenteeism and tardiness.
Carter-Williams submitted nearly 800 signatures—well above the 450 needed. But the Board of Elections knocked her down to 440 after tossing roughly 350 on dubious grounds. That includes 40 voters registered at homeless shelters—legal addresses under New York law.
“This is a disgraceful attempt to suppress the most vulnerable voters in our city,” said a Democratic official. “Kamillah Hanks is trying to win the election by disqualifying her opponents—not by earning votes.”
Lawfare on Staten Island: DA McMahon’s Dirty Hands
Behind Hanks is a powerful—and increasingly controversial—ally: Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon.
Multiple sources say McMahon dispatched longtime operative Carmen Cognetta to handle Hanks’ legal assault. “
Kevin Barry Love’s been running his mouth all over Staten Island,” one Staten Island County Committee Executive Board member said. “He’s bragging that McMahon sent in Carmen [Cognetta]—and if that doesn’t work, he’ll send in Kenny Mitchell, K.J. Hunt, Georgie Caputo, and ‘The Captain.’”
Cognetta’s history is checkered. He resigned from a judgeship amid sexual harassment allegations in the 1990s and has long been associated with the McMahons, whose brand is increasingly becoming synonymous with cronyism and backroom deals.
“This is a classic election law battle and almost expected,” said a Manhattan Democratic consultant. “The more interesting takeaway is that McMahon revealed he’s playing kingmaker through the courts instead of letting voters decide. But he’s doing it against the cops as the sitting D.A., and paying a steep political price. He may have lost his fastball. Ten years ago he would have never been this clumsy.”
Carter-Williams, backed by every major law enforcement group including the PBA and SBA, is the only candidate representing fallen officers and their families.
“She’s running for every family that lost someone in blue,” said a campaign insider.
Lawfare on Staten Island: Corruption All the Way Down
The process now heads to Staten Island Supreme Court, where Judge Wayne Ozzi will hear arguments today.
Representing Carter-Williams is legendary election lawyer John Ciampoli, who already demanded the recusal of Hanks’ ally, Board of Elections Commissioner Michele Sileo.
“Ciampoli is the veritable ‘Joe DiMaggio’ of New York State Election Law. He’s a living legend,” said an Albany source connected to the New York State Senate. “He’ll restore ten signatures before he finishes his first cup of coffee.”
All things being equal, yes. But Ciampoli and Carter Williams are facing the appearance of unprecedented political imporpriety from the Hanks cabal.
Sileo, Hanks’ “asshole buddy,” was handpicked over the Staten Island Democratic Committee’s choice, Debi Rose.
She previously served on Hanks’ shady nonprofit board, alongside accused drug kingpin Ettore Mazzei. Hanks paid herself over $82,000 from that group while never returning Mazzei’s donations—despite his arrest for running a multimillion-dollar cocaine ring.
“This is a corrupt political machine-run ballot scam,” said an NYPD union source. “They’re rigging the process with family and friends at the Board of Elections. It’s like Tammany Hall—but dumber and dirtier.”
More challengers remain on the ballot—Abou Diakhate, Telee Brown, and Sarah Blas—but only Carter-Williams has the endorsement of New York’s law enforcement.
The attempt to knock her out is being viewed as an act of desperation. And an eye-opener about the real Mike McMahon.
Lawfare on Staten Island: Hanks in Trouble, McMahon Under Fire
Kamillah Hanks’ record speaks for itself: she backed True2Life, the group that advocated for the release of Shateik Johnson, the man who murdered Officer Carter.
She co-sponsored the “How Many Stops Act,” which NYPD leaders say ties officers’ hands and increases danger on the streets.
McMahon, who is supposed to be prosecuting corruption and drug crime, is instead backing Hanks—despite her connections to dirty campaign money, her nonprofit’s ties to a drug kingpin, and her open contempt for law enforcement.
Rank-and-file officers are livid.
“If another good cop doesn’t come home to their family, that woman won’t be welcome. She is to blame,” one source said. “And if McMahon keeps helping her, he’ll have blood on his hands too.”
As one insider put it, “This election isn’t just about Staten Island—it’s a referendum on lawfare, corruption, and whether Democrats still believe in democracy and hard work, or shady legal maneuvers and backroom deals.”
The voters get their say June 24—unless Kamillah Hanks and her cronies manage to erase democracy in court first.
About The Author
Leave a Reply