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Nick Pinto

@nickpinto.bsky.social
8.8K followers 601 following 696 posts

Co-founder @hellgatenyc.com. Writing about cops, courts, jails, prisons and NYC. You may have known me on Twitter as @macfathom. nick [at] hellgatenyc dot com. On Signal at NickPinto.11

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Reposted by Nick Pinto
ryandevereaux.bsky.social @ryandevereaux.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
In July, I took a ride through the Arizona desert with Verlon Jose, chairman of the Tohono O’odham Nation, a sprawling reservation on the U.S.-Mexico border that may soon be changed forever. It was the beginning of an investigation that ProPublica is publishing today. THREAD ⬇️
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Hell Gate *subscribe today!* @hellgatenyc.com · 09/10/2026
We would LOVE to hire another journalist. But the only way to make the numbers work is if 3 percent of our 64,000 free newsletter subscribers become paid subs. Are you one? Take advantage of our Biggest Sale Ever now at 35 percent off! hellgatenyc.com/membership/
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Hell Gate *subscribe today!* @hellgatenyc.com · 09/10/2026
Governor Kathy Hochul came on the Hell Gate Podcast this week. In this lightning round of questions, we ask her: Should ICE be abolished, should trillionaires exist, who is her style icon, and what percentage is she a socialist? Full interview here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0sD...
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
We're also running our biggest subscription sale ever from now through next Monday, so if you want unlimited access to all of our reporting, and if you want to support worker-owned local journalism, now is a great time to do it:
hellgatenyc.com
Hell Gate's Biggest Sale Ever
To celebrate another successful year, we're offering an unprecedented deal on all annual subscriptions.
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Busy week at @hellgatenyc.com: We interviewed the Governor in a bar, hosted a battle of the bands, tracked the rolling mess of the Brooklyn Democrats, rushed to cover the ICE shooting, reviewed a restaurant, watched some dubious television, noted some owls, probed an NYPD resignation, and more!
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
🔥🖤🔥
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Reposted by Nick Pinto
Hell Gate *subscribe today!* @hellgatenyc.com · 08/10/2026
One of the cops facing an NYPD trial for killing Win Rozario in 2024 was allowed to resign in May with a full pension, Rozario's family revealed today. The NYPD Commissioner apologized for failing to notify the CCRB before the resignation, as required. hellgatenyc.com/rozario-kill...
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crimsoncor @nowrench.com · 06/10/2026
I just subscribed to @hellgatenyc.com because supporting local media is cool and so should you.
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Reposted by Nick Pinto
Outpost Publishers Co-op @outpost.pub · 06/10/2026
@hellgatenyc.com has its annual report out, and we love seeing them thrive. Now at a projected $1.5M/yr in revenue. hellgatenyc.com/hell-gate-20... It's been a pleasure helping power their tech. We love seeing a new breed of indie publishers, using indie tech, not a VC tech Also big sale today!
hellgatenyc.com
Hell Gate 2026 Annual Report
As Hell Gate roars into its fifth year, let's take a minute to talk about how things are going.
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Reposted by Nick Pinto
Noah Shachtman @noahshachtman.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
You're not a real New Yorker if you don't subscribe to @hellgatenyc.com.
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Reposted by Nick Pinto
Hell Gate *subscribe today!* @hellgatenyc.com · 07/10/2026
🚨 Public Service Announcement 🚨 Subscribe to Hell Gate, support worker-owned local journalism, and get the best deal we've ever offered! hellgatenyc.com/hell-gates-b...
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Also in @niemanlab.org today is this write-up of a study that does a great job of illustrating some of the reasons @hellgatenyc.com thinks subscription-funded worker ownership has some significant advantages over nonprofit journalism. www.niemanlab.org/2026/10/a-st...
“The emphasis on funding, on money, and on organizational concerns has become the top priority for individuals working for nonprofit news entities.” And, as journalists “busy themselves” with these administrative chores and organizational imperatives — to keep grant money coming in, to keep funders happy, etc. — it not only comes at the expense of the journalism product but also extracts a heavy toll of unpaid labor from the news workers involved.

The situation, McKinnon-Crowley writes, “leads to a double worker exploitation where journalists feel morally obligated to do good work as journalists and to do good work for a morally just (nonprofit) organization.”

