The $350k Rolls Royce-driving ex-con pastor who negotiated NYC subway shooter suspect’s surrender

The bling-bling bishop who showed up in a $350k Rolls Royce, while wearing a Fendi blazer, to negotiate the surrender of the subway shooting suspect wanted for killing a Goldman Sachs employee is an ex-convict who was jailed for five years for grand larceny and fraud before turning to his faith. 

Lamor Miller-Whitehead, founder of the Leaders of the Tomorrow International Church, went to the Fifth Precinct in lower Manhattan on behalf of Andrew Abdullah, who is accused of shooting dead Daniel Enriquez on a platform of a Q train at Canal St Station on Sunday in an apparently unprovoked attack. 

At a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, beleaguered Mayor Eric Adams revealed he negotiated with Whitehead and told him to bring Abdullah in, after Abdullah turned up at a legal aid office in Tribeca. Abdullah then appeared at the station around an hour later. He was marched into the police station by two cops and was wearing a stained white t-shirt and cargo pants.

Whitehead, who is believed to have close ties with mayor Eric Adams since his days as Brooklyn Borough President due to his ‘charity’ work, is a former inmate who was locked up for five years at Sing Sing for multiple counts of identity fraud and grand larceny before his liberation in 2013. 

Since then, he has founded the Brooklyn-based ministry, registered as a for-profit business since March 2014, and has been active in raising funds for it through self-created youth mentorship programs that have been rebuffed by NYPD and the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.

Bishop Lamor Miller Whitehead, an ex-convict, was seen wearing a Fendi suit jacket after arriving at the Fifth Precinct to ‘negotiate’ on behalf of the subway shooting suspect Andrew Abdullah on Tuesday 

Lamor M Whitehead. pastor of Leaders of Tomorrow, a ministry of Brooklyn, spoke to the press outside the 5th Precinct where Andrew Abdullah was brought in for questioning. He is a close ally of NYC mayor Eric Adams

The $350,000 Rolls Royce that the minister arrived at the Fifth Precinct in Manhattan. Whitehead is also believed to have been seen in Brooklyn in a Bentley and Maserati

Whitehead, who was locked up five years behind bars for fraud and grand larceny, was ordained as a bishop in 2016 (pictured) two years after becoming a pastor

The pastor who describes himself as ‘radical, revolutionary, innovative, anointed and cutting edge,’ on his ministries website, is the founder of Leaders of Tomorrow church, which he founded in Brooklyn in 2013 – the same yea he got out of jail. He has a wife and two kids

Prior to his turn to religion, Whitehead was arrested in 2006, while wearing a mink jacket, for a brazen $2million identify-theft scam using the names of real people living in Brooklyn and Long Island.

He is vocal about his experience in jail although he has maintained that he was coerced by law enforcement officials. 

Whitehead’s charity activity is also known to be suspicious to authorities after the pastor claimed to have promoted a collaborative justice initiative with the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office in 2014. In November of that year, officials from the DA’s office sent a cease-and-decease letter to Whitehead. 

‘There was never any partnership or initiative together with him and this office,’ DA spokesman Oren Yaniv told The New York Post.

Two mugshots of Lamor Whitehead, who served five years of jail time Sing Sing for multiple counts of identity fraud and grand larceny before his release in 2013

Andrew Abdullah is accused of shooting dead Daniel Enriquez on the Manhattan-bound Q train on Sunday in an apparently unprovoked attack 

The victim, Daniel Enriquez, 48, was traveling to meet his brother for brunch on Sunday at 11.42am when he was shot and killed

The NYPD and Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce have also refuted the existence of Whitehead’s initiatives after the pastor claimed to be working hand-in-hand with the two organizations.

NYPD spokesman Lt. Grimpel once said there was no such thing as a mentorship program involving kids shadowing different NYPD officers at a sports day organized by the ministry and hosted by a former New York Giants player in Von King Park. 

Whitehead is also said to have an outstanding loan of $261,000 to Monterey Symphony conductor Maximo Bragado-Darman, according to a 2009 lawsuit. The bishop used to work as a mortgage broker for the classical music figure.

‘[Whitehead] signed a note and a promise and never paid back the money,’ Bragado-Darman’s lawyer, Todd Houslanger, once told The New York Post. ‘I’m trying to get him to pay my client’s judgment, and it’s increasingly difficult and frustrating.’ 

Whitehead, who has been seen driving around Brooklyn in a Bentley and in a Maserati, was once sued by a former volunteer for Adams’ 2007 campaign for a seat in the New York Senate.

Brian Etta told the New York Post: ‘I’m surprised from what I know about Eric [Adams]…that he would have a guy like Lamor Whitehead connected in any way, let alone closely.’

He filed a lawsuit against Whitehead 15 years ago, accusing him of stealing $19,000 from the sale of a home in Brooklyn, but then dropped it after find out that the pastor had already been in jail at the time for another offense.

Whitehead claims his innocence in both lawsuits, of which he says were ‘handled in court and have been dealt with.’ He was ordained as a bishop in January 2016 after becoming a pastor two years earlier.

Whitehead (left) and Eric Adams (right) are believed to have a close relationship as the mayor tends to discuss social issues with the Bishop

Whitehead seen with the same Rolls Royce he showed up with at the Fifth Precinct on Tuesday. He is also donning a North Face jacket, jewelry and massive ring on his right hand 

The bishop (left) registered Leaders of Tomorrow as a for-profit organization in 2014, but claims to have ‘never solicited funds’ for it

Whitehead has previously claimed to have organized youth guidance advocacy programs with the NYPD and the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office, which have been rebuffed by both organizations

Since the creation of his ministry in 2013, Whitehead has been publicly backed by Adams who once described as his ‘good friend and good brother’ at Wingate Park back in August. 

The bishop’s mother has also been awarded an honorary citation by the mayor at Borough Hall and rapper Foxy Brown, Whitehead’s cousin, was given an honorary key to Brooklyn in February. 

Whitehead was once asked by a reporter about his youth guidance programs in detail. The pastor repeatedly answered: ‘Why you want to known that?’, according to the New York Post. 

Whitehead has recently claimed that his ministry has ‘never solicited funds,’ but the organization’s website included a ‘donate’ button until a few weeks ago. It has also refocused its mission on its services rather than on its youth programs, which was what was initially promoted online, the New York Post reported. 

In 2015, Whitehead was accused of physically abusing his then seven-year-old son, according to a release report in relation to a parole violation. 

The claims were dropped after no evidence of assault was found, according to the State Department of Corrections and Community Service. 

Whitehead was arrested later that year in Uniondale, Long Island, for violating an order of protection, the Nassau County Police said. Whitehead has repeatedly denied that he would never beat his son. All charges related to the incident were eventually dismissed. 

Mayor Adams has often sought advice from the clergyman on social issues and no undeclared funds were given to the Leaders of Tomorrow founder. 

A spokesman from Adam’s previous administration as Borough President of Brooklyn once said: ‘Borough President Adams has been invited to or served as co-host for several events organized by Bishop Whitehead that target at-risk youth.’

DailyMail.com has contacted Leaders of Tomorrow, Brooklyn, for comment.