A Brooklyn bar owner has filed a $6 million federal lawsuit accusing the Eric Adams administration and NYPD brass of running an extortion racket that shuttered his Coney Island business.
Shamel Kelly, owner of the former Juice & Moore bar, filed suit Wednesday in Brooklyn Federal Court naming the city, former NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban, his twin brother James Caban, and dozens of officers as defendants. Kelly opened the bar in 2022 and says the harassment began almost immediately, with cops from the 60th Precinct conducting illegal raids over minor noise complaints and issuing dozens of summonses that were later dismissed.
The lawsuit claims James Caban, the commissioner’s brother, demanded $2,500 to make Kelly’s problems disappear. Kelly was introduced to James Caban through mayoral staffer Ray Martin, who connected the two after Kelly sought help with the relentless police attention. According to court papers, James Caban told Kelly his issues could be “resolved” for the payment, but Kelly refused.
James Caban allegedly warned Kelly “that he would not remain open much longer” after the refusal. The lawsuit states that police presence and harassment “intensified significantly” following that rebuff. Cops allegedly staged shows of force with “more than ten police vehicles and dozens of officers” outside his shop on multiple occasions, including one incident where more than 40 officers showed up and issued 26 violations in a single visit. Kelly claims he endured at least 60 police visits in the year before closing.
The bar shut its doors for good in November 2023, barely a year after opening.
“Shamel Kelly was like any one of us simply trying to make a living and the very officers and officials who were supposed to be protecting him extorted him and ran him out of business like they were mobsters in a bad movie,” his attorney Harry Daniels said.
The shakedown scheme helped trigger a sweeping federal corruption probe into aides of former Mayor Eric Adams and top NYPD brass. Edward Caban was forced out as police commissioner in the fallout, and both brothers were raided by federal agents.
Kelly told The Post in 2024 that he felt “vindicated” when the Caban brothers were raided. His new suit goes further, claiming Edward Caban used his position as commissioner to override official complaints Kelly made about police abuse.
Martin, the mayoral staffer who made the introduction, was fired after NBC New York first reported Kelly’s ordeal. Attorneys for James Caban denied any wrongdoing at the time of that reporting.
“It’s time for this city to decide,” said another Kelly attorney, Bernarda Villalona.
“Are you going to protect corrupt officials or hard working folks like Shamel Kelly?”
The lawsuit seeks $6 million in damages from the city and named defendants.
In the viral moment that first brought national attention to Kelly’s plight, the Brooklyn entrepreneur described a pattern of police intimidation that seemed inexplicable for minor noise complaints at a small neighborhood bar. The scale of the response — dozens of officers, fleets of vehicles, stacks of violations — struck observers as wildly disproportionate, and Kelly’s account of being approached for a payoff by the police commissioner’s own brother transformed a local business struggle into a symbol of alleged corruption at the highest levels of city government. The federal raids on the Caban brothers and subsequent resignations appeared to validate Kelly’s claims, setting the stage for Wednesday’s civil action.
The federal corruption probe into Adams administration officials and NYPD leadership remains ongoing.