NYC Mayor Adams’ chief of staff Frank Carone to resign, and top aide Lorraine Grillo likely to follow suit: sources

Frank Carone, a trusted friend and political confidante to Mayor Adams who has served as his chief of staff since January, is resigning from his City Hall post at the end of the year, according to three people familiar with the matter.

In another high-profile potential shakeup, Lorraine Grillo, Adams’ first deputy mayor, is likely to step down from her post around the same time, two of the sources told the Daily News late Monday.

Grillo’s plan to leave is enough of an open secret that administration officials are already prepping Sheena Wright, Adams’ deputy mayor for strategic initiatives, to take over for her, one of the sources said, adding: “It’s not lost on anyone internally.”

Fabien Levy, Adams’ spokesman, confirmed Carone’ expected departure, but denied that Grillo’s on her way out. “She has no plans to leave at the end of the year and anyone saying as much is spreading false rumors,” he said.

Carone is expected to take on a leading role on Adams’ 2025 reelection campaign once he leaves City Hall, the sources said. It’s unclear if Grillo may have another job lined up.

Carone’s expected departure was first reported by the New York Times.

A power broker in Brooklyn Democratic political circles, Carone has been a loyal adviser to Adams for years. He was a key force behind Adams’ 2014 election as Brooklyn borough president, and helped line up institutional support for his successful mayoral campaign last year, too.

In being chief of staff, Carone has been Adams’ right hand in implementing policies across the municipal government, from public safety and business engagement to housing and homelessness.

But he has also attracted a fair amount of controversy.

As first reported by The News in February, Carone was linked via a health care business to a couple of convicted felons and a group of doctors accused of insurance fraud.

The News and other outlets have also uncovered that Carone maintained a sprawling web of controversial clients while working as a lawyer at high-powered Brooklyn law firm Abrams Fensterman before joining public service. Among his former clients is CORE Services Group, a homeless shelter provider that’s currently under federal investigation over allegations of corruption.

Ken Frydman, a veteran New York City political strategist who served as former Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s spokesman in the 1990s, said it’s not unusual for chiefs of staff to “come and go.”

“But Carone’s business interests were clearly conflicted with his government role,” Frydman said. “You can’t have one foot in the private sector and the other in the public sector.”

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