Scranton Mayor and congressional candidate Paige Cognetti (D-PA) promoted a violence intervention program involving a “safe space” for people who had entered the justice system or were recently coming out of it after a gang-related shooting wounded a city detective, months after photos were posted showing her with operators of a Crips-linked hookah lounge that authorities had repeatedly associated with criminal activity.
Cognetti, who is running against freshman Republican incumbent Rep. Rob Bresnahan, faced a rise in juvenile and gang violence in Scranton in 2024, including the January shooting of Scranton Police Detective Kyle Gilmartin, who was shot twice in the head during a “gang-related crime spree.”
In the aftermath, Cognetti acknowledged the city’s gang violence problem, saying her administration had “sent legislation to City Council to reallocate $580,626 in ARPA funds to enable the creation of a gang violence initiative that mirrors successful programs in other cities.”
In 2025, WNEP reported that the Gilmartin shooting “thrust gangs into the spotlight in Scranton,” and that Cognetti’s answer was a Group Violence Intervention (GVI) program. Cognetti said of the program, “This is not an arm of the police department; it’s not an arm of the county. It cannot be. By nature, this organization needs to be a safe space for people who have either entered the justice system and don’t want to go back in or are coming out of it freshly.”
In November 2024, before Cognetti promoted the GVI program, a photo was posted showing her with Dwight Smith and Damion Williams, operators of Blueface Global Hookah Lounge. The business, previously known as the Castle after-hours club, was described by District Attorney Mark Powell as a “notorious hotbed of criminal activity and violent incidents.”
Smith and Williams were both among a group of nine people arrested for their involvement in a Crips-run drug operation at Blueface Global Hookah Lounge. Williams’s criminal history dated to 2010, while Smith’s dated to 2014.
Smith pleaded guilty in July 2014 to conspiracy: theft by deception and was sentenced to up to 23 months in prison, according to the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas. In November 2014, Smith pleaded guilty in Lackawanna County to manufacture, delivery, or possession with intent to manufacture or deliver and was sentenced to up to four years in prison. In May 2022, he pleaded guilty to driving under the influence and was sentenced to six months in prison.
Smith was also charged in 2024 with manufacture, delivery, or possession with intent to manufacture or deliver, corrupt organizations, and possession of a firearm, according to the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas. In October 2025, he pleaded guilty to all charges and was sentenced to 48 months for each of the latter two charges and 24 months for the first charge. In March 2026, Smith pleaded guilty to doing business without a license.
Williams pleaded guilty in September 2010 to firearms not to be carried without a license and was sentenced to up to three years in prison, according to the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas. He later pleaded guilty to driving under the influence in June 2015, November 2015, and July 2016, receiving sentences of up to six months, up to 60 months, and up to six months in prison, respectively.
Williams was charged in 2024 with manufacture, delivery, or possession with intent to manufacture or deliver, corrupt organizations, and possession of a firearm, according to the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas. In September 2025, he pleaded guilty to all charges and was sentenced to up to 72 months in prison per offense.
The building had drawn law enforcement and neighborhood concerns years before it became Blueface Global Hookah Lounge. WNEP reported that Blueface Global Hookah Lounge was previously known as the Castle after-hours club, where a man was killed outside the building in 2019, and that the Castle was owned by Nasser Mohammadzad.
The Scranton Times-Tribune editorial board wrote in May 2019 that city police had responded to the club more than 200 times since 2016, including 24 times that year; while many calls were routine, the calls also included fights, disorderly conduct, thefts, shootings, stolen vehicles, and people with firearms and drugs.
In March 2018, a man was arrested after an episode that began outside the Castle after-hours club and later involved a threat to kill his brother with a handgun, and in May 2019, a judge ordered the Castle closed after a shooting outside the business left one person dead and two others injured.
Four years before Cognetti appeared in the photos with Smith and Williams, both of whom were later convicted on firearm charges, Cognetti said she wanted to get to a point where “we don’t have to worry about any officers having holsters or guns in them.”
Breitbart News asked Cognetti for comment regarding her past remarks about providing “safe spaces” for gang members and the photograph of her with Smith and Williams, operators of the Crips-linked hookah lounge.
A Cognetti spokesperson told Breitbart News, “Under Mayor Cognetti’s leadership, violent crime has gone down and Scranton has invested millions of dollars in the city’s police department to bolster public safety because she believes every person and family deserves to feel safe in their community. Mayor Cognetti has expanded the police force and put new cops on the beat, added 51 new police vehicles equipped with smart technology to enhance officer safety and target criminals, and deployed hundreds of citywide cameras to make our streets safer. In Congress, Paige will continue to stand with our brave law enforcement officers and fight for more funding for local police across Northeastern Pennsylvania.”
Cognetti has also faced scrutiny over her 2022 appointment of Michael Villa to the city’s Human Relations Commission while he was facing a DUI charge involving his infant son. After his appointment, Villa was arrested multiple times, including for trespassing, disorderly conduct, and fleeing from police, before a 2025 incident in which his actions led to a citywide school lockdown and an assault at a hospital. The city began proceedings to remove him only after that event, despite his absence from the commission for nearly two years. Former Republican mayoral challenger Trish Beynon said Villa “never should have been appointed,” while Councilman Mark McAndrew noted that criminal background checks were not added to the city’s vetting process until early 2024.
