Few events shocked New York City quite like the Abner Louima assault. In August 1997 at the 70th Precinct in East Flatbush, NYPD officer Justin Volpe sodomized Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant, with a broomstick. 

Normally a reflexive defender of the police, Mayor Rudy Giuliani visited Louima twice in the hospital and pushed for a full investigation. It was an election year. 

Soon after the incident, Giuliani appointed a 28-member task force to address police-community relations. According to Village Voice legend Wayne Barrett, the combative mayor thereby called attention to “systemic problems he’d never before acknowledged.” 

In late March 1998 the task force issued a lengthy report with dozens of recommendations. Now in his second term, Giuliani scoffed at the report’s significant proposals (e.g. a city residence requirement for cops), accepting only a minor one — changing the NYPD’s use of “community affairs” to “community relations.” In Barrett’s view, Rudy had turned the Louima task force into “a joke.” 

The mayor had at least one notable defender, however: Randy Mastro. Current Mayor Eric Adams, who has a dubious track record regarding NYPD accountability, recently nominated Mastro to serve as the city’s corporation counsel overseeing the Law Department. 

As noted by The New York Times mainstay Dan Barry, Mastro — Giuliani’s deputy mayor for operations — claimed that Rudy’s “dismissive response” to the task force was appropriate. “The Mayor was underwhelmed by the report and rightly so,” insisted Mastro. 

The deputy mayor further stated that the Louima report did not provide recommendations on how the community could improve its approach to the police. Police Commissioner Howard Safir, not known as a reformer, was more charitable, saying that the report would be “looked at and analyzed.” 

In his effort to win City Council support for his bid to become corporation counsel, Mastro recently sat down with longtime WCBS reporter Marcia Kramer, who praised his “incredible credentials.” Not surprisingly, neither mentioned Louima nor any of the police accountability controversies during the Giuliani era. 

Mastro instead emphasized that he is “a lifelong Democrat” who helped the Giuliani administration push through progressive same-sex domestic partnership legislation. He pledges to use the Law Department to advance civil rights and social justice initiatives. 

The Adams administration is touting Mastro’s support from many leading figures in the legal world, including ex-Obama AG Loretta Lynch and from Giuliani foes, including former Public Advocate Mark Green. Norman Siegel, an Adams ally who frequently sued the Giuliani administration in his capacity as head of the NYCLU, also supports Mastro. 

Siegel worked with Mastro in their legal challenge to Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s successful bid to overturn term limits in 2008. “Randy is an excellent lawyer and a mentor to younger lawyers, which is helpful in this type of position,” Siegel tells The Indypendent. 

A member of the Louima task force, Siegel nonetheless says that he disagrees with Mastro’s hostility toward the group’s findings. “In general,” observes Siegel, “I’m not sure what his position is on police misconduct.” 

“Mastro has spent many decades as a tool of both Rudy Giuliani and the very worst of corporate America,” veteran defense attorney Ron Kuby tells The Indy. In private practice, Mastro’s clients included Chevron in its crusade against human rights lawyer Steven Donziger, whom Kuby represented. 

“Giving Mastro government authority would turn the City of New York into a subsidiary of Big Law,” Kuby says, referencing the country’s most powerful corporate law firms. 

On a more micro level, it’s possible that Adams may expect his new corporation counsel to allow the City to represent the mayor and/or his associates in sexual-harassment lawsuits. This was reportedly a point of contention that led to the departure of Adams’ initial corporation counsel, former Brooklyn judge Sylvia Hinds-Radix.

In Siegel’s view, the Law Department “should not represent any city officials accused of misconduct that falls outside of their official duties.” How the department handles claims against the NYPD also can either help reveal or conceal police misbehavior. 

The Indy asked Mastro to explain how he would approach police misconduct and whether his office would defend Adams or others accused of non-official wrongdoing. Mastro opted not to respond. 

Meanwhile, Mayor Adams recently claimed that he deserved an “A++” for his handling of police accountability. 

The City Council is expected to decide whether Mastro will indeed become the city’s top lawyer by the middle of September.

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