A Texas man has been arrested for leaving multiple expletive-laden threats via voicemail and email to kill New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, authorities said Thursday.
Jeremy Fistel, 43, was arraigned in Queens Criminal Supreme Court on charges of threatening Mamdani in three expletive-laden calls in June and July and via an email sent through Mamdani’s campaign portal.
“The defendant threatened an elected official by leaving a series of increasingly alarming anti-Muslim messages,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. “We take threats of violence against any office holder extremely seriously. There is no room for hate or bigotry in our political discourse.”
The first call was made on June 11, when Fistel allegedly said, “Hey Zohran. You should go back to f—ing Uganda before someone shoots you in the f—ing head and gets rid of your whole f—ing family too.”
“All right, you piece of s—,” the caller added. “Muslims don’t belong here. They’re not compatible with our western values, so stop spewing your anti-semitic rhetoric. Shut the f— up and get the f— out of America.”
Fistel was arrested in Plano, Texas, Sept. 11 and held there for a week, his defense lawyer said.
The investigation by the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force began after the department was alerted by Mamdani aides of a June 18 threat that the office deemed more serious, The News previously reported..
In that voicemail, a recording of which was obtained by The News, the man called Mamdani, a U.S. citizen born in Uganda, a “terrorist piece of s—” and said a bomb would be planted in his vehicle.
“Go ahead and start your car, see what happens,” the person says in the message. “And keep an eye out on your house and your family.”
The caller also told Mamdani to “check your beeper, too, you terrorist f—, beep, beep,” a possible reference to the Israeli government’s deadly pager attacks targeting the Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon in 2024.
Mamdani’s campaign noted at the time he 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,” the campaign said in a statement at the time
“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.”
Fistel allegedly went on to send a July 8 email to Mamdani’s office, which said in part, “I hope you get terminal cancer and die a painful death very soon. I’d love to see an IDF (Israeli Defense Force) bullet go through your skull. Would be even better if you had to watch your wife and kids murdered in front you before they end your pathetic miserable life.”
And on July 23, Fistel allegedly left a voicemail saying Mamdani and his family deserved to die and that “all you and your Muslim f— loser friends and relatives and family and wife and kids deserve to die.”
Despite the fact Fistel blocked his caller ID, detectives were able to identify him via his cell phone number, prosecutors said. They also identified him because he sent the email using his own email address.
When they called him, he initially professed ignorance, saying he wouldn’t wish such things on anyone, prosecutors said.
Later after the investigators read to him transcripts of the voicemails and email, he agreed it sounded bad but that he didn’t mean it.
In court, his defense attorney argued Fistel merely said things within his First Amendment rights but took no steps to act on them.
Fistel was hit with a slew of charges including 22 counts of making a terroristic threat as a hate crime, four counts of making a terroristic threat and seven counts of aggravated harassment as a hate crime. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
Justice Michelle Johnson set bond at $125,000. Fistel’s brother, who lives in the city, was expected to post the bail. Fistel is slated to return to court Nov. 19.
In 2012, Fistel pleaded guilty to a marijuana distribution charge in Brooklyn Federal Court and was sentenced in 2019 to time served, two years of probation and ordered to forfeit $50,000, court records show.
The records indicate he cooperated with federal prosecutors in the case to earn the highly favorable sentencing outcome — a fact that explains the long lag between the guilty plea and the sentencing.
In a letter to the judge in that case, Fistel wrote he grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family in a small town in Massachusetts and studied accounting at the University of Maryland.
“Between 2007 and 2009, I sold marijuana … and was given larger amounts to sell on consignment,” he wrote. “I’ve come to realize I turned to marijuana as a way to treat my undiagnosed anxiety disorder and to try and fit in with people who I thought wanted to be my friends. I have since found constructive methods of treating this anxiety.
“I have made significant effort to move past this phase of my youth and build a life as a contributing member of society and a law-abiding, tax-paying citizen.”
Fistel wrote he began working at the insurance company John Hancock in 2010 around the time he was arrested in the marijuana case and was promoted four times at the company to rank of “product implementation analyst.”
He writes that he returned home to care for his mother after his father died. He volunteered for a youth work skills group and a nonprofit that provides meals for seniors, and was treasurer for the town’s men’s softball league.
Authorities said Thursday he was living in Plano, Texas at the time of his arrest for the threats against Mamdani. His defense lawyer said he moved there from Massachusetts because of a romance with a woman there.
The Mamdani campaign has yet to comment on Fistel’s arrest for the threats.
With Josephine Stratman
