NYC supermarket mogul John Catsimatidis expressed outrage over the stunning victory of Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, who famously proposed creating publicly run grocery stores.
“I don’t give a s-t about grocery stores!” Catsimatidis fumed in a brief phone interview Wednesday, voicing his frustration about Mamdani’s plans for the city.
The billionaire founder of Red Apple Group, which has a vast empire spanning media, real estate, fossil fuels, and the Gristedes and D’Agostino’s grocery chains, also voiced concern about the city’s “quality of life” deteriorating.
“New York can’t afford to lose more people,” Catsimatidis said.
He said he was most worried about the threat of Mamdani cutting the police force and about whom the mayor-elect appoints to judgeships. The mayor has the power to appoint hundreds of judges to family, criminal, and civil courts, along with administrative law and housing court judges. Additionally, the mayor fills hundreds of other key posts throughout the city.
Mamdani infamously called to defund the police in 2020 but has since softened his stance, promising not to reduce the NYPD’s numbers or budget. He tweeted in 2020, “We don’t need an investigation to know that the NYPD is racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety. What we need is to #DefundTheNYPD,” but later walked back those remarks.
Mamdani now says his comments were made out of “frustration” over the “murder of George Floyd.”
Catsimatidis urged Governor Kathy Hochul to increase her oversight of the city. “The burden is on the Governor’s office right now and [Hochul] needs to keep her thumb” on New York City, he said, echoing a recent editorial in the Post.
Catsimatidis also weighed in on whether former President Trump will cut federal funding to his hometown. “The president of the United States is going to make sure that the federal funds New York City gets are used properly,” Catsimatidis said.
https://nypost.com/2025/11/05/business/nyc-billionaire-john-catsimatidis-rages-over-zohran-mamdani-win/