The Mob Infiltrates the DOB
“The Buildings Department has a history of corruption scandals,” says The New York Times, such as the plumbing inspector extortion cases in 2002, but now the DOB can add mob infiltration to its list of black marks on its record. Yesterday prosecutors accused the Lucchese crime family of installing three of its associates in the…
“The Buildings Department has a history of corruption scandals,” says The New York Times, such as the plumbing inspector extortion cases in 2002, but now the DOB can add mob infiltration to its list of black marks on its record. Yesterday prosecutors accused the Lucchese crime family of installing three of its associates in the DOB, who then participated in bribery, abuse of power, gambling, drug-trafficking, extortion, and loan-sharking. Three others from the DOB were also accused, and 27 of the 29 people named in the indictment have been arrested, according to the Times. Last year, the long string of accusations against the DOB led to scrutiny from the Department of Investigation, which in turn led to the resignation of former Buildings Commissioner Patricia Lancaster. The new commish, Robert D. LiMandri, expressed an intent to crack down on the department. Regarding the Lucchese family indictment, he told the Times: As a precaution, the department has visited all of the buildings associated with the investigation to ensure safety, and we expect to complete all reinspection work soon…These former inspectors are accused of betraying the public and this department for their own selfish gain, and they should be prosecuted to the full extent under the law.
Mob Infiltration Is Seen in New York City Agency [NY Times]
Agency With a History of Graft and Corruption [NY Times]
Image of Gaetano Lucchese, co-founder of the Lucchese crime family, from Wikipedia Commons
Carmine Francomano Jr. noted in the article & indictment was the building inspector for one of the buildings my office designed and never asked us for a bribe when he came to inspect the building… I guess we were lucky?
And what…no Bklyn? Come on boys, we have to have bragging rights over the Bronx and Manhattan for christsakes!
Brooklyn DOB needs a house cleaning anyway after all the crap Hinkson left upon her jettison, inherited by Mossad and now in Comm. Lee’s lab.
There’s a lot of “dead wood” around that should be tossed by Lee.
List the buildings in question…
Bada building!
***Bid half off peak comps***
Benson I am huge BB supporter (I think he is the greatest mayor in NYC history) but whether he has improved things is certainly debatable (the Crane & Concrete scandals are very big and resulted in deaths) but in the end irrellevant – these scandals are happening deep into BB watch and he cant really escape it, that being said I think it is totally offset by his many acomplishments however, if Thompson needs a legitimate issue (and he does, cause all his other points are frankly pathetic or wrong) this is one.
Will it sway the tide – I doubt it (in fact Thompson seems like such an empty suit, I doubt he’ll even be able to make hay about it) but it is an issue – this is a black mark against Bloombergs amazing record, no doubt about it.
I don’t actually think capricious even describes my situation. Random, yet malevolent and detached from reality, is more like it. And unremediable. And before they even hear your case they come back and hit you for double the original fine for not complying with something that they haven’t ruled on. Crazy!
Wasder – “capricious decisions” is precisely the mot juste!
benson–I wish they would give me this option at this point. Its crazier than that now. I would pay a reasonable bribe in a second to get this resolved.
FSRG;
While I agree with you that alot remains to be done, I do give BB some credit here. The DOB has been improved from the seventh circle of hell to perhaps the 2nd. Also, the modernization of the previously-byzantine building code will help.
When I first saw this post my reaction was “This is news?”.
Some years ago someone a friend did some work on his house without a permit. Someone called it into the DOB, and he had to go down there. He went up to the service desk,and told the desk he wanted to get it resolved (meaning, get the permits). In broad daylight, in front of every one, the person at the DOB told him: “You want it resolved? It will cost you X amount of dollars” meaning that this was the bribe he would have to be paid. And the tone of his statement made it clear that if the bribe were not paid, my fried would NEVER get a permit. He had to pay the bribe.