Former Adams chief of staff Frank Carone taps heavy hitters to fight federal bribery charges

John Annese, New York Daily News on Jul 27, 2026

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NEW YORK — Former New York Mayor Eric Adams' chief of staff Frank Carone has put together a list of high-profile lawyers to fight federal charges he took bribes to steer millions of dollars in migrant shelter contracts.

Carone, 56, who was indicted in June on charges he accepted bribes to steer the emergency contract to a Queens hotel owner, has eight attorneys representing him — including Marc and Karen Agnifilo, who represent alleged CEO killer Luigi Mangione, and former Harvey Weinstein lawyer Arthur Aidala.

“As you can see, Frank Carone has assembled a formidable legal team and that is because all of us on this team believe in his innocence,” said lead attorney Andrew Goldstein —a veteran former federal prosecutor who worked on the corruption cases against former state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos.

“Mr. Carone acted with integrity while in office and followed the law as a dedicated public servant,” Goldstein said.

Carone and his three co-defendants, his brother, Anthony Carone, hotel owner Yan Po Zhu, who also goes by Andy Zhu, and Zhu’s employee Crystal Chen, appeared in Brooklyn Federal Court Monday, where Judge Kiyo Matsumoto set a May 3 trial date. All four have pleaded not guilty.

Frank Carone is accused of accepting a series of bribes totaling $120,000 through his brother in exchange for steering a $7 million emergency migrant shelter contract to the Microtel, a 75-room hotel owned by Zhu on 40th Avenue near 29th Street in Long Island City.

Frank Carone became Adams’ chief of staff in January 2022 when the scheme allegedly began. He stepped down near the end of 2022 and went on to create a lobbying firm.

After the indictment, Aidala suggested Carone was targeted for prosecution because he and Adams stood up to the Biden White House during the migrant crisis — even though Biden has been out of office for a year and a half.

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