OAKLAND, Calif. -- KTVU has learned that Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums fired city administrator Deborah Edgerly late Tuesday, the latest twist in a scandal surrounding the administrator who is being investigated for possibly interfering with a police operation targeting a notorious local street gang.

KTVU obtained a copy of the letter that Dellums sent to Edgerly. In it, Dellums simply states he is firing her effective immediately, offering no explanation.

Earlier Tuesday, Edgerly had announced that she had decided to postpone her retirement and fight to clear her name.

Edgerly was put on paid administrative leave on June 27 after mounting pressure prodded Mayor Dellums to bring her job at Oakland's City Hall to an early end, reportedly because of Edgerly's refusal to sign over her authority over the Oakland Police Department.

The scandal began in the wake of the Oakland Police Department's Operation Nutcracker, an investigation that targeted the city's notorious Acorn street gang. Edgerly allegedly attempted to interfere with Oakland police about 10:30 p.m. on June 7 when they towed the car of her nephew, reputed gang member William Lovan, from a spot next to a West Oakland liquor store because he allegedly had a gun inside.

Edgerly and Dellums announced her July 31st retirement date on June 24, claiming that her plans to step down from her post had been set in motion in January of this year and that they had nothing to do with the allegations of tampering with the police gang crackdown.

That same day, KTVU Channel 2 learned that Edgerly may be the focus of federal investigation over information she divulged regarding wiretaps being used to track members of the notorious Acorn gang.

The sources say that police listened in on a phone call between Lovan and Acorn gang leader Marc Anthony Candler a day or two after Edgerly's alleged confrontation with the police. During the call, Lovan reportedly told Candler twice "Get rid of all your mitts. I got this straight from the head." According to sources, the call was a warning that the "mitts" – a code word for phones – were tapped and that the information regarding the wiretaps had come "from the head," who sources believe to be Edgerly.

Edgerly knew about the wiretaps because as city administrator she would have had to approve the huge amounts of officer overtime that the wiretapping would have required during Operation Nutcracker.

Mayor Dellum appointed Dan Lindheim to start working as Acting City Administrator last week when it was announced that Edgerly was being placed on paid leave instead of working through to her late July retirement date.

Reacting to Dellums' announcement last week, City Attorney John Russo said, "Given the circumstances, and given the nature of the allegations confronting Mrs. Edgerly, placing her on administrative leave is the simplest and most legally prudent course for the city to follow."

City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente said he welcomes Dellums' announcement but he thinks "it should have happened last week" after the allegations against her first surfaced."

De La Fuente said, "That would have been in the best interests of both the city and Deborah Edgerly."