Introduction to the Feud
At 8:38 p.m. on April 26, the St. John’s County Sheriff’s office near Jacksonville, Fla. received a call from the NYPD about online threats that were made to a retired NYPD lieutenant who now lives in the area. The threats involved images of a map with a route drawn to Florida, a picture of a man’s arm holding a gun and posts with text written over stock images about harming the victim’s children.
The Threats and the Response
The call was marked by the sheriff’s office as priority 2, meaning not a crime in progress, vehicle collision or other top priority, and within five minutes the first unit was dispatched to the home of former NYPD lieutenant John Macari. Macari, 44, is the founder of a podcast about policing that has been unsparing in its criticism of the leaders of the department for over two years. He launched the podcast, which he co-hosts with former NYPD Lt. Eric Dym, after he says he was forced to resign from the department in 2021 for refusing to take the COVID vaccine, citing a religious exemption that the NYPD denied.
The Podcast and Its Impact
On that Saturday, Macari was reading his phone on the couch at 9:05 p.m. when he heard a knock on the door and saw light beams pointed through the glass panes. He said his first instinct was to grab his gun, but afterward it got him to think more deeply about the incident. The unexpected visit opened the door on a two-year saga that has featured an unusually public battle between the former lieutenants and outspoken department leaders. At its core is the police department’s response to the lieutenants’ concerns about what they perceive as retribution for speaking out — which at one point crossed the line into an overt threat.
Retired officers with the New York’s Finest Unfiltered podcast documented what they described as threatening posts from a former Instagram account called “AllCopsAreWoke.” Credit: Screengrab via John Macari It was that threat that was the subject of the NYPD’s notification to the St. John’s sheriff, but the threat was hardly imminent. Macari and Dym had reported it to the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau 15 months prior, on Jan. 22, 2024.
The ‘Dream Team’
Background
The New York’s Finest: Retired & Unfiltered podcast launched in mid-2022 as a peek behind the curtain of policing and the NYPD, often through interviews with retired members. Dym, who retired in the face of a number of complaints of improper use of force by the Civilian Complaint Review Board, joined the show as co-host toward the end of that year. He has faulted the NYPD leadership for not standing up for his policing, which he said conformed to the training he received and used the minimum force necessary against often violent suspects.
Criticism of NYPD Leadership
Within months, the podcast began offering more opinion and analysis on crime and policing, which grew more pointed and critical over time. Mayor Eric Adams’ atypical appointments to lead the police department, particularly in 2023, gave them plenty of fodder. Adams’ deputy mayor for public safety, Phil Banks, was placed in that role despite having resigned from the department a decade earlier while he was an unindicted co-conspirator in a federal bribery case; his Chief of Department, Jeffrey Maddrey, was promoted to that position after nearly losing his job for getting in a physical tussle with a female officer who said the two were having an affair.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry speaks with Chief of Patrol John Chell during a crime stats update at One Police Plaza, April 3, 2024. Credit: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY And the hosts often jabbed Chell over his early-career shooting of an unarmed man in the back following a vehicle stop, a killing that Chell says was accidental but that a Brooklyn jury found in 2017 had been intentional, yielding the victim’s family $1.5 million in a subsequent civil settlement with New York City.
Pushing Back
In the spring of 2024, a few months after they filed the complaint with IAB, the X accounts associated with Chell and Daughtry began to take on a strident tone, offering pointed pushback on the media, elected officials and even judges who they condemned as bad for public safety or anti-police. Adams defended the leadership, saying they had a right to express their opinions. Macari and Dym noted on their podcast that they had been the first members of the media attacked, although less publicly.
NYPD Chief of Department John Chell oversees the arrest of protesters in Trump Tower, March 13, 2025. Credit: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY A few months later, Daughtry reportedly confronted a longtime New York Daily News police reporter over a story he wasn’t happy with, and had to be restrained twice from physically going after him, according to Patch. The NYPD’s X account lambasted the reporter, saying he had “been as dedicated to waging personal attacks on select NYPD executives as he has been committed to writing ‘hit’ pieces about the New York City Police Department.”
Conclusion
The feud between the retired NYPD lieutenants and the department’s leadership has been ongoing for two years, with both sides engaging in public criticism and accusations. The visit by the St. John’s County sheriff to Macari’s home has inflamed the situation, with Macari and Dym questioning the motivations behind the visit and the department’s handling of the threats against them. The incident has raised concerns about the department’s response to criticism and its treatment of retired officers who speak out against its leadership.
FAQs
- What was the reason for the St. John’s County sheriff’s visit to Macari’s home?
The sheriff’s visit was in response to a call from the NYPD about online threats made against Macari, a retired NYPD lieutenant. - What were the threats against Macari?
The threats included images of a map with a route drawn to Florida, a picture of a man’s arm holding a gun, and posts with text written over stock images about harming Macari’s children. - Who is behind the threats against Macari?
The threats are believed to have originated from a former Instagram account called "AllCopsAreWoke," which Macari and Dym believed was run by one or more members of the NYPD. - What is the status of the investigation into the threats?
The NYPD has stated that it took the allegations seriously and initiated an investigation, but it is unclear if any disciplinary action was taken or if the investigation is still ongoing. - What is the relationship between Macari and the NYPD leadership?
Macari and the NYPD leadership have been engaged in a public feud for two years, with Macari and his co-host Dym criticizing the department’s leadership and policies on their podcast, and the leadership responding with criticism of their own.
