Evening Roundup: Diddy Dodges Most Serious Charges in RICO Case, Mamdani’s Shortfall in NYC’s Black Community, Bangladeshi Aunties Get Out the Vote and New J...

Janae Pierre: Sean Diddy Combs dodges the most serious charges in his RICO case, Zohran Mamdani's shortfall in New York City's Black community, Bangladeshi aunties get out the vote, and New Jersey officials accused of hypocrisy over land use. From WNYC, this is NYC Now. I'm Janae Pierre.

There was a mix of emotion in a Manhattan federal court Wednesday after a jury acquitted music mogul Sean Diddy Combs on charges of sex trafficking and racketeering, which could have sent him to prison for the rest of his life. Combs was found guilty on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. WNYC's Samantha Max has been covering the local reaction to the high-profile trial. Sam, what more can you tell us about the split verdict?

Samantha Max: We know that for almost two months now, prosecutors have been laying out this very detailed case against Combs. They have brought in all these different witnesses, including two women who have accused Combs of abusing them. After all this time, the jury, they deliberated for just about two days, and then they convicted him of these lesser charges, but they acquitted him of the most serious charges which could have resulted in life in prison.

Janae Pierre: On Tuesday, we had learned that the jury was deadlocked on a decision. Which of the charges seemed to be most difficult for the jurors to decide on?

Samantha Max: It seems most likely that it was this racketeering charge. This is a type of charge that originally was used to try to take down mob bosses, the mafia, but more recently, it has been used actually somewhat often against rappers and other musicians who have been accused of using their businesses to commit crimes. In this case, the jury did not find that the evidence that was laid out rose to the level that they could convict him of that.

Janae Pierre: A couple years ago, Sam, back in 2023, Diddy was given the key to the city by Mayor Adams. The mayor has since taken that key back from the son of Harlem. I'm wondering what folks the community think of Diddy right now.

Samantha Max: I went to 125th Street, to Harlem, just to get a sense from the local community of how people were feeling. Mixed reactions, but really, for the most part, I was hearing a lot of people disappointed in the verdict, disappointed that he hadn't been convicted of all the charges. They felt like there was a strong case laid out against him, and that because he had money and power, that he was able to get a more favorable result. One person that I was talking to, who was walking along 125th Street, is Sam Stigger. He was really disappointed with the verdict.

Sam Stigger: People have done way worse and gotten away with it, but at the end of the day, this is an injustice, bro.

Samantha Max: Outside the Apollo Theater on 125th Street, a woman named Denver Williams told me that the verdict was disheartening for her.

Denver Williams: I wouldn't know how to feel if I was those victims, you know what I'm saying? Because people don't really speak up until it's like other women speaking up.

Samantha Max: Generally, the sense was that people felt like he should have been convicted of the more serious charges, and then a bunch of people just wanted nothing to do with the case at all.

Janae Pierre: What's next? How soon can we expect him to be sentenced?

Samantha Max: Combs' lawyers have asked for him to be released from jail while he awaits sentencing because he wasn't convicted of the more serious charges. The sentencing date has not yet been set, but when he is sentenced, he faces up to 10 years in prison.

Janae Pierre: That's WNYC's Samantha Max. Thanks, Sam.

Samantha Max: Thank you.

Janae Pierre: In other local news, data from New York City's Democratic primary show that Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani beat former Governor Andrew Cuomo without a majority of Black voters. City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams ranked fourth in the race and is now endorsing Mamdani. Adams says she won't be actively campaigning with him.

Adrienne Adams: We've got a long ways to November. There is work to be done. I would like to see more of that work accomplished. There are conversations that still have to be had with Assemblymember Mamdani. My "endorsement" comes because he is the nominee. I expressed some of my concerns during our mayoral forums and other places, and I would like to truly see his commitment made to all New Yorkers across the city.

Janae Pierre: Specifically, Adams says Mamdani will have to do a lot more to gain the vote of Black communities across the five boroughs.

Adrienne Adams: He's going to have to earn that vote by indeed coming out and expressing his concern over the needs of the Black community, hearing the needs of the Black community and understanding it, and really developing a trust among Black voters.

