THE BRONX — Lawyers with Bronx Defenders who starred in an anti-police music video filmed in their office kept the clip's violent message from their boss, city investigators said Thursday.
But the director of the law office, Robin Steinberg, was guilty of "gross mismanagement" by authorizing the video before hearing its explicit lyrics, according to the Department of Investigation report.
The agency also concluded that lawyers Ryan Napoli and Kumar Rao showed "serious misconduct" by appearing in the video.
Later, when Steinberg found out about the violence in the song, neither of the lawyers were reprimanded, and she wrote misleading letters to public officials, the Department of Investigation found.
The rap video for the song “Hands Up,” by Uncle Murda and Maino shows clips of police brutality, including the chokehold death of Eric Garner, and a dramatic depiction of the two artists pointing guns at an officer's head.
Interspersed with scenes showing the aftermath of a police killing of a young man, a teary-eyed older woman visits an office that’s clearly marked as the Bronx Defenders office. Rao is seen speaking with her in their offices. Later Napoli is seen consulting a man also in the organization's offices.
“For Mike Brown and Sean Bell a cop got to get killed,” the lyrics go. “Time to start killing these coppers.”
Bronx Defenders executive director, Robin Steinberg, knew about the video before it was filmed but didn’t adequately review the lyrics, according to investigators.
"I love the song... I'm to sure how [Steinberg] will feel," one of the lawyers wrote in an email to the person who was organizing the production of the video, the DOI report found.
Two lawyers consulted with Steinberg, pitching the video to her as a song against police brutality, without giving her specific details about the lyrical violence, according to the report.
The public defenders denied endorsing killing police and said Steinberg did not sign off on the video.
“The Bronx Defenders abhors the use of violence against the police under any circumstance. We have always been an organization that is committed to preserving life, dignity and respect for all people,” a pop-up message on the organization’s website reads. “The Bronx Defenders never approved the music video “Hands Up”, and never saw it before it went online. We deeply regret any involvement with this video.”
The Defenders added that it has made numerous unsuccessful attempts to get the video taken off the Internet.
Neither of the lawyers immediately responded to calls for comment and both of their profiles have been removed from the Defenders' website.
Budget documents show the Bronx Defenders were awarded about $20 million in city funding this fiscal year. In an interview with DOI, Steinberg said that most of their funding comes from the city.
After the release of the DOI report, the Patrolmen's Benevolent Society called for the organization to be disbanded and Rao and Napoli to be disbarred.
The Bronx Defenders represents 28,000 people facing criminal charges each year, according to its website.
