Meade Esposito

Amadeo Henry "Meade" Esposito (1907 – September 3, 1993) was an American politician who served as chairman of the Kings County Democratic Committee from 1969 to 1984. He was a prominent Democratic Party leader in Brooklyn and was widely regarded as a political boss. His tenure was characterized by the use of a citywide patronage network, which became associated with multiple municipal corruption scandals.

Following the election of Ed Koch as mayor in 1977, Esposito emerged as one of the most influential political figures in New York City. Although Koch’s political background was rooted in the Manhattan-based Reform Democrat movement, Esposito’s support was considered instrumental in the outcome, though it was not publicly emphasized. Critics described Esposito as wielding authority comparable to that of a feudal leader surrounded by loyal subordinates. His network extended across boroughs and included Bronx leaders Stanley M. Friedman, Stanley Simon, and Ramon S. Velez; Brooklyn legislators Stanley Fink and Anthony J. Genovesi; Queens Borough President Donald Manes; Brooklyn Borough President Howard Golden; United States Representatives Shirley Chisholm, Leo C. Zeferetti, and Fred Richmond; lawyer Roy Cohn; real estate developers Fred and Donald Trump; and American Mafia figures including Anthony Scotto and Paul Vario.

Although a central figure in the “Regular Democrat” tradition of machine politics, Esposito identified as a political liberal, in marked contrast to many of his successors. He supported George McGovern in the 1972 United States presidential election and frequently praised Eleanor Roosevelt. He also supported New York City’s first proposed LGBTQ rights bill in the 1970s. As the apex of his power coincided with historic population declines in New York stemming from decades-long white flight, Esposito moved beyond his white ethnic base in southeastern Brooklyn to collaborate with leaders of nascent African American and Hispanic and Latino American communities throughout the borough, such as City Councilman Samuel D. Wright and his successor, Enoch H. Williams.

By the early 1980s, several Brooklyn-based elected officials with national ambitions—most notably Kings County District Attorney Elizabeth Holtzman, liberal internationalist Representative Steve Solarz and future Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer—had either directly repudiated or distanced themselves from Esposito's influence, although Jack Newfield and Wayne Barrett reported that Schumer met publicly with Esposito for lunch on at least one occasion.

In 1983, investigations into his activities mounted; this, along with a thwarted leadership challenge from erstwhile protege Genovesi (who Esposito believed had been "openly salivating" for his departure) would prompt his retirement in January 1984. Three years later, he was convicted of giving an illegal gratuity in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, having given Bronx Representative Mario Biaggi a spa vacation in Florida. As a result of this and related scandals (including Manes' suicide and Friedman's conviction on federal corruption charges) amid the political emergence of reform-minded rivals David Dinkins and Rudy Giuliani, the Esposito machine effectively collapsed. During this period, several fledgling African American politicians also withdrew their support, precipitating the 1990 election of Clarence Norman Jr. as county chairman of what had momentarily descended into a "largely vestigial structure".

Esposito was respected and feared for his street-style management, intimidation tactics and criminal connections. He became known for running politics similar to a junket.

Amadeo "Meade" Esposito was born in the subsection of Ocean Hill, Brooklyn (alternatively characterized as part of Bedford-Stuyvesant or Brownsville) in 1907. He was the son of Giuseppe and Felicia Esposito. His grandfather came to America from Italy in 1885. His father followed his grandfather in 1900 and arrived in America at the age of 18. Giuseppe became a saloon owner. Meade lived with his two sisters above the saloon and claimed to have started working as a child.

Esposito grew up in Brownsville (then a predominately Jewish neighborhood with smaller Irish and Italian populations) and received his nickname "Meade" during elementary school. He briefly attended Park Slope's Manual Training High School, now known as the John Jay Educational Campus, but dropped out at the age of 14. He married at the age of 18 and became a father by 19.