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Oct. 24, 2025, 2:56 PM EDT / Updated Oct. 24, 2025, 3:00 PM EDTBy Alexandra MarquezOne day before early voting begins in the New York mayoral race, Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani condemned the “racist, baseless” attacks he’s faced in recent days, saying the attacks exemplify the islamophobia Muslims all over New York face every day.”I have sought to be the candidate fighting for every single New Yorker, not simply the Muslim candidate,” Mamdani told reporters gathered outside of a mosque in the Bronx. “I thought that if I could build a campaign of universality, I could define myself as the leader I aspire to be, one representing every New Yorker, no matter their skin color or religion, no matter where they were born.””And I thought that if I behaved well enough or bit my tongue enough in the face of racist, baseless attacks, all while returning back to my central message, it would allow me to be more than just my faith,” Mamdani added, appearing to grow emotional. “I was wrong. No amount of redirection is ever enough.” Mamdani, who currently represents parts of Queens in the New York State Assembly, would be the city’s first Muslim mayor.His comments come one day after former Gov. Andrew Cuomo —who lost to Mamdani in the June Democratic primary and is now running as an independent — faced criticism for remarks he made about Mamdani on a radio program.On Thursday, Cuomo appeared to agree with a conservative radio host who said that Mamdani would cheer if a terror attack happened while he was mayor.A Cuomo campaign spokesperson later told NBC News that Cuomo did not agree with the radio host’s comment.Earlier this week, in the final debate ahead of the Nov. 4 mayoral election, Mamdani defended himself against attacks from Cuomo and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa that he didn’t have a strong plan to combat antisemitism in New York City.The city needs “a leader who takes [antisemitism] seriously, who roots it out of these five boroughs, not one who weaponizes it as a means by which to score political points on a debate stage,” Mamdani told viewers.He also accused the other candidates of accusing him of antisemitism in part because he’s a Muslim.After Sliwa accused Mamdani of supporting a “global jihad,” Mamdani said, “I have never, not once, spoken in support of global jihad. That is not something that I have said, and that continues to be ascribed to me. And frankly, I think much of it has to do with the fact that I am the first Muslim candidate to be on the precipice of winning this election.”“They view you as the arsonist who fanned the flames of antisemitism,” Sliwa had told Mamdani earlier in the debate, referring to members of his own family. “They cannot suddenly accept the fact that you’re coming like a firefighter and you’re going to put out these flames.”His identity as a Muslim is something Mamdani also referenced during a podcast released this week.“I do think that Andrew Cuomo, there are a number of things that he has said or done that he would not have done if I was not a Muslim candidate,” Mamdani told the hosts of the “Flagrant” podcast.In his speech Friday, Mamdani also decried what he described as a post-9/11 rise in Islamaphobia in New York City.”For as long as we have lived, we have known that no matter what anyone says, there are still certain forms of hate that are acceptable in this city,” he said. “Islamophobia is not seen as inexcusable.””In an era of ever-diminishing bipartisanship, it seems that islamophobia has emerged as one of the few areas of agreement,” he added.Mamdani also thanked his supporters who have “rushed to my defense over these past few days,” but said he was thinking, “of those Muslims in this city who do not have the luxury of being the Democratic nominee.”Mamadani has faced allegations of antisemitism for months, even before he became the Democratic nominee for mayor.The allegations largely centered on his criticism of Israel’s conduct in its war in Gaza, where over 60,000 people have been killed since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel, according to health authorities in Gaza.He has also faced criticism over his refusal earlier in the race to denounce the phrase “globalize the intifada.”Cuomo referenced this during Wednesday’s debate, telling Mamdani, “You’re the savior of the Jewish people? You won’t denounce ‘globalize the intifada,’ which means ‘kill Jews.'”Mamdani said in June that he didn’t use the phrase, but that mayors shouldn’t “police speech.” The New York Times reported in July that Mamdani said he would “discourage” use of the phrase moving forward.Mamdani has also sought to find commonality with the Jewish community, meeting with Jewish leaders, courting Hassidic voters in Yiddish and attending Rosh Hashanah celebrations.In his speech on Friday, Mamdani said that he has learned over the last few years that for Muslims in New York City, “safety could only be found in the shadows of our city [and] it is in those shadows alone where Muslims could embrace their full identities.””If we were to emerge from those shadows … it is in those shadows that we must leave our faith. These are lessons that so many Muslim New Yorkers have been taught again and again,” Mamdani said. “Over these last few days, these lessons have become the closing messages of Andrew Cuomo, Curtis Sliwa and Eric Adams.”Adams, the incumbent mayor of New York City, suspended his independent campaign for governor in September and endorsed Cuomo on Thursday.The mayoral election is on Nov. 4, with early voting starting in the five boroughs on Saturday.Alexandra MarquezAlexandra Marquez is a politics reporter for NBC News.

