By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2024-12-19 22:50:51 | Updated at 2024-12-20 05:18:36
6 hours ago
The raunchy DJ son of Mayor Eric Adams’ longtime ally Ingrid Lewis-Martin furthered his small-time career by spinning his family’s powerful connections — even before his mom allegedly traded favors for bribes that scored him a Porsche.
Before Glenn Martin II, 38, surrendered to authorities Thursday alongside his mother to face bribery charges in Manhattan court, he was perhaps best known as DJ Suave Luciano, a singer whose music videos are rife with scantily-clad women.
But DJ Suave’s life was intertwined with his force-of-nature mother’s career, so much so they shared a joint bank account — which prosecutors on Thursday alleged they used to deposit $100,000 in bribes from two real estate developers.
In exchange for the cash and other favors — including anticipated help setting up a Chick-fil-A franchise for Martin II — from the builders, Lewis-Martin allegedly helped them with construction permits for their projects, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Martin II put some of the money toward a $113,000 black 2023 Porsche Panamera, “something neither he nor Lewis-Martin could have funded without the bribe money,” the indictment against the mother-son duo alleges.
The purchase and other goodies outlined in court documents weren’t the only leg up Martin II purportedly got because of his mom.
The DJ is the son of Lewis-Martin and Glenn Martin, a former NYPD cop and friend of Adams’ going back to their police academy days.
After Adams, who isn’t implicated in the indictment against Lewis-Martin and her son, became mayor in 2022, DJ Suave Luciano often appeared at official city events.
When Adams dissed the drill rap genre for supposedly fomenting violence, the mayor held a summit with hip-hop artists that Suave attended, according to an Instagram post by state Assembly candidate Hercules Reid.
DJ Suave Luciano has also performed at Rise Up NYC concerts and other city gigs, though The Post found no payments to Martin II in public records.
Lewis-Martin introduced her son during a Gracie Mansion reception celebrating Caribbean-American heritage in June by cracking a joke that the DJ was working the city-run event for free.
“He always volunteers,” she said. “They try to write us up in the papers, but he doesn’t take any money. He’s a volunteer. Just saying that.”
The future Suave Luciano displayed an early interest in a DJ career, with PIX11 — where the younger Martin was a “Friday Forecaster” — reporting that he has spun records since he was 3.
Martin II studied psychology at Molloy University while on an athletic scholarship, and graduated in 2008, according to PIX11.
His first single “First Place” offered a distinctly Caribbean vibe and lascivious lyrics — along with a New York City landmark-laden video featuring bevies of scantily-clad women gyrating around him.
Another music video for the song “Sumo,” uploaded in July for the viewing pleasure of the musician’s about 80 YouTube subscribers, ups the ante on explicitness.
Barely dressed women shake their backsides as Suave sings, dances, grinds and poses in front of a Lamborghini.
DJ Suave Luciano’s career featured gigs at Woodland, a Caribbean-fusion brunch spot along Flatbush Avenue that drew a largely black clientele and drew complaints from its mostly white Park Slope neighbors about drunken patrons, fights and frequent NYPD visits.
The spot closed in 2020 after the State Liquor Authority yanked its license, finding it fostered noise and disorder. Between the board’s decision and the Woodland’s closing date, a man was stabbed in a bloody bar brawl, Patch reported.
Martin II and Lewis-Martin pleaded not-guilty to the charges Thursday.
