Cop on NYC Mayor’s Security Detail Reportedly Linked to Crypto Torture Case

The story of the Italian tourist allegedly kidnapped by crypto businessmen keeps taking wild turns—the latest potentially implicating New York law enforcement in the ordeal. According to a report from local NBC affiliate station News 4 New York, two NYPD officers, including one who was serving as security detail for Mayor Eric Adams, have been linked to two of the people charged for their involvement in the kidnapping case.

According to the report, a detective tasked with protecting Mayor Adams was working a private security gig on the side. As a part of that job, the detective worked security at the Prince Street townhouse in the Nolita neighborhood of New York City—the same place where an Italian tourist was allegedly held captive and beaten for over two weeks. He is also believed to have picked up an Italian tourist from the airport earlier this month, and there is currently an Internal Affairs Bureau investigation into whether the detective transported the tourist who was kidnapped to the townhouse.

The report did not clarify the other officer’s alleged involvement, but two officers have reportedly been placed on modified duty following the details of their potential links to the case surfacing.

At issue isn’t the fact that the officers worked an off-duty job—that’s apparently pretty standard, per News 4, though it’s not clear whether the NYPD approved this particular side gig. What is of particular interest is just how much these cops knew about what they were potentially involved in.

What happened, either under the officers’ noses or not, was that an Italian tourist was allegedly lured to the townhouse on May 6 by two cryptocurrency businessmen, who allegedly tortured the man for 17 days to get him to give up the password to his stash of Bitcoin. During the time that he was held captive, he was allegedly shocked with electrical wires, hit with a gun, forced to smoke from a crack pipe, dangled over a railing five stories high, sawed on his leg, and urinated on.

The tourist managed to escape when his attackers went to retrieve his computer and steal his Bitcoin, at which point he flagged down a police officer on the street. (Luckily, he didn’t run into one of the cops who may have been involved.) When police entered the townhouse, they reportedly found a slew of evidence including cocaine, a saw, chicken wire, body armor, and night-vision goggles. They also found Polaroid photos of the victim with a gun pointed at his head, which was probably seen as strong evidence corroborating his story.

Two men have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the kidnapping: John Woeltz, a 37-year-old man who has been identified as the “crypto king of Kentucky,” and William Duplessie, a 33-year-old Florida man and crypto investor who turned himself into police.