Local political organization, the Northwest Bronx Democrats (NWBx Dems), announced on March 16 that they have chosen their candidate for the position of Bronx borough president, and have thrown their support behind the city councilman for the 14th District, Fernando Cabrera.

Anthony Rivieccio is the founder of the organization which has approximately 1,600 followers on social media. He said since the inception of Cabrera’s tenure as City Councilman in 2010, when the NWBx Dems were “on the losing side,” having supported Yudelka Tapia over Cabrera in the 2009 race, the organization has kept a “tremendous eye” on the councilman. “We supported his election in 2013, and then on, for one simple reason,” said Rivieccio. “He’s a district listener and exactly what we believe the borough of The Bronx needs, especially right now.”

According to the press release, the organization’s executive board highlighted Cabrera’s efforts on public safety, where, in his capacity as co-chair of the Gun Violence Task Force, he sponsored the Cure Violence initiative, allocating over 27 million dollars to 21 city districts. According to the NWBx Dems, this resulted in the most effective reduction of gun violence in the nation.

The organization’s executive board said the councilman also honored the empowerment of women by passing Resolution 104, which will increase accountability in domestic violence intervention programs, by requiring that the effectiveness of such intervention programs be measured.

Meanwhile, the NWBx Dems said Assemblyman José Rivera, who represents the 78th A.D. and who is a member of the NWBx Dems, was, among others, a major player in moving the pieces forward with the group’s formal endorsement of Cabrera, saying Rivera has also, personally, endorsed the councilman for the position of borough president.

The NWBx Dems have been involved in the local community, and in political work in the Northwest Bronx since 2003. Since the pandemic hit last year, as reported by the Norwood News, their members have volunteered their time and services at different food drives and other local events. The organization’s first political endorsement was of Oliver Koppel in 2009.

Koppel recently endorsed environmentalist and tech entrepreneur, Jessica Haller, in the upcoming District 11 City Council race which takes place on March 23, in which all candidates are aiming to fill the seat vacated by former Councilman Andrew Cohen, who was elected to be a judge on the Bronx Supreme Court in November 2020.

Since that initial endorsement, Rivieccio said the NWBx Dems have been actively involved in supporting over 30 council, state assembly, senate and congressional candidates, including two who they described as “rookie insurgents” at one stage in their political careers, State Sen. Gustavo Rivera in 2010, and City Councilman, representing the 13th District, Marc Gjonaj in 2012.

Interestingly, Dan Padernacht, lawyer and chair of the Bronx Community Board 8 Traffic & Transportation committee, who is also a candidate in the upcoming District 11 City Council race, ran against Rivera in the 2010 race but told the Norwood News he stepped aside for the good of the party, and Rivera went on to win that race. Now, the NWBx Dems have endorsed Padernacht in the upcoming District 11 City Council race taking place on March 23.

Meanwhile, Gjonaj recently announced that he will not be seeking re-election at the end of his term, paving the way for yet another City Council race in the borough which has already seen a plethora of candidates running in Northwest Bronx Districts 11 and 15, as well as those seeking to replace Cabrera, himself, in District 14.

In fact, a number of Bronx incumbents are either term-limited or have sought other political offices, like Congressman Ritchie Torres who now represents the 15th Congressional District in the Bronx. Many of the candidates are relatively young and eager to present themselves as part of a new, uncompromising, progressive movement in the Bronx, the poorest of all five boroughs, and the hardest hit by the pandemic.

In District 12, Councilman Kevin Riley, 33, was recently elected in a December 2020 special election, following the expulsion of former Councilman Andy King, 59, from his seat. Meanwhile, in District 16, another slate of candidates are preparing to replace another Bronx borough president candidate, term-limited City Councilwoman, Vanessa Gibson.

As reported previously by Norwood News, the NWBx Dems also threw their weight behind Republican candidate, Gene DeFrancis, in the 80th A.D. general election held on Nov. 3, 2020, a race, ultimately won by the incumbent, Assemblywoman Nathalia Fernández, who is also running for the Bronx borough presidency.

DeFrancis is a navy veteran, founder of the Allerton Merchants Association, and a supporter of former President Donald Trump. In an effort to better understand the values of the NWBs Dems, and their endorsement of a Republican candidate and Trump supporter, Norwood News interviewed both Rivieccio and DeFrancis. The latter said his support for Trump was mainly because of his economic policies in support of business, and also because he [DeFrancis] was not in favor of “unnecessary wars.”

