He bid up the price of medallions and borrowed against them. When their value plummeted, immigrant cabbies were left deep in debt.
Gene Freidman, a cabdriver’s son who schemed his way to become the nation’s biggest taxi mogul and came to personify both the inflated ascent of the industry in New York City and its crushing financial collapse, died on Sunday in Manhattan. He was 50.
His death, in a Manhattan hospital, apparently from complications of a heart attack, was confirmed by the Riverside Memorial Chapel funeral home.
In 2006, when Richard Chow bought his taxi medallion from the city for $410,000, it seemed like a great idea. The value of medallions was rising steadily, and the Taxi and Limousine Commission was touting them as good long-term investments, so he took out a $358,200 loan. Then came the disruption — Uber, Lyft — and a collapse in the market in 2014. Chow, like thousands of other predominantly immigrant drivers, was left with a medallion he could only resell for perhaps a quarter of its former value, $389,000 in debt, and no hope of retiring.
The Tesla Model 3 is the first electric vehicle approved as a yellow cab in New York City, and the first one has hit the road.
In October 2019, Electrek was first to report that the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC), which oversees the city’s fleet of yellow cabs, has approved the Tesla Model 3 as the first electric vehicle to be eligible to become a yellow cab in New York City.
The state’s attorney general is seeking $810 million from the city to compensate financially struggling taxi medallion owners.
New York State’s attorney general has accused New York City of committing fraud by significantly inflating the value of yellow taxi medallions and demanded $810 million from the city to compensate the thousands of cabdrivers who are now saddled with debt.
The city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission marketed the medallions — city-issued permits required to own a yellow cab — as “a solid investment with steady growth” and reaped a profit from the sale of thousands of them at artificially high prices over a 14-year period, from 2004 to 2017, according to an investigation by the attorney general’s office.
The attorney general, Letitia A. James, formally notified city officials on Thursday that she planned to sue the city for fraud, unlawful profit and other violations of state law within 30 days unless the city agreed to provide financial relief to the cash strapped taxi medallion owners.
Officials at the Taxi and Limousine Commission did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Ada Robinson, 37, originally from Hong Kong attempts to hail a taxi. Stephen Yang
Fear of catching the coronavirus has some cabbies and ride-share drivers discriminating against customers.
“I feel bad about it, but when I see Chinese passengers, I just go,” one cab driver — who asked that his name be withheld, lest his hack license get suspended — told The Post. “I don’t pick up anyone Chinese. I’m scared. I don’t want to get the disease.”
From the outside, Manny Anzalota’s yellow cab looks just like all the others cruising around New York City, but for Anzalota, the experience has been anything but ordinary. Each ride is a surprise adventure. Since he began driving a taxi in 2007, his customers have run the gamut from mediterranean royalty to billionaires and Hollywood celebrities.
Anzalota’s numerous encounters with the rich and famous and his signature black fedora have earned him a reputation as the unofficial cabbie to the stars. Known as “Mr. Ferrarii,” a nickname given to him by actor Tom Hanks—whom he drove in 2013 and is still in touch with—Anzalota has turned himself into a bit of a social media personality, posting selfies and videos with the likes of Anderson Cooper, Drew Barrymore, Frances Turner and even Prince Pavlos of Greece and his wife, Princess Marie-Chantal. Entrepreneur and investor Michael Loeb, whom Anzalota has coincidentally driven twice, invited him to his famous Halloween extravaganza at his Upper East Side residence and also gave him a private tour of his home. His trip with British hedge fund billionaire Michael Platt recently went viral.
Restrictions are lifting, and so, too, are taxi and e-hail app trips. That’s more passengers for yellow taxi driver Md Azad. “Before, we make $100, $200. Now, we can make more than $200 every day. That means, it’s good business and so busy,” Azad said.
The Tesla Model 3 is the first electric vehicle approved as a yellow cab in New York City, and the first one has hit the road. In October 2019, Electrek was first to report that the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC), which oversees the city’s fleet of yellow …
New York State’s attorney general has accused New York City of committing fraud by significantly inflating the value of yellow taxi medallions and demanded $810 million from the city to compensate the thousands of cabdrivers who are now saddled with debt. The city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission marketed the medallions …
Fear of catching the coronavirus has some cabbies and ride-share drivers discriminating against customers. “I feel bad about it, but when I see Chinese passengers, I just go,” one cab driver — who asked that his name be withheld, lest his hack license get suspended — told The Post. “I …
From the outside, Manny Anzalota’s yellow cab looks just like all the others cruising around New York City, but for Anzalota, the experience has been anything but ordinary. Each ride is a surprise adventure. Since he began driving a taxi in 2007, his customers have run the gamut from mediterranean …
A decade ago the federal government stepped in to bail out the nation’s biggest banks. Now it may be time to for New York City to bail out its cabbies. A New York City Council commission released a report Friday recommending a publicly managed fund to bail out thousands of taxi drivers …
Federal prosecutors have opened an investigation into possible lending fraud in New York City’s troubled yellow taxi industry. The New York Times reports the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan is investigating the lending practices that led thousands of cab drivers to take out high-risk loans that left them buried in debt. …
With thousands of struggling New York City yellow cab drivers like Mouhamadou Aliyu desperate for a bailout, elected officials on Thursday quarreled over who should pay for it. Aliyu, 47, emigrated from the Ivory Coast to New York in 1994 in hope of a better life. Now, thanks to plummeting …
This commute comes with a (potential) cash payout. Ben Bailey’s “Cash Cab” is set to begin filming in Manhattan again this summer, this time under a new network. The taxi cab game show has been acquired by Bravo, after airing two revived seasons on Discovery, the network confirmed. The 11th …
Anthony J. Medina, who was charged with pretending to be a city law enforcement official to intimidate yellow cabdrivers, was arrested after an investigation in The New York Times. In the rough-and-tumble New York City taxi industry, Anthony J. Medina was an enforcer. For years, Mr. Medina was the go-to …
