In a conversation with Crain's on the day the news of the reversal broke, Gianaris was unrepentant about his stance.

"If Amazon can't stand up and answer questions from the community they were about to profoundly change with their presence, it shows they were a bad partner to begin with," he said. "I wasn't doing this for any political posturing. This was all about the right thing for my community."

But business and labor leaders aligned with the governor lashed out at the senator and his allies, noting that public polls showed broad support for the Amazon complex.

"A small group of politicians put their own narrow political interests above their community—which poll after poll showed overwhelmingly supported bringing Amazon to Long Island City—the state's economic future and the best interests of the people of this state," Cuomo said in a statement. "The New York state Senate has done tremendous damage. They should be held accountable for this lost economic opportunity."

The governor's press office was hardly alone in assessing blame. Cuomo-aligned labor unions had been set to reap plenty of work from the project.

"We will remember which legislators forgot about us and this opportunity," warned Gary LaBarbera, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council. "Politics and pandering have won out over a once-in-a-generation investment in New York City's economy, bringing with it tens of thousands of solid middle-class jobs. This sends the wrong message to businesses all over the world looking to call New York home. Who will want to come now?"

The governor's allies at the Partnership for New York City and the Association for a Better New York—groups representing the city's private-sector interests—similarly complained about the politicization of the process.

"It is critical that in the future, more voices are heard and we prioritize finding real solutions, rather than throwing stones that scare off jobs for New Yorkers," ABNY Chairman Steven Rubenstein said.

Other pro-Amazon voices targeted Gianaris in particular, blaming him for granting credibility and influence to a small faction of Amazon opponents.

"There are 25,000 New Yorkers who could have had jobs who now won't, thanks to Mike Gianaris," one source said. "I hope he sleeps well tonight."

Cuomo, the ABNY and the Real Estate Board of New York took pains to insist the state remains "open for business." But the leadership at the Partnership for New York City said it feared the fracas over Amazon might have tarnished the city's reputation as the international capital of capitalism.

"The reception Amazon received sent a terrible message to the job creators of the city and the world," said Kathryn Wylde, the group's president.

It seems certain that the next few months and even years will be ugly ones in Albany, for Gianaris' district and possibly for the city and state as a whole. Those with knowledge of the governor's mindset characterized the relationship between the senator and the most powerful man in the state as already "toxic" and about to get worse.

"He will do what he has to do to get even," a source told Crain's.

Cuomo's vindictiveness is legendary. During his first eight years as governor, his will was law in the Empire State. But the dynamic has changed: Both houses of the Legislature now have solid Democratic majorities, and they can challenge his power like never before.

"The rational action is to sit down and broker peace," one expert said. "But my instinct tells me he's going to escalate and throw gasoline on it."