Please, please, don’t try to give cash to news reporters. https://t.co/3hneSo9lbv
— Alyssa Katz (@alykatzz) August 21, 2025
A close ally of New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been caught red-handed attempting to hand a reporter a wad of cash — hidden inside a crumpled potato chip bag. The audacious attempt to pass off what appeared to be a bribe is just the latest scandal in an administration already drowning in controversy.
The incident occurred at a campaign event in Harlem on Wednesday, where THE CITY reporter Katie Honan was covering the launch of Adams’ newest campaign office. There, she encountered Winnie Greco, a longtime confidante of Mayor Adams. Greco, who once served as the mayor’s liaison to New York’s Asian community, resigned in disgrace last year after the FBI raided two of her residences during a corruption probe.
Despite her fall from official grace, Greco was still operating in Adams’ orbit, apparently working on his reelection campaign. And it was during this event that she made what can only be described as a bizarre — and likely illegal — attempt to hand over a bundle of cash to a journalist.
According to Honan, Greco approached her outside the event and invited her to walk over to a nearby Whole Foods. Once inside, Greco handed Honan an opened bag of Herr’s Sour Cream & Onion potato chips with the top crumpled closed. Thinking she was being offered a light snack, Honan declined multiple times — but Greco insisted she keep the bag. After parting ways, Honan opened the bag only to find a red envelope stuffed with cash: at least one $100 bill and several $20 bills.
Understandably shocked, Honan immediately called Greco and informed her that she could not accept the money and wanted to return it. Greco replied that she had already left the area but suggested they could meet later in Chinatown. When Honan followed up via text, Greco did not respond.
THE CITY later contacted Greco for comment. Her explanation was murky and implausible at best. “I make a mistake,” Greco told the outlet. “It’s a culture thing. I don’t know. I don’t understand. I’m so sorry.” She then tried to downplay the incident, asking the outlet not to publish the story. “Can we forget about this? I try to be a good person,” she pleaded. “Please don’t do in the news nothing about me.”
Greco further claimed that her motivation was simply to make a friend. “I just wanted to be her friend,” she said. “It’s nothing.”
This sort of excuse may fly in City Hall — where ethics seem optional — but it doesn’t fly with the public. The brazenness of the act and the attempt to shrug it off as a “cultural misunderstanding” insult the intelligence of New Yorkers.
Later that evening, the Adams campaign suspended Greco from her role — a too-little, too-late move from a mayor who is no stranger to scandal himself.
Mayor Eric Adams is currently under federal indictment on bribery charges, with prosecutors alleging that he acted as an unregistered foreign agent for the Turkish government. While the Department of Justice dropped those charges — at the direction of President Donald Trump, who later quipped, “I helped him out a little bit” — the public trust continues to erode.
As Adams scrambles for reelection, he’s trailing behind a surprisingly strong Republican challenger, Curtis Sliwa, as well as disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo and the current Democratic frontrunner, socialist-leaning state Rep. Zohran Mamdani. In a city battered by crime, high taxes, and deteriorating public services, Adams’ ethical freefall is giving many New Yorkers second thoughts about four more years of chaos.
For conservatives watching from across the aisle, this latest scandal is further proof of the deep-rooted dysfunction in progressive-run urban strongholds like New York City. While the media might try to brush this story aside, it’s yet another glaring example of the corruption that festers when one-party rule goes unchecked for too long.
As Mayor Adams’ administration continues to unravel, voters would do well to remember this absurd story — cash in a chip bag — as a symbol of just how broken New York City politics have become.
