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 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 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.
Federal agents raided the homes of the two chiefs and FDNY headquarters in February, when the broad outline of the scene was first reported by the New York Post and other outlets.
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 agency’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.
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.”
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams' office has a press conference scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Monday, along with leaders from the FBI and the New York City Department of Investigation, to reveal more about the case.
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