- Latest News - October 24, 2025

One day before early voting begins in the New York mayoral race, Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani condemned the “racist, baseless” attacks he’s faced in recent days, saying the attacks exemplify.

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Oct. 24, 2025, 3:35 PM EDTBy David K. LiAssociates of four of New York’s infamous “five families” crime syndicates allegedly backed a multimillion-dollar poker con that used elaborate technology to cheat unsuspecting players — and brought rare, unappreciated light to the mob’s shadowy operations, officials said.Associates of the Bonanno, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese crime families were named in a sweeping indictment that also ensnared Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, and one-time NBA journeyman Damon Jones, according to prosecutors from the Eastern District of New York.Federal authorities didn’t hesitate Thursday to pin the poker scam on La Cosa Nostra, showing that organized crime is still a modern law enforcement concern even after FBI operations in the 1980s and 1990s seemed to decimate the five families.”The mafia … it’s still a thing,” said Geoff Schumacher, vice president of exhibits and programs for the Mob Museum in Las Vegas. The mob works best when the public knows less about the people involved, according to Schumacher, who called famed bosses like the late Dapper Don, John Gotti, an “aberration.” “They didn’t want the general public to be well-versed in their business. The one guy who kind of defied that whole thing was John Gotti because he just believed that he was untouchable,” Schumacher said.A dozen mafia associates played a role in the poker scam, prosecutors said.Ernest Aiello and Julius “Jay” Ziliani were linked to the Bonanno crime family.Louis “Lou Ap” Apicella, Ammar “Flapper Poker” Awawdeh, John Gallo, Joseph Lanni, Nicholas Minucci, Angelo Ruggiero Jr. were associates of the Gambino crime family Matthew “The Wrestler” Daddino and Lee Fama were identified as associates of the Genovese crime family.Seth Trustman was linked to the Lucchese crime family.And Thomas “Juice” Gelardo was called an associate of the Bonanno crime family and later an associate of the Genovese crime family, according to the indictment.Gambling “is an easy pinch” and bread-and-butter income source for the mob, the author and former Gambino mobster Louis Ferrante told NBC News.”I wasn’t at all surprised,” Ferrante said. “Gambling has been a mafia mainstay for the last 100 years. With all the RICO indictments that put so many people away for the rest of their lives (in the 1980s and 90s), the mob has sort of scaled back and they stuck with loan sharking and gambling because if you get busted, as long as there’s no violence involved, nobody’s beat up or threatened, it’s a slap on the wrist.”He added: “These guys could do a nickel maybe in the can, as opposed to doing 30, 40 years or life sentences.” Organized crime soldiers and associates are busted all the time but rarely make news, said Seth Zuckerman, New York criminal defense lawyer and former Brooklyn prosecutor.