“That’s where Anthony and I kind of linked up,” he said. “Plus, we’re both navy veterans, and we’re Bronxites, and we’re proud to be Bronxites. Our mission and our goal was to re-energize the Bronx,” he said, adding that he had lost faith in elected leadership in both main parties who, in his view, were only interested in taking care of their donors. “We tried to do it as responsibly as possible, but there’s a large place that feels like they’re not being heard,” DeFrancis said, adding that he received 6,000 votes in the November election and started his campaign late.

Norwood News questioned DeFrancis about an event he attended on Dec. 12, in Washington D.C., which was also attended by numerous Proud Boys. The group has been known to share white nationalist memes and hold right-wing, chauvinistic views, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. In Canada, the group has been categorized as a terrorist organization. In the U.S., it has been classified as an extremist group, and two of its members have since been indicted for conspiracy and other charges related to the Jan. 6 riots in D.C.

DeFrancis said the reason he attended the December rally was because he had agreed to give a friend a ride to the event, and he was also curious to see it for himself, because he was suspicious of how the media “portrayed” the group. He described the Proud Boys at the event as diverse, to a degree, saying they included some Black, Jewish and LGBTQ members. He acknowledged, however, that it predominantly comprised Caucasians, including many active duty military, veterans and former law enforcement.

DeFrancis said the D.C. event, for the most part, had been “fun,” though he did witness one altercation with an Antifa supporter on the night of Dec. 12, a video of which has been circulated on social media. In it, a sole Antifa supporter, who is being harassed and surrounded by chanting Proud Boys, displays a knife.

Describing the general atmosphere in D.C. at one point during the event, DeFrancis said, “What I noticed was there were several members that wanted to go look for fights. They wanted to go burn things down.” He added that the group’s “leadership” told them to knock it off, saying, “We’re not here to bust things up.”

DeFrancis said, “I do see the threats and the dangers of this organization getting too big and too out of control. I’m not interested in joining the Proud Boys. I have no allegiance to the Proud Boys.” He said he agreed with them in terms of their anti-communist stance, freedom of speech, and the right to assemble but diverged with their views on women not serving in the military or in law enforcement, saying he believed in “female equality.”

He said he also believes in the freedom to worship in line with people’s religion of choice, but added he had issues with some religions which he believes are chauvinistic. “Messing with people’s beliefs – it gets sensitive,” he said.

The navy veteran has been an open critic of business closures amid the pandemic and did not appear to support mask-wearing either, having been seen in group settings without a mask in videos posted to social media. On Dec. 13, in the context of a “Yes to Indoor Dining” rally which DeFrancis organized in Allerton, he was arrested following an altercation with Michael Kaess, who the Norwood News has also interviewed. We also received a copy of the police incident report from the NYPD.

Police said they did not witness the altercation. Both men were charged with assault and harassment, each having been given the option to drop any charges. DeFrancis said he knows Kaess and described him as being “dressed like Antifa, all in black.” Kaess said he was wearing a green shirt. DeFrancis added that he had no reason to believe Kaess was a violent person. Meanwhile, Kaess posted a video of the incident on Twitter, along with photos of his broken glasses. In the video, DeFrancis approaches Kaess and appears to be wound up. He then appears to lunge forward at Kaess in an apparent scuffle.

Kaess told the Norwood News he had been standing a distance away from the group recording their actions, and DeFrancis’s speech. In explaining his actions, DeFrancis accused Kaess of having doxed, at least one elderly member of the local community in the past, and said he wanted to prevent this from happening again. Kaess denies the doxing allegation and said that matter had been clarified and closed from his perspective.

Meanwhile, DeFrancis said when he approached Kaess, he saw something metal flash out of the side of his eye, which he acknowledged could have been a phone, but in the heat of the moment, believed it was a knife. Both men say the other party instigated the aggression, and both were due to appear in court to defend their respective cases. Norwood News has reached out for an update on the outcome of the case, and will update this story upon receipt of new information.

“I was a little taken aback that they treated it as a ‘he said/she said’,” Kaess told the Norwood News, of the police approach taken. “I did show the police the video. But I suppose that, given that it’s five seconds, it’s kind of difficult to discern what’s going on. So, they considered it inconclusive, though, once you really slow it down, take a good look at it, I think it becomes clear on what really happened,” he said.

