Did City Hall Fake Slain Cop Pic? 1.6K-Word Response Doesn't Quite Say

NEW YORK CITY — Mayor Eric Adams was absolutely friends with Robert Venable, the fallen NYPD officer whose old photo he's accused of having staffers fake, according to a four-page press release his staffers sent out Thursday morning.

The 1,600-word response to the New York Times report — in which anonymous staffers contend City Hall doctored a Google print-out of the slain Harlem cop by spilling coffee on it — includes quotes from 13 people who assert the mayor and Venable were friends.

The word "friend" appears 17 times. "Disgusting" is also a word that appears, courtesy of Press Secretary Fabian Levy.

"It is disgusting that The New York Times has chosen to have Robert Venable’s friends and family relive the tragic murder of a loved one for nothing more than feeding its obsession with dissecting every single moment of Mayor Adams’ life," Levy said.

“Mayor Adams, Officer Venable, and a number of other members of the NYPD were close friends before Officer Venable’s murder, and any implication otherwise is patently false."

But three City Hall staffers told the Times it's the photo that's false.

As the Times reports, the staffers said instructions went out to create the picture in 2022, soon after two NYPD officers were shot dead in Harlem and the new mayor said he was reminded of his friend's line-of-duty death in 1987.

"I keep a picture of Robert in my wallet," Adams said.

When the Times asked to see it, Adams' staff was sent to work; printing a black-and-white photo from Google and splashing coffee on it to add the appearance of age, according to the report.

According to the Mayor's office, Adams copied the photo from an NYPD bulletin in 1987. When the copy was made is not specified the 1,649-word press release, which notes Adams still has the bulletin.

Patch reached out for clarification, but did not receive a response, but Levy implies in the release the picture is not new.

"For decades, Mayor Adams has carried a picture of his friend who died in the line of duty," Levy states. "The Times’ efforts to attack the mayor here would be laughable if it were not so utterly offensive.”

Judging from the press release’s all-caps email subject, what seems to have offended most is the implication that Adams and Venable were not friends.

"DESPITE NEW YORK TIMES’ FALSE ATTACK, FAMILY AND FRIENDS OF ROBERT VENABLE HIGHLIGHT MAYOR ADAMS’ CLOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH FALLEN NYPD OFFICER."

It goes on to quote nine former transit cops as well as Venable's sister, niece and daughter, Januari Benson.

“I was only eight when my father was murdered," Benson said. "I don’t remember most of the people who were there for my family, but in the 36 years since I lost my father, Eric Adams has been there, even after the cameras were gone."

Venable's sister Denise Benson takes a more direct aim at the Gray Lady.

“For months, the Times has harassed our family and annoyed us persistently, all in an effort to undermine our relationship with Eric," she states.

"He has shown up for us over and over again — where has The New York Times been?"

Excluding Levy, just one person references the photo allegations directly: former NYPD Detective transit cop Tony Barksdale.

“Anyone who was at Bobby’s funeral, or simply knew him, had access to plenty of old photos of him," Barksdale said.

"There was never a need for Eric to concoct a story about his relationship with Bobby or ask to create a photo, because he actually had a real relationship with our fallen brother."