“It’s not what it used to be, but it definitely still exists,” Zuckerman said. “In underground poker games and things like that, where you need protection, you need a source of cash, the mob still has its involvement.”With legal online gambling, users are required to put up all of the money before they place a bet but the crime families operate outside of the rules by acting as an intermediary, offering people the ability to place bets on credit.”There’s still a need for that,” Zuckerman said. “There are people who want to bet on credit, which as you know with legalized operations, you really can’t do. So that’s part of the mob’s territory.” Federal action against Billups and Jones spill into two separate indictments covering poker and insider sports betting information.The alleged mafia members are only tied to the alleged poker scheme. But the mob does have a long history of involvement in sports betting and poker.The most famous sports betting scandal in American history, when the 1919 Chicago White Sox threw the World Series, was allegedly engineered by gambler Arnold Rothstein, a mentor to early Genovese boss Charlie “Lucky” Luciano.The Colombo crime family had alleged connections to NBA officials in the 1990s and early 2000s.Even though sports betting is largely legal in most states, that still didn’t stop several Gambino soldiers from taking illegal bets in New York, state prosecutors said last year in a 17-person indictment.The Lucchese crime family had alleged ties to a racketeering, gambling and money laundering operation out of New Jersey poker rooms that was taken down early this year, officials said.The New York City area’s “five families” include the four mentioned in the indictment plus the Colombo crime family.FBI Director Kash Patel said federal law enforcement had “entered and executed a system of justice against La Cosa Nostra to include the Bonanno, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese crime families.” Old-fashioned mob muscle ensured victims paid up from their losses in rigged games, officials said.”With respect to poker games held in the New York City area, members of the Bonanno, Gambino and Genovese Crime Families, used threats and intimidation to assure payments of debts” in games organized by defendants Awawdeh, Trustman, Zhen Hu and Robert Stroud, the indictment said.All crime families involved “received proceeds” from the crooked games, the indictment said.The mafia’s alleged use of cutting-edge technology that included hidden cameras and X-rays shouldn’t surprise anyone, Ferrante said, because a mob boss can reach out to experts as easily as anyone else.”The mob moves with the technology,” Ferrante said. “Don’t think that some capo, ‘Frankie nine fingers,’ or ‘Joe the butcher’ is making these moves. They’re getting some geek who knows technology and he’s doing it for them.” And poker is no different from fuel, concrete and construction when it comes to wise guy involvement, according to Ferrante, the author of “Borgata: Clash of Titans: a History of the American Mafia.””The mob only has multiple families involved when it becomes something like gasoline, when they’re doing multimillions of dollars,” Ferrante said. “Concrete, when they were pouring all the concrete in New York; the windows, when they were putting in all the new energy efficient windows in the 90s; that’s (when) all the families get involved because it’s so big and there’s so much money involved that you can’t, one family can’t keep it to themselves. “He added: “So when you see four (of the five crime) families involved, you know that this is a huge racket.”David K. LiSenior Breaking News Reporter

