Exclusive | ‘Squeezed’ NYC bar owner feels ‘vindicated’ as probe into Adams administration widens

A Brooklyn bar owner who accused the twin brother of ousted Police Commissioner Edward Caban of trying to “extort” him says he feels “vindicated” by the widening probe into City Hall.

“I’m vindicated, as the truth is out and people are being held accountable,” said Shamel Kelly, the former owner of Juice and Moore Bar, to The Post after a press briefing on his allegations outside City Hall on Tuesday.

Kelly’s Coney Island business, which operated as a juice bar by day and a bar and lounge by night, had all the required permits and liquor licenses but was facing a slew of noise complaints in the summer of 2023.

He became subject to a “shakedown” and “pay-for-play” scheme after he refused to give James Caban $2,500 to help with the ongoing police presence, according to Kelly’s lawyeres, Harry Daniels and Bernarda Villalona, at Tuesday’s press conference.

James Caban, a former NYPD cop himself, is the twin brother of Edward Caban, who resigned from his gig as the NYPD commissioner last month.

The twins have been ensnared in a sweeping federal corruption probe that extends to major aides of Mayor Eric Adams and top NYPD brass. Neither of the brothers has been accused of wrongdoing in the investigation.

In a series of videos filmed from April to August 2023 and provided by Kelly’s lawyers, cops can be seen gathering outside the Brooklyn establishment to deal with the noise complaints.

In one video, a female cop claims that the person filming the video “called 911” to get officers to the bar because of the noise. In other footage, a male police officer says they received several 311 calls in relation to deafening music.

Villalona said a noise complaint didn’t call for excess law enforcement and that the responding officers didn’t need to “come in search, go through cabinets, harass [and] take away items.”

Daniels added, “It doesn’t make sense to come to an establishment over and over and have 50 uniformed officers standing in front of building for a noise complaint.”

Kelly claimed that he was introduced to a staffer from the Mayor’s Office of Entertainment and Nightlife when he first started getting noise complaints.

He hoped the staffer could help him sort out the nearly constant police presence at his bar, which he said was hurting his business.

It was after this meeting that Kelly and the ex-police commish’s brother James Caban allegedly spoke.

Caban allegedly told Kelly that he’d take care of his problems with the Police Department if he paid him $2,500. Kelly said that when he refused, the near-constant police presence at his bar ramped up to the point that he eventually shuttered the establishment.

“I lost my business and my livelihood, and I lost a part of myself,” Kelly said.

“It was just excessive police force, and it would be like abuse on some of my customers also.”

The claims come amid an ongoing corruption scandal that erupted last week with the federal indictment of Mayor Adams on bribery, campaign-finance and conspiracy offenses involving foreign entities.

James Caban’s lawyers, Sean Hecker and David Patton, told The Post in a statement that Caban “unequivocally denies any wrongdoing.”

“His work – as a consultant and acting as a liaison between the Department and a private company – is perfectly legal, especially given his previous career as a NYPD officer,” James Caban’s lawyers said.