A Recording the DA May Not Want You to Hear
On July 21, 2025, NYPD Detective John Wilkinson spoke with attorney Lawrence Almagno. The conversation lasted three minutes.
But it exposed a rigged and illegal warrant operation tied to Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon.
It will be trouble for somebody – and likely not the target of the warrant.
In a recorded call, Det. Wilkinson tells the attorney that he is the case detective for a criminal contempt charge against journalist Richard Luthmann.
The complaining witness?
“It’s the Staten Island DA,” Wilkinson says.
“McMahon?,” Almagno replies.
“Yep,” Wilkinson confirms.
Then Wilkinson drops the line that changes everything.
“With the victim who it is… I get whatever I want.”
He means he will get what he wants from a judge. He means he will get the warrant signed no matter how false it is.
DA McMahon swore out a warrant as a victim claiming he was scared for his safety/life and that Luthmann was a “stranger” to him.
Both are likely perjury and the latter claim provably so.
Det. Wilkinson continues, “I ask for X, I get it. I ask for Z, I get it.”
What was X or Z ? A felony arrest warrant. And the use of U.S. Marshals to extradite Luthmann from Florida. Over what?
Luthmann sent McMahon, along with 33,000 other subscribers an automatically generated newsletter. It went to McMahon’s public email address. The email did not mention McMahon. It was written by Dr. Bandy Lee about a New Jersey judge. It contained no threats.
There is an unsubscribe button on the email, if McMahon wanted to get no more emails.
Instead McMahon, a long time political adversary Luthmann’s, said he was afraid for his life/safety.
This is not just a clown show. An innocent man’s liberty is at stake. This is classic racketeering led by McMahon with co-conspirator Wilkinson.
These two men must be insane to think they can get away with this – and bootstrap the US Marshalls into this – making it a federal racketerring case.
The Email That Triggered a Felony Warrant
On July 13, 2025, Luthmann’s Substack newsletter—This is For Real—sent out a post authored by psychiatrist Dr. Bandy X. Lee. The article discussed political psychology and mental health in public officials. It didn’t mention McMahon. It contained no threats.
Still, McMahon filed a criminal complaint, claiming he feared for his safety/life.
Substack records show he had voluntarily subscribed to, read, and clicked on links in the newsletter for weeks. And yet he used the arrival of a singular email in his inbox at 10:51 am on a Sunday morning as a pretext for a criminal case. But he waited 24 hours before making the complaint – despite his claim he feared for his safety/life.
Wilkinson made clear the charge would be elevated. “Criminal contempt is charged as a felony,” he told Almagno. He acknowledged that contempt isn’t always a felony, but said plainly, “We, PD is gonna charge the felony.”
We know who Wilkinson is taking orders from.
We will know his station in life may change if he is charged with racketeering. He will be taking orders from someone other than McMahon and it may be within the gates of the US Bureau of Prisons.
This is serious felony conduct and Wilkinson has admitted it on tape.
He says he controls the judges in Richmond County- he and/or McMahon.
There are other troubling issues with this warrant. There is no evidence that Luthmann was ever served with an order of protection. No hearing. No notice. Just a claim and a detective ready to “do my thing.”
When Wilkinson executes this warrant, he signs a warrant on himself and McMahon.
This is hardly a joke.
The Fix Was In from the Start
Wilkinson also revealed that a special prosecutor would be assigned after the arrest. “There will be. Of course. We know that,” Wilkinson said, brushing off the procedural order of operations.
He offered to delay a few days before obtaining the warrant, but reiterated that the wheels were already turning. “It was going to be this week… I was going to get an arrest warrant and do my thing.”
The timing is telling. McMahon is under fire from Luthmann and others for past corruption, including Special Narcotics Part N court manipulation of criminal warrants and ties to political insiders. Prosecuting Luthmann would silence a critic and send a message to others. It worked before in 2018.
This isn’t just a rogue detective making a loose comment. Detective Wilkinson brags he can “ensure” a judge signs his warrant. He’s not describing a lawful process. He’s describing a setup. The whole point of the Fourth Amendment is to stop law enforcement from acting like judge, jury, and executioner.
Wilkinson cut out the middleman — the neutral magistrate — and replaced it with a rubber stamp he claims to control.
Either Wilkinson lied — which is bad — or he told the truth, which is worse. If he can guarantee a warrant gets signed, we’re looking at collusion, institutional rot, and a mockery of due process. That warrant isn’t legal.
It’s a blueprint for obstruction of justice, civil rights violations, and fraud on the court. And if no one investigates it, then the rot isn’t just Wilkinson — it’s the whole system that lets him talk like that and still carry a badge.
Staten Island’s Justice System on Trial
The bigger question is how far this rot goes. Wilkinson made no secret that the fix was in: judges would comply, warrants would be issued, and the case would go forward, regardless of merit.
That places the Staten Island judiciary in the crosshairs, especially administrative Judge Raymond Rodriguez. In filed court documents, Luthmann accused Rodriguez of being too close to McMahon and of rubber-stamping politically motivated prosecutions. Rodriguez hasn’t recused himself.
The recording, now submitted to NYPD Internal Affairs and the NYC Department of Investigation, may be the first domino. If Wilkinson’s statements are true, Staten Island’s Warrant Squad operates more like a political enforcement unit than a law enforcement agency.
“If this can happen to me,” Luthmann said, “it can happen to anyone who criticizes the McMahons or their allies.”
A felony arrest over an email newsletter? A case built on an unsubscribed public document? And a detective who thinks the DA’s name is a blank check?
Thanks to a recording that was never meant to be public, we know how it works.
Full Audio of the Exchange:
