Eric Adams to Name Frank Carone: Influential Brooklyn Lawyer as Chief of Staff

By Yehudit Garmaise

Mayor-elect Eric Adams is expected today to name Frank Carone, a longtime friend and adviser, and influential lawyer in the Brooklyn Democratic Party, as the chief of staff of his new administration.

Carone, who is 52, grew up in Canarsie and earned his law degree from Brooklyn Law School, served on the city’s taxi commission, where he called for more wheelchair-accessible taxi. Carone also founded Berkshire Financial Group Inc., a mortgage bank, and from 1993 to 1995, served in the United States Marine Corps.

“Working in politics for so long, it’s rare to find someone who is as selfless as he is,” said Carone, who told the New York Times, he believes in Mr. Adams and wants to help him succeed. “He just wants to solve problems.”

Like Adams did in choosing his other appointees, such as longtime friend David Banks, who will serve as the city’s education chancellor and former City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, who will serve as the city’s commissioner of the Department of Transportation, the mayor-elect turned to his inner circle to choose his chief of staff, who serves a critical role a mayor’s administration.

Howard Wolfson, who was a close adviser to former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who told the New York Times that he impressed with the quality of Mr. Adams’s appointments, also noted that several of Adam’s deputy mayors had served in both the administrations of Bloomberg and Bill de Blasio.

“[Carone] is a straight shooter, he’s savvy, his word is good when he gives it to you,” said Wolfson, who added that Carone, has “solid judgment.” “He delivers on what he says he’s going to do.”

Mayor de Blasio’s chief of staff, Emma Wolfe, who served in the key position for all eight years, was one of the mayor’s must trusted advisers and worked on key priorities like universal prekindergarten and the city’s response to the COVID pandemic. 

Carone is expected to play a role in Adam’s administration that Wolfe did for Mayor de Blasio. 

“He clearly has an incredibly close relationship with the mayor-elect, which will serve him well,” said Wolfe, who added that Carone always brought “compassion and energy” to all his projects. “That bond and the tether they have will be critical in 2022 and beyond.”

Photo by: Dovid Jaroslawicz-BP24