This exploitation, she says, is perpetuated by the nature of nonprofit reliance, as foundations often “take decision-making power away from journalists and the institution of journalism.” A clear example of this, she says, is the grant-making process, which can require an undue level of administrative burden and can force journalists to put the priorities and interests of funders ahead of those of the community.
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Reposted by Nick Pinto
Hell Gate *subscribe today!* @hellgatenyc.com · 06/10/2026
Nieman Lab wrote about The State of Hell Gate in 2026. www.niemanlab.org/2026/10/subs...
niemanlab.org
Subscribers are up, but growth is down. Here’s what worker-owned Hell Gate is trying next.
"To the extent that we contemplated the possibility that we'd even still exist [four years later], I don't think any of us thought we'd ever want to leave."
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
That's it. That's the thread. There's lots more information in our annual report. If you're a journalist thinking of doing something like this yourself, please get in touch, we'd love to help. If you're already a subscriber but want to help us even more, we've got a tip jar here.
hellgatenyc.com
Tip Jar
We are a subscriber-funded, worker-owned news outlet about New York City, named for the city's sturdiest (and handsomest) bridge over its most treacherous currents.
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
If you believe in what @hellgatenyc.com is doing, if you think the continued existence of worker-owned local journalism is important, if you want to help us continue to grow, now is a great time to help: Right now, @hellgatenyc.com is running our biggest sale ever—35% off all annual subscriptions.
hellgatenyc.com
Hell Gate's Biggest Sale Ever
To celebrate another successful year, we're offering an unprecedented deal on all annual subscriptions.
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Right now, 64,000 people are receiving Hell Gate newsletters without contributing to make the work we do possible. You guys! Come on! If just THREE PERCENT of these people became paying subscribers, we could hire another journalist, do more journalism, cover the city even better.
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
We're able to do all this with help from generous individuals and foundations, but the lion's share of our revenue, by design, comes from SUBSCRIBERS. The more subscribers we have, the more journalists we can hire, the more of the city we can cover, the more ambitious we can be.
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Meanwhile, we publish THREE separate newsletters! 🖤 Morning Spew, our daily morning newsletter, featuring a fresh story and link round-up to start your day. 🖤 Inbox Hell, a twice weekly newsletter showcasing our best work, and, new this year, 🖤 Cultural Capital, our arts and culture newsletter.
hellgatenyc.com
Hell Gate
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
These livestreams were a big hit. They were shown in bars all over the city. The @columjournreview.bsky.social wrote: "The team has managed to turn one of the most staid forms of news into something lively and fun that also offers some of the smartest political coverage in the city."
cjr.org
Hell Gate: The site with personality big enough for the city it covers.
And now for something completely different—a site with personality big enough for the city it covers.
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
🖤 Over the last two primary elections and the last general, we've aired three election-night livestreams complete with anchor desk, poll updates, field correspondents, expert interviews, and fun graphics. Here's the first, when Zohran Mamdani won the primary—they've only gotten better since:
youtube.com
The Hell Gate NYC Primary Night Livestream
YouTube video by Hell Gate
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
🖤 We publish a searchable and constantly growing map of enthusiastically reviewed affordable NYC restaurants:
hellgatenyc.com
$20 Dinner Map
Affordable eats, premium reviews. Hell Gate's interactive map of $20 dinners.
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
🖤 Alongside @typeinvestigations.org, we followed up or celebrated Table of Success with another major investigative project, this one looking into the way judges are selected in New York City and why some of them leave something to be desired. courtsofcontempt.hellgatenyc.com
courtsofcontempt.hellgatenyc.com
Courts of Contempt - Judges
Judges wield enormous power. Here in the five boroughs, they are often the ultimate arbiters in deciding how many New Yorkers get sent to Rikers Island, where and how new housing will be built, and wh...
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
🖤 We built a podcast studio and are publishing a weekly video podcast. www.youtube.com/@hellgateny
youtube.com
Hell Gate
Hell Gate is New York City's worker-owned news site. Visit us at www.hellgatenyc.com
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
We are plowing this revenue right back into the journalism machine. 🖤 We hired two editors this year. 🖤 We've published 3,500 blog posts to date.
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
🖤 Hell Gate is still here. 🖤 Hell Gate has grown from five founders to 10 employees 🖤 Hell Gate has 11,000 paying subscribers 🖤 When our subscriptions crossed the line of $1 million in Annual Recurring Revenue this summer, we went up on the roof and cracked a $40 bottle of prosecco.
Chris and Jessy hoisting a $40 dollar bottle of prosecco under a punishing sun on a graffiti- and razorwire-bedecked Chinatown roof, with a can of Topo Chico making a cheeky photobomb appearance stage right.
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
So how is this experiment bearing out? Well, for a full picture, you should read this year's annual report (and for that matter, our previous annual reports.) But here are some top-line takeaways:
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
