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Two former FDNY chiefs were arrested Monday on charges that they solicited nearly $200,000 in bribes between 2021 and 2023 in exchange for providing building owners and property developers with expedited inspections on around 30 different projects.
Anthony Saccavino and Brian Cordasco, formerly two top chiefs in the FDNY’s Bureau of Fire Prevention, were indicted on charges of bribery, wire fraud and providing false statements to the FBI.
The two men have been on modified duty since February when their homes and offices were searched by federal authorities. In a Monday morning press conference, Damian Williams, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, said that the two chiefs created a “VIP lane for faster service,” accessed only through bribes paid to them through an intermediary.
“That’s classic pay-to-play corruption, and it will not be tolerated by this office,” Williams said.
The intermediary, a retired FDNY firefighter named Henry Santiago Jr., set up a business that, starting in 2021, promised the ability to expedite FDNY plan reviews and inspections, prosecutors allege. Santiago solicited money from business owners and developers that he then shared with Saccavino and Cordasco — sometimes in FDNY headquarters or during swanky steakhouse dinners — in exchange for moving Sanitago's clients to the front of the line.
FDNY inspections are typically conducted on a first-come, first-served basis but, at the time of the alleged crimes, the Fire Prevention Bureau was contending with a massive backlog of inspections due to the pandemic that resulted in an average wait time of over two months. Several projects whose agents paid Santiago saw their sites inspected and plans approved in a matter of weeks, the indictment says.
Williams said Monday that Santiago had pleaded guilty last week and was cooperating with investigators.
Santiago also set up a separate business that provided developers with fire guards to keep 24-hour watch over buildings that had yet to implement fire suppression systems. Saccavino and Cordasco were paid from this business to supervise fire guards at the same time they oversaw the FDNY division that regulates the guards, the indictment alleges.
According to city payroll data, Saccavino, 59, and Cordasco, 49, made $241,119 and $235,462, respectively, last year.
‘Shakes confidence’
The federal charges of lying to the FBI stem from February interviews federal agents conducted with Saccavino and Cordasco, during which both denied that they had received payments from Santiago or provided his clients with expedited service. The DOJ worked with the FBI as well as New York City’s Department of Investigation on the case.
"Corruption, particularly by high level city employees such as those charged in this indictment undermines the city's ability to serve New Yorkers fairly and equitably and rightly shakes confidence in the integrity of our public servants,” DOI Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber said on Monday.
The investigation began in spring 2023 after the FDNY alerted investigators to a possible scheme, Strauber added. She also noted that the DOI did not find evidence that the two chief’s actions compromised public safety. The DOI, though, provided the FDNY a list of addresses that were involved in the scheme, which the department has since reinspected.
"Every member of the FDNY takes a sworn oath to conduct themselves honestly and ethically,” FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker said in a statement. “Nothing less will be tolerated. The Department will fully cooperate with any ongoing investigations. Keeping New Yorkers safe remains our top priority."
‘City Hall list’
The indictment notes that there was a separate method, a holdover from the de Blasio administration, through which business owners could move their inspections to the top of the FDNY’s list. Starting in 2021, the FDNY maintained a “City Hall List” — referred to in the indictment as a “DMO list,” for deputy mayor’s office — essentially a roster of buildings whose inspections City Hall officials had requested be expedited.
The projects included schools, hospitals, restaurants, a movie theater and a luxury gym, many of which were fast-tracked by the Fire Prevention Bureau. The indictment charges that Saccavino and Cordasco “used the City Hall List to conceal their involvement in the bribery scheme” by telling other fire prevention personnel that requests to expedite projects had come from City Hall officials when they had actually come from Santiago’s clients.
This was despite Cordasco complaining on several occasions about the use of the DMO list. He wrote in one internal FDNY email from 2022 that it was “extremely unfair" to other applicants.
"Despite claiming to be an opponent of the [Bureau of Fire Prevention] giving select projects preferential treatment, Cordasco did just that in exchange for tens of thousands of dollars in bribes," the indictment reads.
Adams, in a press conference on Monday, noted that the actions described in the indictment began under the previous mayoral administration. “It started under a previous administration, our administration became aware of it, they took the proper steps and reported the action,” he said.
When asked about the DMO list specifically, a mayoral spokesperson said in a statement that there is “no indication” the alleged criminal scheme laid out in the indictment involved anyone at City Hall. “The FDNY’s first priority is always keeping New Yorkers safe, and we expect every member of the department to act appropriately,” the spokesperson said.
The arrests of the two chiefs come amid a widening corruption investigation involving close associates of the mayor and some government figures. Over the weekend, Adams’ chief counsel, Lisa Zornberg, abruptly resigned. Her departure followed by a few days that of NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban, who resigned after federal investigators seized his phone.
Williams, the U.S attorney, made it clear in his Monday press conference that the office’s investigations into public corruption in the city were not over.
“Anyone who corrupts the system in an attempt to line their own pockets will be held accountable,” he said “Our fight against public corruption continues. We are determined to address it from root to branch and our work is far from done. If you are aware of and participated in corrupt activity in our government, now is the time to come forward and to get on the right side of the law.”
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