City Council Member Vickie Paladino is facing legal threats and calls for a City Council ethics investigation after the partner of slain Brooklyn activist Ryan Carson accused the Queens Republican of making false and inflammatory statements that she says endangered her safety.
In a cease and desist letter sent July 16 to Paladino, attorney Maryanne K. Kaishian alleges that the lawmaker used her social media account to spread misinformation about Claudia Morales’ actions following Carson’s 2023 murder in Bed-Stuy.
“Your misuse of elected office to defame a private citizen for political gain has forced Ms. Morales to seek legal representation, and we are formally demanding that you cease and desist all such communications concerning our client and issue a public apology for your defamatory statements,” Kaishian wrote.
Kaishian said Paladino’s remarks were prompted after Morales, a political activist, posted a photo with Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani on July 12.
Paladino — who gained fame in 2017 by yelling at then-Mayor Bill de Blasio in a viral video and has a history of provoking controversy — has recently faced criticism for doubling down on calls for Mamdani’s deportation.
“She has a very long and well-documented history of behavior like this,” Morales said. “This was something done knowingly and deliberately … it is deplorable and dangerous for her to do so within her position and influence, and responsibility as an elected official.”
Paladino’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
‘Re-traumatized’
Brian Dowling, 18 at the time, fatally stabbed Carson in the early hours of Oct. 2, 2023, as he and Morales waited at a bus stop on Malcolm X Boulevard and Lafayette Avenue after attending a friend’s wedding.
Dowling was arrested days after the unprovoked killing and was sentenced in February to 20 years to life in prison.
Kaishian said Paladino falsely claimed Morales delayed calling 911 because of her political beliefs and interfered with the investigation to protect the suspect.
In a now-deleted post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Paladino wrote that Morales “didn’t immediately call the police because the murderer was nonwhite and her politics dictate that police are the real evil.”

According to Kaishian, Morales immediately called for help, “desperately” attempted to render first aid, and fully cooperated with law enforcement, including testifying before a grand jury that indicted Dowling.