Billionaire Knicks owner James Dolan revealed he’s the “secret billionaire” backing independent candidate Diana Florence’s bid to oust Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg — as the ex-prosecutor vowed she’ll get tough on repeat offenders.
“We’ve heard from the beginning, from Mr. Bragg, that Diana has a secret billionaire supporter — here I am,” Dolan said in an exclusive interview alongside Florence at Madison Square Garden Monday afternoon.
“We are fully supporting Diana’s candidacy because of what’s happened the last four years, and what we’ve seen here,” he told The Post, referring to “violent crimes” he said have occurred on the streets outside the world-famous Midtown arena.
Florence, a veteran of the Manhattan DA’s Office who spent 25 years as a prosecutor, is “the right person” to bring down city crime, the MSG CEO said.
“There is a better way than what Alvin Bragg has done, which is basically surrender our streets to recidivists,” Florence, who joined Dolan at MSG, charged.
She highlighted quality of life issues and the need to push for judges to have the discretion to lock up “the very small but very intense” number of repeat offenders busted again and again on misdemeanor raps.
Dolan — who runs several super PACs associated with his MSG corporations — has been pumping cash into Florence’s election for several months, AM New York reported in July.
“I’m the secret billionaire supporter,” he admitted Monday.
Asked why he wasn’t backing Bragg’s Republican challenger Maud Maron, Dolan explained it’s unlikely a GOP candidate would be elected in deep-blue Manhattan.
“Manhattan, the borough, is never going to vote in a Republican. So I couldn’t go with the Republican,” he said.
“Diana was the right person to do it. It’s just reading the tea leaves, right? If we want change, Diana can bring us change.”
Echoing her campaign rhetoric, Florence, who is running on an independent “Safer Manhattan” ballot line in the November election, called Bragg’s tenure as DA since 2022 an “appalling” soft on crime disaster.
“We walk on our streets and we see people doing drugs, exposing themselves, with no consequences,” she said, also highlighting stores that have begun locking up their goods to deter shoplifters.
“I’ve lived in New York since 1995. They didn’t do that until Bragg came,” she said.
Florence also addressed her resignation from the DA’s Office in 2020, which came amid allegations she withheld incriminating evidence against key witnesses in cases she was handling.
She dismissed the allegations as a “discovery mistake” brought on by law changes in 2020, and said she had to quit because she “wasn’t given any support” from the office, then led by DA Cyrus Vance.
“I made a mistake. I acknowledged it, and that was it. I have a 25 year record of fighting for New Yorkers, and that’s why I’m here,” she said.
Florence, who lost out on the Dem nomination to Bragg in the 2021 race — which ended with the DA besting Republican opponent Thomas Kenniff — first came on Dolan’s radar this summer, the billionaire businessman said.
He explained that the crime and danger his employees and customers faced coming to and from MSG convinced him change was needed in the borough’s top prosecutor’s office.
“I get reports all the time: employees, customers, etc. It’s bad four blocks away. They get held up. It’s not good for my business,” Dolan said.
Bragg has already begun using Dolan’s endorsement of Florence to push campaign fundraising, sending texts Monday reading “a billionaire-backed super PAC is airing misleading ads about this race.”
“If we don’t report a strong showing, that super PAC, my opponents, and 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 far-right groups trying to undermine my work could start weighing in,” the texts read.
Bragg’s campaign spokesman said the DA was “an honest, principled, experienced prosecutor” — charging that Florence resigned “in disgrace” and that she created a “toxic work environment internally” at the DA’s Office.
“[Bragg] has helped reduce shootings in Manhattan by 66%, launched new mental health outreach to get people help, stood up for victims, and held the powerful accountable,” campaign rep Richard Fife said.
“No amount of special interest money from Florence’s rich, powerful patrons or campaign rhetoric will be able to hide her scandal-scarred history, or distort Alvin Bragg’s successful record of delivering the safety we need, the fairness we deserve, and one standard of justice for all,” he said.
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