- Latest News - October 24, 2025

Associates of four of New York’s infamous “five families” crime syndicates allegedly backed a multimillion-dollar poker con that used elaborate technology to cheat unsuspecting players — and brought rare, unappreciated.

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Oct. 24, 2025, 9:29 AM EDTBy Rob WileThe Social Security Administration announced Friday that benefit payments will increase 2.8% next year to account for the higher cost of living.The 2026 cost-of-living adjustment, knowns as the COLA, represents an increase over last year’s 2.5% figure, but it is lower than the historical average of about 3.7%. Individual retirement benefits will climb an average of about $56 per month, the agency said in a statement. The COLA is typically calculated using benchmark inflation data from July, August, and September. While pandemic-era inflation has ebbed since hitting a high of nearly 10% in 2022, households across the U.S. continue to report feeling price pressures.Many senior citizens’ advocates say that that demographic has been hit particularly hard — and that the way the annual Social Security adjustment is made has become part of the problem. Since it was first instituted in 1975, the annual adjustment has been calculated using a somewhat obscure inflation index that the advocates say gives inadequate weight to items that seniors tend to spend a greater share of their earnings on, like medical care, prescription drugs, rent, and home energy costs. “The index doesn’t necessarily reflect the spending habits of older adults,” said Jessica Johnston, senior director of the Center for Economic Well-Being at the National Council on Aging (NCOA). By her estimates, she said, a 4% adjustment would more accurately reflect these costs.More than one-in-five Americans currently receive some form of social security assistance, including approximately 58 million Americans aged 65 and over. Seniors have historically been more likely to report worsening consumer sentiment, according to the University of Michigan’s closely watched monthly survey. The gap in sentiment has narrowed in recent years — but other data suggest that hard times are getting harder for the most vulnerable seniors. Between 2018 and 2023, older Americans were the only demographic age group that saw an increase in its poverty rates — though their overall rate remains the lowest. An NCOA report published earlier this month found that mortality rates among older adults in the bottom 60% of wealth were nearly double those of older adults in the top 20%. And individuals in the bottom-20% of wealth died nine years earlier on average than those in the top 20%. The NCOA also estimates that 45% of older-adult households — more than 19 million — do not have the income needed to cover basic living costs based on cost-of-living data from its proprietary Elder Index. And a full 80%, or about 34 million senior households, would be unable to weather a major shock such as widowhood, serious illness, or the need for long-term care.Economic insecurity has shown to be particularly acute for aging minorities. Some 43% of Black and 44% of Hispanic adults aged 65 and up have incomes that are below 200% of the federal poverty line, according to 2022 U.S. Census data cited by the National Council on Aging.Johnston said there is a commonly held belief that older Americans have vast wealth holdings — especially those from the post-World War II Baby Boom generation — and are more likely to be financially secure than other groups. But that’s not the whole story, he story.Many members of the generation that immediately preceded the Baby Boomers, known as the Silent Generation, are still around — and possess only a fraction of the same level of financial security as their immediate successors, according to Federal Reserve data. Silent Generation members own total assets worth approximately $20 trillion — compared with approximately $85 trillion for Baby Boomers.Individuals are also living longer than ever before, Johnston said. Yet while some report overall steady levels of well-being as they age, others are “aging into poverty,” Johnston said. Rob WileRob Wile is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist covering breaking business stories for NBCNews.com.

- Latest News - October 24, 2025

The Social Security Administration announced the 2026 COLA increase in benefits will be 2.8% to account for the higher cost of living.

