Zohran Mamdani Appointed a Former Convict to His Transition Team — What Did Mysonne Linen Do?
Mysonne Linen is a powerful voice in the worlds of social and racial justice organization.
Updated Dec. 9 2025, 3:50 p.m. ET
The first thing any newly elected mayor has to do is start assembling their transition team. New York Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani has been busy since he was elected in November 2025. He tapped former Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan to serve as co-chair alongside the president and CEO of United Way of New York City, Grace Bonilla, who has been helping him in this endeavor.
In December 2025, Mamdani made a polarizing announcement regarding his transition team. He appointed Mysonne Linen to serve on the criminal legal system transition committee. Linen is experienced in this area both as an activist and as someone who has a bit of a checkered past. What did he do? Here's what we know.
Mysonne Linen has been to prison.
According to the Daily News, in July 1999, Linen was found guilty of robbing two cab drivers in the Bronx. He was 23 years old at the time. As the verdict was read, Linen looked at his family and said, "I love you. Be strong." They were weeping. The robberies happened on June 8, 1997, and March 31, 1998.
During the June 1997 incident, Linen and a group of young men held up cabbie Joseph Eziri, who was subsequently injured after being hit with a beer bottle. In March 1998, Linen held up Francisco Monsanto at gunpoint, stealing cash and a ring from him. He hid out at his grandmother's house after the fact.
When Linen was convicted, he had a lucrative record deal and was less than two weeks away from appearing on an album that also featured LL Cool J, Busta Rhymes, and Q-Tip. Linen's lawyer, Scott Brettschneider, argued that his client was the wrong man. The rapper said he didn't need to rob people because he had enough money from his music career. He was later sentenced to seven to 14 years in prison and was paroled on July 5, 2006, per the New York Post.
Zohran Mamdani undoubtedly chose Linen because of his activism.
Mamdani made a calculated choice when appointing Linen, who is the co-founder of Until Freedom, an "intersectional social and racial justice organization led by diverse people to address systemic racial injustice," per the United Justice Coalition. Linen has also led national demonstrations against police brutality and gun violence as a member of the Justice League NYC.
Linen is also the founder of two movements: Stop Killing Kings and Raising Kings. The former aims to work with gang leaders to navigate peace deals, while the latter focuses on building programs for youth and adults inside prisons and schools. He cares deeply about prison reform and has authored two children's books. Over on YouTube, Linen comments on politics, trending news stories, and interviews people of note like rapper Remy Ma.