Texas man arrested for making ‘terroristic threats’ against Mamdani

Jeremy Fistel, a 44-year-old from Texas, was charged with making terroristic threats after he allegedly made several Islamophobic calls to Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani’s Queens district office. Pool photo by Dean Moses

By Jacob Kaye

A Texas man was charged in Queens with making terroristic threats after he allegedly made several menacing phone calls and wrote Islamophobic and exploitative-laced emails to Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor, earlier this year.

Jeremy Fistel, who was arrested in Plano, Texas last week before being picked up by the NYPD and brought to Queens, made at least three threatening phone calls to Mamdani’s district office in Astoria in June and July.

In multiple calls, Fistel called the Muslim mayoral candidate a “terrorist f–k” and said he hoped Mamdani and his family would be murdered.

Fistel allegedly said Mamdani “should go back to f–king Uganda” where the Queens lawmaker was born, adding that if he doesn’t leave, someone might shoot him “in the f–cking head and get rid of your whole family too.”

“You’re a terrorist piece of s–t, and you’re not welcome in New York or in America, neither is your f–king family so they should get the f–k out,” Fistel allegedly said in a June 17 message.

“Go on and start your car and see what happens,” he said in a different message, according to prosecutors. “And keep an eye on your house and your family. Watch your back every f–king second. Check your beeper, too, you terrorist f–k. Beep beep.”

Fistel’s arrest comes at a particularly tense time in the U.S., which has seen an increase in political violence over the past several years. Fistel was first arrested in Texas on Sept. 11, a day after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot to death while speaking to college students in Utah.

“Let me be very clear – we take threats of violence against any office holder extremely seriously – and there is no room for hate or bigotry in our political discourse,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement.

Fistel was hit with a 22-count indictment on Thursday in Queens Criminal Court, which included charges of making a terroristic threat as a hate crime and aggravated harassment as a hate crime.

He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of the top count.

Fistel has few ties to New York City. Though his brother lives in Queens, Fistel spent much of his adult life in Massachusetts and recently moved to Texas because of a romantic relationship, prosecutors said.

Queens Supreme Court, Criminal Term Administrative Judge Michelle Johnson ordered a $30,000 bail on Fistel, which was paid by his family. Fistel left the court with his attorney a little more than an hour after his arraignment.

While he pleaded not guilty to the charges on Thursday, prosecutors said Fistel previously took credit for the calls.

Prior to his arrest, he allegedly told investigators that he would stop making the calls and said that he had no interest in going to New York City, which he described as “an alcoholic that has to hit rock bottom.”

“If this is about phone calls, I just won't make them any more,” Fistel allegedly told the police.

The Queens district attorney’s office said Fistel first called Mamdani’s district office on June 11, at around 11:30 a.m. The call came as Mamdani began to surge in the polls in the Democratic primary race for mayor.

Prosecutors said that Fistel said on the call that “Muslims don’t belong” in the United States.

Fistel allegedly said Mamdani was “not welcome in New York or America and neither is your f–king family” during the second call he allegedly made to Mamdani’s office on June 18, around 9:45 a.m.

Mamdani went on to win the Democratic primary race around a week after Fistel’s second call.

On July 8, Fistel allegedly sent an email to Mamdani’s office saying that he hoped the lawmaker got “terminal cancer.”

“I’d love to see an IDF bullet go through your skull,” Fistel allegedly wrote in the message. “Would be even better if you had to watch your wife and kids murdered in front of you before they end your pathetic miserable life.”

The message came from Fistel’s email address, according to prosecutors.

Fistel allegedly made a final call on July 23 around 1:45 p.m., saying that he hoped somebody would shoot Mamdani “in f–king face.”

“I hope you get raped and murdered as well,” he reportedly said.

Mamdani’s staff first reported the calls to the police on June 18.

Todd Greenberg, Fistel’s attorney, told the judge on Thursday that the Queens district attorney’s case was weak.

“It's unpleasant speech,” Greenberg said. “But it's free speech.”

The attorney also claimed that Fistel was facing hate speech charges because of “political positions” he held, but did not expand on what he meant when asked by reporters after the hearing.

Fistel declined to speak to reporters as he made his way out of the courthouse on Thursday.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Mamdani’s mayoral campaign said that they want to “reassure the community that Zohran and the team are safe.”

“We cannot and will not be intimidated by racism, Islamophobia, and hate,” the spokesperson said. “Zohran remains steadfast in his conviction that New York must be a city where every single person—regardless of faith, background, or identity — is safe, protected, and at home.”

“Unfortunately, threats of this nature are all too common—and they reflect a broader climate of hate that has no place in our city,” they added.

In March, Mamdani shared a recording of a voicemail left at his district office that included language similar to the messages allegedly left by Fistel.

“Go f–k yourself, you terrorist,” the message begins. “You’re going to wash my European feet, boy.”

When asked about Fistel’s arrest on Thursday, Mayor Eric Adams, who is polling last in the four-way race for mayor, said that he believed it was “ironic” that Mamdani was receiving NYPD protection during the campaign because of past statements he’s made about defunding the police.

“It just goes to show these officers carry out their job no matter who the individual is,” the mayor said. “No matter what people say about you, you're still willing to protect them. He has that police detail because we don't believe anyone should be the victim of violence, but we also believe that we hold a debt of gratitude to our police personnel, and we should show them some respect as they do their job.”