Manhattan DA charged that Ingrid Lewis-Martin, a former top adviser to Mayor Adams, allegedly accepted a $2,500 bribe from the Argento family to block the McGuinness Boulevard bike lane. The Argentos allegedly used their influence as soundstage operators to secure Lewis-Martin a two-line walk-on role in episode three, season three, of The Godfather of Harlem, which aired in January 2023. A brief mini-scene shows Lewis-Martin swaying to music and interacting with Forest Whitaker's character, contributing little to the episode. Critics and an actor acquaintance judged her performance unimpressive. Production staff did not respond to outreach.
Of all the sordid details of the multiple new charges against Mayor Adams's former top adviser and "sister," Ingrid Lewis-Martin, our favorite was that she allegedly sold out the notions of good government, democracy and decency for a tiny walk-on role in a minor Hulu TV series, "The Godfather of Harlem." First, watch the clip: We can't stop watching the mini-scene.
There's Lewis-Martin, swaying to the music and trying to be a good trouper for director Carl Seaton. She's clearly in character, though her motivation seems off. Who is she? Why is she bothering to even interact with Forest Whitaker, the titual underworld boss of the title? He doesn't seem to know why she's there, and can barely remember her name or even bother to finish the conversation before he's off to pursue the real action of the scene.
Including Lewis-Martin in the episode added nothing and cost Seaton and his writers probably less than 10 minutes of thought. But those five seconds of Hollywood magic became just the latest exhibit in a huge file folder of evidence of widespread corruption in the Adams administration. We reached out to several members of the "Godfather of Harlem" production team, but didn't hear back (apparently, just filming a show about the Mafia requires an oath of omertà).
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