The NYPD has launched a hate crimes investigation into allegations that a man threatened to blow up mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s car, according to sources and a recording obtained by the Daily News.
The unidentified man made the threat in a voicemail left with Assemblyman Mamdani’s office in Queens on Wednesday.
It was one of at least four threatening voicemails the person has left in recent weeks, according to the NYPD. Mamdani’s staff did not alert police until the Wednesday threat, which they deemed more serious, sources said.
“There are no arrests and the investigation remains ongoing by the Hate Crime Task Force,” an NYPD spokesman said Thursday, adding that the probe is focused on “anti-Muslim statements” made by the person.
In the Wednesday voicemail, a recording of which was obtained by The News, the man called Mamdani, a Muslim U.S. citizen born in Uganda, a “terrorist piece of s—.”
“Go ahead and start your car, see what happens,” the person says in the expletive-laden message, “and keep an eye out on your house and your family.”
The caller also advised Mamdani to “check your beeper, too, you terrorist f—, beep, beep,” an apparent reference to the Israeli government’s deadly pager attacks targeting the Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon last year.
Sources said Mamdani’s staff reported the voicemail to the NYPD as a suspected car bomb threat.
Mamdani spokesman Andrew Epstein pointed out the mayoral candidate doesn’t actually own a car, though.
“While Zohran does not own a car, the violent and specific language of what appears to be a repeat caller is alarming and we are taking every precaution,” Epstein said.
In reference to heavy anti-Mamdani ad spending by a super PAC boosting mayoral front-runner Andrew Cuomo, Epstein added: “While this is a sad reality, it is not surprising after millions of dollars have been spent on dehumanizing, Islamophobic rhetoric designed to stoke division and hate.”
Mamdani’s campaign has recently hired security amid an uptick in threats leveled against him.
The Queens assemblyman is a democratic socialist who has consistently polled as the runner-up candidate to Cuomo, the favorite to win Tuesday’s Democratic mayoral primary.
Cuomo and other centrist Democrats have accused Mamdani of aligning himself with antisemitic causes amid the candidate’s outspoken support for Palestinians.
Most recently, Mamdani’s critics this week pointed to a podcast appearance in which he declined to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada.” The U.S. Holocaust Museum says Jews have been “attacked and murdered under” the phrase.
Mamdani has dismissed the accusations as politically motivated and maintained he is committed to fighting antisemitism and other forms of hate.
On Thursday, Cuomo came to Mamdani’s defense after news broke of the car bomb threat.
“This is an atrocious threat of political violence against Mr. Mamdani,” the ex-governor wrote on X. “It is unacceptable — I strongly condemn these threats and any others like them. This has no place in our politics or our society. Thankfully no one was harmed.”
In a press conference Wednesday, Mamdani grew emotional as he discussed some of the threats his team has fielded lately.
“I get threats on my life and on the people that I love,” he said.
Originally Published: June 19, 2025 at 4:26 PM EDT