3) New Yorkers carry an epigenetic hunger for punchy, funny, angry, joyful, unfiltered journalism. In the city where the Village Voice and Gawker once flourished, there is a niche in the media ecosystem for a publication that is irreverent and aggressively skeptical of power.
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
2) A news outlet built on subscription revenue is more responsive to its readers and less vulnerable to boom-bust vicissitudes than a publication reliant on venture capital or a billionaire owner or fickle philanthropy.
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
A group of veteran journalists launched @hellgatenyc.com in 2022 to test some theories: 1) A news outlet owned and run by the journalists, without owners or investors or multiple layers of nonprofit executives to pay out, can do more journalism with less money.
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
This is especially bad in news deserts. But it's bad in media capitals like NYC too. The hordes of reporters that once crawled this city are gone. City agencies that once had multiple reporters competing to work the beat now go mostly unscrutinized.
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
This collapse is incredibly unhealthy for the society we all live in! Journalism is how we learn what is happening. It is what holds government officials and corporate titans and everyone with power accountable for their actions. Fewer journalists = less journalism, more confusion, more impunity.
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Everybody knows that journalism—especially local journalism—is in crisis in this country. Not that long ago, at the start of the century, there were 40 journalists for every 100,000 people in the United States. In the last quarter century, that ratio has dropped by 75 percent.
muckrack.com
Local Journalist Index 2025 | Muck Rack
For the first time, we’ve mapped how many local journalists cover each U.S. county, revealing in stark detail the stunning collapse in local reporting. Me…
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Sorry, lengthy 🧵: @hellgatenyc.com is a small but important experiment in building journalism infrastructure that is resilient to the polycrisis gutting news media (and the civil society and democracyfor which a healthy independent free press is a prerequisite). We just issued our annual report:
hellgatenyc.com
Hell Gate 2026 Annual Report
As Hell Gate roars into its fifth year, let's take a minute to talk about how things are going.
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Reposted by Nick Pinto
Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
One of my essential subscriptions. Critically important if you live in NYC. Congratulations.
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Founding a worker-owned local news outfit in 2022, we didn't know if we'd last a month. But as @hellgatenyc.com enters our fifth year, we are surviving, and even thriving. Here's our 2026 annual report, detailing our achievements and challenges of the past year. hellgatenyc.com/hell-gate-20...
hellgatenyc.com
Hell Gate 2026 Annual Report
As Hell Gate roars into its fifth year, let's take a minute to talk about how things are going.
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Reposted by Nick Pinto
Hell Gate *subscribe today!* @hellgatenyc.com · 05/10/2026
It's time for Hell Gate's biggest sale ever: 35 percent off a year at all subscription levels. Get one year for less than $4/month with an annual Friend subscription—or become a Supporter or Believer for a few bucks more and get special perks and swag. hellgatenyc.com/membership/
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Me, drunk as hell, at great volume, addressing no one in particular but well within earshot of the shaken family whose toddler I just narrowly missed cleaving:
A tweet from Governor Kathy Hochul that reads "#AdirondackChallenge wouldn’t be complete without axe throwing - turns out I'm pretty good!"
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
me containing multitudes
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Everybody wants the riches that crypto invariably brings but nobody talks about the harrowing stress that prematurely ages a 26-year-old body to the point that you look like a haggard 48-year-old.
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Jaya Saxena @jayasaxena.com · 01/10/2026
Great thread to read if you respond to every paywall like someone has shot you in the chest
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Sam Feldman @srfeld.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I think this is the link you meant. This one goes to the actual decision on the merits of the appeal. www.nycourts.gov/courts/ad2/H...
nycourts.gov
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The Appellate Division, in its own restrained way, has just tossed the Brooklyn Democrats' autogolpist rump leadership out on its ear: iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/ViewD...
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Hell Gate *subscribe today!* @hellgatenyc.com · 25/09/2026
Hell Gate reporters are out in the streets talking to the people.
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Hell Gate *subscribe today!* @hellgatenyc.com · 24/09/2026
As the Israeli Prime Minister addressed the United Nations, dwelling at length on New York’s mayor, crowds outside demanded his arrest. hellgatenyc.com/netanyahu-ho...
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
That’s about it here. A larger protest is scheduled to assemble at 4 p.m. in Bryant Park before proceeding to Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza.
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Also in attendance: these guys
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Also in attendance, this guy:
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
UN Building and Police Drone (Giclée, 2026)
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Here’s Tony Kushner on why he’s at this Netanyahu protest:
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
They got Susan.
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