New York fire chiefs charged in bribery scheme

NEW YORK — Federal authorities arrested and charged two chiefs in the New York City Fire Department in a corruption scheme, alleging they took at least $190,000 in bribes to expedite FDNY building inspections.

Brian Cordasco and Anthony Saccavino are accused of secretly partnering with a co-conspirator, retired firefighter Henry Santiago Jr., to start a fire safety company while the pair were both FDNY chiefs. Businesses would pay the company to speed up their building inspections with the fire department, according to an indictment unsealed Monday morning by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

Cordasco and Saccavino would refer customers to the company, use their government jobs to pull strings and then get a kickback from the company.

The scheme involved special treatment for at least 30 different projects and is alleged to have lasted from July 2021, during Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, through early 2023, under Mayor Eric Adams.

Monday’s news comes as scandal engulfs City Hall. Members of Adams’ inner circle had their phones taken by federal agents this month, leading to the resignation of his police commissioner and chief counsel.

“They allegedly created a VIP line for faster service that could only be accessed with bribes,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams said of the fire chiefs at a press conference Monday. “That’s classic pay-to-play corruption, and it will not be tolerated by this office.”

Santiago is cooperating with the investigation and has pleaded guilty, Williams said.

Federal agents raided the homes of the two chiefs and FDNY headquarters in February, when the broad outline of the scheme was first reported by the New York Post and other outlets.

Adams said the men who did something wrong deserved the blame, not his administration.

As soon as then-Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh became aware of the scheme, she reported it to the city’s Department of Investigation, which partnered with Williams’ office on the case.

“That is the way the system is supposed to work,” the mayor said at an unrelated press conference Monday morning.

The scheme worked, in part, because some projects were expedited by the FDNY in response to requests from political stakeholders, and added to what’s known as the “City Hall List” or “DMO List,” referring to the deputy mayor of operations.

That list came into public view following reporting by The New York Times and others that building inspections were being investigated in a probe involving a possible influence scheme by the Turkish government into the Adams administration. The indictment does not include any mention of the Turkish government or its consulate building, the Turkevi Center.

Control over the Fire Department's inspection unit was the source of an internal power struggle between commissioners, POLITICO reported . Before his resignation, Buildings Commissioner Eric Ulrich — a rising star in the administration at the time — was trying to take over the FDNY’s unit.

Adams denied any knowledge of the "DMO List" after it came to light two years ago.

The indictment said the list was maintained by the FDNY’s Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs in response to requests from external offices, such as City Hall, and that it was maintained through 2022, after Adams had taken office.

The indictment notes that Cordasco had “purported to be an opponent of attempts to prioritize special projects, including those appearing on the City Hall List” and even had his internal complaints reported by news outlets including THE CITY.

Prosecutors now allege he was personally profiting off that list.

“I’m exhausted of this,” Public Advocate Jumaane Williams told reporters Monday morning after hearing news of the arrests. “The people of the city of New York are tired of this on a daily basis. I’m not sure how you continue to govern with every day, more corrupt arrests, more corrupt suspicions.”

Williams was asked if the decision to announce the charges Monday was meant as a warning to other people in city government not to lie to the FBI.

“Every action that we bring, especially in the public corruption arena, is a warning to folks to adhere to the law,” Williams said.

“In terms of whether or not it's also a warning to not lie to the FBI, I hope everyone at home knows: Do not lie to the FBI or to federal law enforcement,” he added. “There are consequences to that.”

Cordasco and Saccavino’s charges include lying and omitting information on annual disclosure forms filed with the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board. The pair did not disclose their involvement in Santiago’s fire safety company and did not report that they had received bribes through companies controlled by them and their family members.

COIB forms rely on self-reporting, and government employees often omit required information. POLITICO reported in September that Chief Tech Officer Matt Fraser and Winnie Greco , a special adviser to the mayor, did not list any investments, pension plans or retirement accounts in their annual disclosures.

Greco’s homes were raided as part of a federal investigation in February — unrelated to this fire department bribery scheme.

“We often look to some of those disclosures as evidence of concealment,” Williams said Monday, when asked when omitting information on the form rises to the level of a crime. “When people are getting paid bribes, they often, as a general matter, don't look to disclose that.”

Journalists look through the forms for information, Williams added, “so we find them as useful as you.”