Former NYPD union boss confesses to stealing about $600,000 from the union

The former president of one of the nation’s largest police unions pleaded guilty Thursday to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the union to fund a luxurious lifestyle that prosecutors said included high-end restaurants and lavish personal items.

Ed Mullins, 61, of Port Washington, New York, filed a lawsuit for wire fraud in Manhattan federal court before Judge John G. Keltl, who set the verdict for May 25 and signed an order requiring him to confiscation of $600,000.

A plea agreement between Mullins and prosecutors recommended that Mullins sentence him to two years, nine months in prison and three years, five months in prison.

Mullins resigned in October 2021 as head of the Sergeant’s Benevolent Association after the FBI raided the union’s Manhattan office and his Long Island home. The SBA, which represents about 13,000 active and retired sergeants, is the fifth largest police union in the country. A few weeks later, he resigned from the New York Police Department.

During his statement, Mullins admitted to stealing the money by falsely inflating spending reports between late 2017 and October 2021. He did not comment as he left the courthouse. But he briefly stopped in the rain so that photographers could capture his image.

In court documents, prosecutors said Mullins partially stole the money to pay for meals at expensive restaurants and to buy luxurious personal items. At times, they say, he charged the union personal supermarket bills and treated expensive meals with friends as business expenses.

His lawyer, Thomas Kenniff, said out of court that his client “took a big step today to right his wrongs” with his statement.

Kenniff said he hoped Mullins would end up being tried not on a criminal charge, but rather on the good things he did for the city and the NYPD during his career.

In a press release, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said Mullins broke his promise to look after thousands of police sergeants by stealing “hundreds of thousands of dollars” from them to fund his lavish lifestyle.