DeFrancis voluntarily told the Norwood News he had also been captured on video in another separate altercation, on another occasion, where he knocked a phone out of a woman’s hand. He said this was because she had been allegedly berating him and filming him.

When asked about DeFrancis’ attendance at the Proud Boys event, in an effort to better ascertain what the NWBx Dems look for in the candidates they choose to support, Rivieccio said the rally had taken place after the group’s endorsement of DeFrancis’s candidacy, and after the assembly election was over. He said he was not aware of the subsequent Allerton altercation. He also said that all NWBx Dems members had been disappointed to hear about DeFrancis’s attendance at the D.C. event, and that some were shocked. He added that there were other Bronxites who also attended the event. Asked if the NWBx Dems denounced the Proud Boys and white supremacy, he said they did, adding, “Do we denounce the 39 other hate groups in the Bronx? Absolutely!”

Rivieccio also added that DeFrancis was an ex-Democrat, and the only Republican the group has supported in its ten year history. In a separate interview, he said the organization does have a smattering of Republicans, as well as “Blue Dog Democrats” among its members. He commended DeFrancis for arranging rallies in support of small businesses.

In a follow-up call on March 20, Rivieccio said the NWBx Dems had also endorsed Republican candidate, Fernando Tirado, for State Assembly District 78 in 2014, saying their reason for doing so was because he was the local Bronx CB7 District Manager, and an active member of the community who the group saw as their next door neighbor. That race was ultimately won by Assemblyman José Rivera.

In addition to endorsing Padernacht in the upcoming District 11 City Council race, the NWBx Dems had also endorsed Abigail Martin before she dropped out of the race. They have also given their backing, on an equal level, to Ischia Bravo, Elisa Crespo and Oswald Feliz in the District 15 special election on March 23. The group is currently studying the 14th Council District candidates, and their viability, and will make campaign announcements shortly.

Meanwhile, Cabrera received the endorsement, on Jan. 25, of the NYPD Sergeants Benevolent Association (SBA), amid some controversy, as reported by the Norwood News.

He has also been endorsed by Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo, Council Member Chaim Deutsch, the People First Democratic Club, Louella Hatch Democratic Club, Correctional Officers Benevolent Association, Bronx Chronicle Newspaper, Parkchester News, District Leader Maria Gonzalez, District Leader Irene Estrada, District Leader Marcos Sierra, District Leader Ulugy Martinez, District Leader Yudelka Tapia, Former District Leader Cynthia Cox, Former District Leader Steve Santana, Former District Leader John Sanchez, Community Board Chair and State, Committeeman Emmanuel Martinez, Community Board Chair Dr. Bola, Community Board Chair Bobby Crespo, State Committeewoman Sandra Pabon, State Committeeman Victor Ortiz, Citywide Fatherhood Coalition Advocate, and UNITE HERE! Local 100.

At NYC Council, Cabrera is the majority whip leader and current chair of the governmental operations committee. His leadership positions, in addition to being co-chair of the gun violence task force, include chair of the juvenile justice committee. He is the former chair of the Black, Latino, and Asian caucus, the chairman of the technology committee, and chair of the substance abuse committee.

Cabrera, who is known to have held conservative views when it comes LGBTQ rights in the past but who, more recently, has clarified his position in this regard, saying he accepts the law of the land on, for example, marriage equality, also serves as the senior pastor of New Life Outreach International church in the Bronx, and is a former program director for the mental health and counseling graduate program at Mercy College, where he also taught for 12 years.

He has worked as both a school counselor and substance abuse counselor. Cabrera earned his B.A. in religion from Southern California College, his M.A. in counseling from Liberty University and his doctorate in counseling from Argosy University. He is married to Elvia Cabrera, is father to two, and grandfather to five.

Other candidates in the Bronx borough president’s race, in addition to Cabrera, Fernández and Gibson, include former NYPD detective, Sammy Ravelo, State Sen. Luis Sepúlveda, and Victor Gutierrez. Rafael Salamanca Jr., councilman for the 17th City Council District, dropped out of the race recently, saying he could best serve the borough right now at City Council.

Meanwhile, Sheila Sanchez, president of the NWBx Dems said of Cabrera, “He wants to build up The Bronx, one community at a time.”