NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — The union representing NYPD sergeants is transitioning to new leadership after the FBI raided their offices and the home of its controversial president, Ed Mullins.
Vincent Vallelong will take the reins of the Sergeants Benevolent Association after the union asked Mullins to step down in light of the federal criminal investigation, multiple outlets reported Wednesday.
Vallelong lives on Staten Island and has served in the NYPD since 1990, first as a cop and then as a sergeant in 1996. He currently works in Brooklyn, but has been assigned to precincts across the city.
Neither Vallelong nor the SBA responded to a request for comment.
Here are a few quick facts:
HE IS NO FAN OF FORMER GOV. CUOMO...
Vallelong doesn’t tweet frequently, but he’s used his account to sharply criticize disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. He most recently referred to Cuomo as a “piece of trash” over the then-outgoing governor’s grants of clemency.
“Even on the way out Andy is a piece of trash,” Vallelong tweeted back in August. “The ultimate proof was leaving his dog behind…what person with any morality can do that….oh right…the disgraced Governor…maybe Fredo will take him in.”
OR OTHER DEMOCRATIC LEADERS IN NEW YORK
Vallelong has constantly derided both Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council Speaker Corey Johnson. When Johnson celebrated the reopening of Coney Island’s amusement parks with a ride on the Cyclone, he accused the Council leader of “eating cake” while New Yorkers “suffered.”
He followed that up with a tweet including a GIF of Johnson’s and De Blasio’s faces superimposed on Teletubbies as they go down a slide.
He was especially critical of the two during the Black Lives Matter protests last summer.
“Mayor DeBlasio [sic] and Corey The Shill Johnson...how many permits were approved for these protests? What were the parameters for these demonstrations?” Vallelong tweeted. “You have both thrown out the rule of law and subjected our men and women to that which you both would bitch and cry about!”
STAUNCH ICE SUPPORTER, AGAINST SANCTUARY CITIES
De Blasio’s classification of New York City as a “Sanctuary City” had been a main critique of Vallelong.
The union head gave an interview to the Daily Caller in January 2020 saying he was “fed up” with the policy and that the mayor was stopping police who he claimed wanted to work with ICE.
“[ICE] is taking criminals off the street. But the policies of our mayor — and pretty much across the country right now — is they’re tying our hands and they’re pretty much handcuffing police,” he said. “There’s no other way to say it.”
DEFENDED SEATTLE DRIVER WHO PLOWED INTO PROTESTERS
Vallelong once defended a Seattle driver who was arrested after he seriously injured two George Floyd protesters when he struck them as he drove the wrong way down a highway that was closed for the demonstrations.
“Real Protesters don’t put others [sic] lives in jeopardy,” Vallelong tweeted. “They blocked a highway for what purpose? If the car stopped we’re they going to hand them an informational flyer? Beat them? Rob them? Driver did no wrong call it what it is and stop with the propaganda.”
The driver’s family and lawyer have since said the driver, an African American, had attended Black Lives Matter protests in the past and that the incident was a “tragic accident.”
HE’LL REPORTEDLY BE ‘LESS BOMBASTIC’
Sources told the Daily News Wednesday that Vallelong will be “less bombastic” than his predecessor, Ed Mullins, who once called the city’s top health official a “b---h.”
“He’s a very good guy and a serious cop,” the source told the News. “He has a whole different style of operating. He’s less bombastic and more about business.”