Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In

Earlier this week Suffolk County prosecutors charged Donald MacPherson, proprietor of a Manhattan S&M dungeon, with orchestrating a $50 million mortgage fraud out in Southampton. If, like me, you have only a fleeting familiarity with the subterranean torture fetish community, you're probably wondering, "Who is Don MacPherson?"

Well, in addition to running the aforementioned shell game and bondage business, he pens a blog called Soho Politics, where he's been known to rail against car-free streets, bike lanes, and other measures to make the public right-of-way more pleasant for pedestrians, cyclists, and bus riders. Followers of the downtown community board scene knew MacPherson as an ally of the Soho Alliance's Sean Sweeney on CB 2, from which the alleged scammer recently resigned. Now the world knows him as the whips-n-chains guy who made a fraudulent fortune off the real estate bubble.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Cough, Cough: Adams Administration Hands Largest Ever Idling Law Exemption to NJ Charter Bus Company

Academy Bus Lines requested the exemption — the largest in DEP's history — after receiving more than $500,000 in idling violations. But there is some good news.

December 19, 2025

Hochul Will Veto Controversial Bill Mandating Two Operators on Most Subway Trains

The veto from Hochul came over the concerns of organized labor who saw the legislation as a way to make subway travel safer.

December 19, 2025

Pedestrian Killed by Hit-and-Run Driver on Crowded Lowest East Side Street

The driver kept going. EMTs took the badly injured woman to Bellevue Hospital, where she died.

December 19, 2025

NJ Legislature Poised to Pass Victim-Blaming E-Bike Restrictions

An e-bike registration bill is speeding through the New Jersey Legislature after several crashes in which drivers killed young cyclists.

December 19, 2025

Friday’s Headlines: Streets Master Plan Edition

Speaker Adrienne Adams explains why she didn't bother holding Mayor Adams accountable for following the law. Plus other news.

December 19, 2025

Streetsblog’s ‘Car-Free Carolers’ Bring the Joy, Mirth and Ho-Ho-Hope to this Holiday Season

Streetsblog's singers are back, belting out their parody classics to make a serious point: New York's roadways don't have to be dangerous places for kids and lungs, but can be joyous spaces for people to walk around, shop, eat or just ... hang out.

December 18, 2025
See all posts