New York
Video: N.Y.C. Fire Safety Chiefs Accused of Taking Bribes
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N.Y.C. Fire Safety Chiefs Accused of Taking Bribes
Two New York Fire Department officials were arrested and accused of taking tens of thousands of dollars in bribes to speed up the fire-safety approval process for building projects throughout the city.
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Today, we are announcing public corruption charges against two former senior members of the New York City Fire Department. We have indicted Anthony Saccavino and Brian Cordasco, two former chiefs of the department’s Bureau of Fire Prevention. As the indictment alleges, Saccavino and Cordasco, acting together with a co-conspirator, solicited and received at least $190,000 in bribes in exchange for giving special treatment to certain building owners and developers for at least 30 different projects around the city. The defendants allegedly abused their power to give priority access to the Bureau of Fire Prevention, or the B.F.P., the division that regulates the installation of fire safety systems in commercial and residential buildings throughout New York City. They allegedly created a V.I.P. lane for faster service that could only be accessed with bribes. That’s classic pay-to-play corruption, and it will not be tolerated by this office.
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