He had been awaiting trial in connection with the 2025 killing of 26-year-old Ronell Marte, an autistic New Yorker who was attacked while returning home from work.
And that history quickly turned Mamdani’s response into a political controversy.
Mamdani Offers Condolences to Castillo’s Family
Following the inmate’s death, Mamdani released a statement addressing what happened.
“A person in City custody died yesterday evening following a court appearance in Queens,” Mamdani posted on X. “Department of Correction staff performed CPR until emergency medical services arrived to take him to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. I extend my condolences to his family. In line with standard practice, the DOC and its oversight partners will investigate the circumstances of his death.”
What Mamdani did not mention in that statement was Marte.
That omission drew immediate attention because of the circumstances surrounding the criminal case Castillo had been facing.
Marte was walking home through Starlight Park in the Bronx after work in September 2025 when prosecutors say he encountered Castillo and co-defendant Axel Martinez.
Authorities alleged the pair had committed another armed robbery nearby shortly beforehand.
Prosecutors say Martinez shot Marte in the chest during the encounter, while Castillo took Marte’s cellphone. Marte was rushed to a hospital but died from his injuries. Both defendants were subsequently indicted on charges that included murder, manslaughter, robbery and criminal possession of a weapon.
Castillo pleaded not guilty and died before the case could go to trial.
Marte’s Family Remembered a Determined Young Man
Marte’s relatives told local reporters that he had autism and had worked hard to build an independent life.
He had found employment and was pursuing an associate’s degree. His sister described him as determined and said he was following his normal route home when he was attacked.
That contrast — between the mayor’s public condolences following Castillo’s death and the absence of any reference to Marte in that statement — became the center of the backlash.
FOX Business anchor David Asman was among those who criticized the mayor.
“Again!” Asman posted on X. “I thought somewhere in the beginning of ‘An Idiot’s Guide to Being Mayor’ here’s a suggestion: ‘Display sympathy for the victims; Not the criminals.’”
Jewish advocacy organization StopAntisemitism similarly reacted:
“Didn’t he murder a 26 year old special needs man?”
Benny Polatseck, a former digital producer for former Mayor Eric Adams, also questioned the mayor’s response.
“The guy Mamdani is mourning here was charged with robbing and murdering a 26 year old with special needs,” Polatseck wrote. “Did you see any tweets from him mourning his helpless victim?”
Mamdani Has Faced This Criticism Before
The controversy comes only weeks after Mamdani faced similar criticism over his response to another death in city custody.
In August, Mamdani said he was “deeply saddened” following the death of Clarence Woodward at Rikers Island.
Woodward had been awaiting trial on murder, manslaughter and assault charges stemming from a 2024 meat-cleaver attack at a Bronx laundromat. He had pleaded not guilty and had not been convicted when he died. Reporting at the time said Woodward had accumulated 27 previous arrests.
The episode similarly triggered criticism from conservatives who argued that the mayor’s public statement focused on the accused man rather than the victim in the criminal case.
For Mamdani, however, deaths inside city custody are also part of his administration’s broader focus on conditions within New York’s jail system.
The mayor has pursued the city’s existing plan to eventually shut down Rikers Island and replace it with borough-based facilities. His administration has also moved unused Rikers facilities out of Department of Correction control and expanded therapeutic services for incarcerated people.
Mamdani personally visited Rikers in July to attend a World Cup semifinal watch party with inmates. City officials said approximately 4,500 incarcerated people participated in roughly 90 World Cup viewing events during the tournament, with participation tied to good behavior.
Critics Say Victims Should Not Become an Afterthought
None of that changes the central question raised by Mamdani’s critics: When an inmate facing an extraordinarily serious murder charge dies in government custody, should the mayor acknowledge both the inmate’s family and the family of the person he was accused of helping kill?
The government unquestionably has a responsibility to investigate any death occurring in its custody. Lopez Castillo’s death is now being reviewed by the Department of Correction, Board of Correction and other oversight authorities.
But critics argue that responsibility does not require forgetting the victim at the center of the criminal case.
Ronell Marte was 26 years old.
He had autism, worked, pursued his education and was simply trying to get home when prosecutors say two men confronted him in a Bronx park.
One year later, one of the men accused in his killing was dead as well.
The mayor publicly extended condolences to that defendant’s family.
And critics noticed immediately whose name was missing.
