NY's ‘Bling Bishop’ Lamor Whitehead begs for release from Brooklyn jail over ‘shocking’ conditions
NEW YORK — Lamor Whitehead, the politically connected “Bling Bishop” of Brooklyn who was convicted on a slate of fraud charges last month, is pleading for his release from the borough’s infamous Metropolitan Detention Center, where his lawyer alleges he has been deprived of food and kept in a near-constant lockdown.
Whitehead was sent to the federal Brooklyn lockup on May 20 after a judge revoked his bond and ordered him detained pending sentencing on the grounds that he had kept making false claims about federal prosecutors and FBI agents after his conviction. The pastor, a self-described mentee of Mayor Eric Adams known for his flashy fashion choices, is scheduled to be sentenced June 17, and he could face decades in prison under federal guidelines.
But in a Monday memo filed in Manhattan Federal Court, Whitehead’s attorney, Dawn Florio, alleged her client deserves to receive a sentence of supervised release.
Among other reasons, Florio argued leniency is warranted because Whitehead has been confined to his cell “for the overwhelming majority of his time” at the MDC — allegedly in part due to a gun recently being found in another inmate’s cell.
“Almost as soon as Mr. Whitehead entered the facility, it went on lockdown as a loaded and operable firearm was found in an inmate’s cell,” Florio wrote, calling conditions in the jail “shocking and unacceptable.”
It wasn’t clear from Florio’s filing exactly when a gun may have been found. She didn’t immediately return a request for comment from the New York Daily News on Tuesday, and neither did the federal Bureau of Prisons.
The Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, which prosecuted Whitehead, declined to comment.
In her memo, Florio also alleged Whitehead has been deprived of basic necessities in custody.
“In the weeks that Mr. Whitehead has been in the MDC, he has already lost over five pounds due to a lack of unspoiled and edible food,” she wrote after claiming he has “not been provided a mattress” to sleep on, either.
The MDC has a history of hellish conditions. Several judges have reduced defendants’ sentences due to what they’ve endured at the Sunset Park jail.
A jury found Whitehead guilty on a litany of charges on March 12, including on a count that he extorted a Bronx businessman for $500,000 while telling him he would — with Adams’ help — use the cash for a real estate investment, even calling the mayor his “key” to financial success. The feds have stressed Whitehead knew he couldn’t make good on the mayoral intervention promise, and there’s no indication Adams was aware of his activities.
In pressing for leniency, Florio wrote in Tuesday’s filing that Whitehead has known the mayor since Adams' days as Brooklyn borough president.
“(Whitehead) received numerous citations for his good works in the community from state legislators, state senators, city council members, Mayor Eric Adams, and more,” Florio wrote.
Adams' spokespeople didn’t immediately return a request for clarity on what citation he gave Whitehead.
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