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Janae Pierre: Now that we know it wasn't the majority of Black voters who pushed Mamdani to victory, let's look into the communities that did. After the break, we discuss the impact of Bangladeshi aunties. Stay close.

Announcer: NYC Now.

Janae Pierre: In the wake of last week's dramatic Democratic primary for New York City mayor, all eyes are on the winner, Zohran Mamdani. Also getting attention are the communities that drove him to victory. That includes South Asian and Muslim New Yorkers, who turned out in far higher numbers than in previous elections. WNYC's Arun Venugopal says that has a lot to do with the Mamdani campaign's mobilization with local groups and its grassroots efforts. In his victory speech last week, Mamdani made it a point to credit "Bangladeshi aunties."

Arun Venugopal: He specifically said, "This is not my victory, this is ours. It is the victory of the Bangladeshi auntie who knocked on door after door until her feet throbbed and her knuckles ached."

Janae Pierre: Muslim and South Asian communities are growing quickly in New York City. There are around 750,000 Muslim New Yorkers and 450,000 South Asians here. Arun says the Mamdani campaign worked hard to reach most of them.

Arun Venugopal: If you look at the data, considerably, according to DRUM Beats, a group that got out the vote for Mamdani, the estimated Pakistani voter turnout tripled from 5 to 15%. After a couple thousand Punjabi language households were called in the run-up to the primary and a thousand doors were knocked on, every Punjabi majority district in Richmond Hill, Queens went for Mamdani.

Janae Pierre: Mamdani's advancement to the general election is a big deal for Muslim and South Asian voters politically. Ali Najmi is the co-founder of the Muslim Democratic Club. He says this moment was years in the making. A decade ago, Najmi ran for City Council. He lost, but one of his volunteers was 23-year-old Zohran Mamdani. He says back then, the community began to slowly build its infrastructure. Now, he says they're reaping the rewards of that process.

Ali Najmi: We're riding high. We won. We won the biggest race you could win in this city. We're still not done. We won the primary. We got to win the general. What's changed is what's possible, and what's possible now is limitless.

Janae Pierre: Though the community is riding high, Arun says there's much more work to be done if Mamdani wants to move into City Hall.

Arun Venugopal: Now the big question is clearly the general election. Mamdani won certain demographic groups. He didn't win over Black New Yorkers, for one. They supported Andrew Cuomo. It remains to be seen whether Mamdani can hold on to the coalition that brought him this primary win and maybe gain support from other groups in the months ahead.

Janae Pierre: That's WNYC's Arun Venugopal. Now to New Jersey, where homeless service providers are accusing officials in Emerson of hypocrisy. That's after the town's Land Use Board approved the potential development of affordable housing at the same place where it rejected a homeless shelter two months ago. WNYC's Mike Hayes has more.

Mike Hayes: In April, Emerson, New Jersey's Land Use Board shot down a proposal to turn a closing office building into housing for homeless families. In their rejection, the Bergen County town's officials cited testimony from a local police sergeant. He said the intersection where the building is located was too busy and dangerous for children to be living nearby.

Now, the all-Republican board has approved a housing plan that includes the property across the street from the proposed shelter as a possible location for multi-family affordable housing. Kate Duggan is executive director of Family Promise of Bergen County, the homeless service provider that proposed the shelter. She says the about-face suggests that concerns over her organization's shelter were never really about safety at all.

Kate Duggan: We always thought that the town manufactured reasons to reject our proposal in order to keep what they perceived as those people out of Emerson.

Mike Hayes: The housing plan Emerson officials approved would generate 47 new affordable homes, but not right away. During a presentation of the plan in June, Emerson Mayor Danielle DiPaola acknowledged that the site, which is currently home to a Shoprite supermarket, won't be converted into housing anytime soon. If it happens, DiPaola says, a lot of work will need to be done to make it livable.

Janae Pierre: That's WNYC's Mike Hayes. Thanks for listening to NYC Now from WNYC. I'm Janae Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.

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