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Savewith a NBCUniversal ProfileCreate your free profile or log in to save this articleOct. 24, 2025, 9:39 AM EDTBy Arata Yamamoto and Jay GanglaniTOKYO — As Japan tries to placate President Donald Trump amid contentious trade talks, officials may be eyeing an icon of American manufacturing that has virtually no presence there: The Ford F-150 pickup truck.Trump, who is visiting the key U.S. ally next week as part of his first trip to Asia since returning to office, has long criticized the lack of American vehicles sold in Japan, citing what he believes are non-tariff barriers.Japanese auto brands such as Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi and Subaru are ubiquitous in the United States, where Japan exported over 1.37 million vehicles last year, according to the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA). Cars are Japan’s top export to the U.S., though according to JAMA most Japanese cars sold there are actually assembled in North America.By contrast, Japanese brands account for more than 90% of new cars sold in Japan, which imported fewer than 17,000 American vehicles last year, according to the Japan Automobile Importers Association. The Trump administration has been pushing Japan to buy more American cars, including as part of a trade deal announced in July that imposed a 15% tariff on Japanese autos and auto parts. A joint statement on the agreement published last month said Japan would allow vehicles built and certified for safety in the U.S. to be sold in the country without additional testing. In August, Trump suggested that there would soon be a market in Japan for American cars, specifically the Ford F-150.“They’re taking the very beautiful Ford 150, which does very well and I’m sure will do very well there,” he told CNBC. The model has long been the best-selling vehicle in America, according to industry outlets.Reuters reported this week that Ford F-150s were part of a purchase package being finalized to present to Trump during talks in Tokyo next week, citing two sources with knowledge of the preparations. It said the trucks might be used in Japan as snow plows. Local media in Japan have also said the government is considering buying the trucks.Japanese officials have not confirmed the reports, and the new trade minister, Ryosei Akazawa, was not asked about them at his first news conference on Friday.Akazawa, who was previously Japan’s lead trade negotiator with the U.S., said earlier this month that while Trump’s frequent mentions of the Ford F-150 suggested they were a “favorite” of his, he did not have information to share on any potential purchases by the Japanese government.Despite the advocacy by Trump, large, expensive American cars have long been a hard sell in Japan, where roads are typically smaller and narrower than their American counterparts. “Fully-sized pickups simply wouldn’t fit on Japanese roads and into the standard pay parking lots,” Mike Smitka, a member of GERPISA, an international network dedicated to the global automobile industry, told NBC News. Many of the vehicles sold in Japan are mini or “kei” cars that are far smaller and more fuel efficient than the ones produced by American automakers. They are required by law to be no more than about 11.2 feet long and 4.9 feet wide, compared with the F-150 which is typically more than 17 feet long and 6.6 feet wide. Nissan kei cars for sale in Yokohama, Japan in 2022.Stanislav Kogiku / SOPA via Getty Images fileEuropean vehicles are also far more popular in Japan than American ones, accounting for more than 200,000 imports last year. The top-selling European car brand in Japan is Mercedes-Benz. “Unlike European car companies, Ford and General Motors (GM) don’t have dedicated port facilities or dealerships,” Smitka said in emailed comments. “They’d be very expensive to import, expensive to market, and because there’s no network, expensive to service.” Ford did not respond to an emailed request for comment. In 2016, the company said that it would close all operations in Japan, saying it had struggled to gain market share and saw “no reasonable path to profitability.”“They don’t try to sell pickups because they understand the market,” Smitka said. Arata Yamamoto reported from Tokyo, and Jay Ganglani from Hong Kong.Arata YamamotoArata Yamamoto has been an NBC News producer in Tokyo since 1993.Jay GanglaniJay Ganglani is NBC News’s 2025-26 Asia Desk Fellow. Previously he was an NBC News Asia Desk intern and a Hong Kong-based freelance journalist who has contributed to news publications such as CNN, Fortune and the South China Morning Post.

- Latest News - October 24, 2025

As Japan tries to placate President Donald Trump amid contentious trade talks, officials may be eyeing an icon of American manufacturing that has virtually no presence there: the pickup truck.

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Oct. 24, 2025, 10:06 AM EDTBy Joe Murphy and Nigel ChiwayaAre President Donald Trump’s policies bringing down grocery bills?Grocery prices have been on the rise for most of the past five years, as supply chain bottlenecks, the war in Ukraine and excessive profit-taking here in America have put a strain on consumers’ wallets. Trump campaigned heavily on the price of food in 2024, promising that if elected he would lower costs. The average price of eggs — a frequent stand-in for inflation during the campaign — had declined from its peak in the spring and is back to prices last seen last November. Average orange juice prices are up 10% and ground beef prices are up 7% from where those were a year ago.Follow price trends using the chart below. Since 2021, NBC News has monitored the average point-of-sale price for eggs, chicken, bread, ground beef and other common grocery items. The graphic below shows their current average prices, along with how much those prices have changed since October 2024.The grocery price data, provided by the global marketing research firm NIQ, is collected from real checkout prices paid nationwide at grocery stores, drugstores, mass merchandisers, selected dollar stores, selected warehouse clubs and military commissaries.The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly consumer price index, which uses human data collectors and includes other food product categories, is another resource for average price data.This article will be updated monthly.Joe MurphyJoe Murphy is a data editor at NBC News.Nigel ChiwayaNigel Chiwaya is the Senior Editor, Data Viz for NBC News Digital.

- Latest News - October 24, 2025

Learn where grocery prices stand during the Trump administration. See how inflation is affecting the cost of eggs, bread, chicken, ground beef and more.

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