Man pleads guilty to harassing Mamdani but avoids potential 60-year sentence
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Jeremy Fistel pleaded guilty on Wednesday to an aggravated harassment charge after he made a series of menacing calls to Zohran Mamdani’s former Assembly office. File photo by Dean Moses/Pool
By Jacob Kaye
A man who was arrested for allegedly threatening Mayor Zohran Mamdani in a series of voicemails pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor aggravated harassment charge on Wednesday, avoiding a 60-year prison sentence he once faced.
Jeremy Fistel will have to complete an anti-bias and anger management program as part of the plea agreement he reached with the Queens district attorney’s office on Wednesday, almost nine months after he was extradited from his Texas home to face accusations that he threatened the then-Democratic nominee for New York City mayor in a series of calls to Mamdani’s former Assembly office in Queens.
Fistel, who now lives in the five boroughs, was also barred by a Queens judge on Wednesday from having any contact with the mayor, either online or in person, for the next five years.
The agreement is a far cry from the consequences Fistel faced in September when he was arrested in Plano, Texas, taken to New York by the NYPD, and put before a judge in a courtroom packed with prosecutors and reporters.
At the time, the Queens district attorney’s office had accused Fistel of making terroristic threats against Mamdani in a series of menacing phone calls and anti-Muslim emails.
In multiple calls, Fistel allegedly 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 mayor was born, adding that if he didn’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, 2025, 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 attorney, Todd Greenberg, long maintained that the charges against his client had been trumped-up during a particularly tense time in politics – Fistel was first arrested in Texas on Sept. 11, the day after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated while speaking to college students in Utah.
“I have utmost respect for the Queens DA’s office, but it was seriously overcharged,” Greenberg said on Wednesday after Fistel’s court appearance.
“He never had any intent to carry it through, he's not capable of carrying it through,” the attorney added. “We agree the language was a little too much, he understands that fully, he's very sorry for it, and he's going to counseling.”
Greenberg asked Queens Criminal Court Judge Diego Freire on Wednesday if he’d consider revoking the $30,000 bail Fistel’s family posted for him after his arrest in September so that the defendant, who has since had trouble finding work, could use the money to live.
Freire rejected the motion but said he’d reconsider his decision in July, when Fistel is next scheduled to appear in court.
According to prosecutors, Fistel first called Mamdani’s district office on June 11, 2025. 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.
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, saying that he hoped somebody would shoot Mamdani “in the f–king face.”
“I hope you get raped and murdered as well,” he reportedly said.
On Wednesday, Greenberg said his client didn’t “have any deep prejudice to Muslim people” and that he was “learning to temper his political comments.”
“The mayor, nor anybody, has anything to worry about from Jeremy Fistel,” he said.
The mayor’s office did not respond to a request for comment from the Eagle on Wednesday.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Fistel’s conviction would be dismissed in three years should he comply with his sentence. His conviction will not be dismissed, regardless of if he complies with his sentence or not. We regret this error.
