Federal authorities arrested two New York City Fire Department (FDNY) chiefs in a corruption scheme, alleging they took at least $190,000 in bribes to expedite building inspections, Politico reports. 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 FDNY chiefs. Businesses would pay the company to speed up their building inspections with the fire department, according to a federal indictment unsealed Monday. 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 Damian Williams said of the fire chiefs. “That’s classic pay-to-play corruption, and it will not be tolerated by this office.” 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. When 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.
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