If those posts could be interpreted in any way as threats, Eversole would contact their hometown police, multiple security team sources say. “He would take it upon himself to reach out to someone somewhere and introduce himself as the CSO of Madison Square Garden and demand that the local PD take action,” the security veteran adds.
One teenager posted a tweet, and MSG security asked local law enforcement to visit him. “They scared the crap [poop emoji] out of some 14 year old kid in Colorado,” one MSG security staffer texted in a message we reviewed. Cops would at times ignore Eversole’s demands. He and his deputies would then “freak the fuck out when a PD somewhere would not play ball,” the second veteran continues.
Eversole would also allegedly push his subordinates to act more like municipal cops. He’d urge them to patrol the streets surrounding MSG, which is located in one of Manhattan’s more derelict neighborhoods, functionally acting as a second, ersatz police force—without formal permission of New York’s real one. “On many occasions, I was ordered to stop traffic, close sidewalks, and unlawfully detain individuals in the venue and demand identification,” Munn, the former security worker, wrote in his filing. Munn added that these orders were “against NY State/City laws without proper permits or NYPD’s authorization, which MSG did not maintain.” An NYPD spokesperson confirms that such authorization was never given.
Eversole would tell his teams to bust the guys selling knockoff merchandise and “remove scalpers and drug dealers daily, in areas outside and around MSG properties, without back up, communication, or assistance from MSG venue security or NYPD paid detail,” Ingrasselino alleged in his lawsuit.
Ingrasselino’s former colleagues emphasize that the work could be dangerous, possibly illegal, and in no way a normal task for a private security force. Ingrasselino, among others, claimed that a former NYPD assistant chief now working for MSG was once attacked by scalpers and sent to the hospital. In his filing, Munn claimed that during his time “overseeing all security aspects” of several Dolan properties, he had been “ordered to do many things I felt were unsafe, unethical, and illegal, all at the direction” of Eversole.
Ingrasselino also alleges in his suit that he was ordered to embed “in the middle of pro-Palestine or anti-Israel protests” that happened to be passing a Dolan venue. Other security sources say that they were not ordered to insert themselves into any demonstrations. But they confirm that they were asked to observe protests that went anywhere near a Dolan venue. Given those venues’ central location, it happened a lot.
Some protests would get special scrutiny. When the Professional Bull Riders tour came to the Garden, animal rights activists would at times gather outside, or in front of the MSG president’s apartment building. The leaders felt they were being singled out and surveilled.
Even people working for the state government found themselves in MSG’s sights.
In late 2022 and early 2023, when word about the lawyer bans began to spread and uproar over the face-recognition program was hitting a peak, the State Liquor Authority decided to look into it; per state law, according to the SLA, you’re not allowed to both serve booze and arbitrarily lock people out of your place. Dolan’s response may have been a touch over-the-top. He went on TV, held up a photograph of the then head of the liquor authority with the man’s phone number and email underneath, and told the audience to reach out to him, and “tell him to stick to his knitting.”
