Staten Island Advance
NEW YORK — Staten Islander and former FDNY chief Brian Cordasco was sentenced to 20 months in prison for his part in a “pay-to-play” bribery scheme where building owners and developers in New York City paid nearly $190,000 for expedited inspections and other preferential treatment.
Matthew Podolsky, the acting United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced Cordasco’s sentence for “participating in a conspiracy to solicit and receive bribes” at the FDNY Bureau of Fire Prevention. Public records indicate that Cordasco lives in Huguenot.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman handed down the sentence on Monday following Cordasco’s guilty plea on Oct. 8 to one count of conspiracy to solicit and receive a bribe.
“As a chief of the Bureau of Fire Prevention, Brian Cordasco was entrusted to protect the people of New York City and to fairly represent their interests,” Podolsky said in a statement on Monday. “Instead, he repeatedly abused his position of power by expediting fire inspection services for those who paid him thousands of dollars in bribes. The sentence imposed today sends a clear message that government officials who betray the public trust to line their own pockets will be met with just punishment.”
Cordasco’s accomplice, former Assistant Chief Anthony Saccavino of Manhattan, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to solicit and receive a bribe in January and is awaiting sentencing.
Saccavino was head of the Bureau of Fire Prevention and former Deputy Assistant Chief Cordasco worked for him.
The defendants were placed on modified assignment in February 2024 and retired before Robert Tucker became commissioner of the FDNY in August.
Saccavino, then 59, and Cordasco, then 49, were indicted in September for their alleged illegal activities when they served as the two top-ranking members of the Bureau of Fire Prevention. The bureau regulates compliance with fire codes, including crucial installation and maintenance of fire-safety equipment at commercial and residential properties citywide.
Authorities allege that the scheme provided preferential treatment for owners and developers involved in at least 30 different projects citywide for about two years from 2021 through 2023. Approval of design plans, on-site inspections and other services provided by the Bureau of Fire Prevention are supposed to be granted in the order they are received and could be a major factor in how quickly a building may be occupied or opened to the public.
FDNY officials alerted authorities to the scheme where the defendants allegedly lined their own pockets by taking advantage of owners and developers who were facing longer than usual wait times due to a backlog of requests attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. The city Department of Investigation’s probe began in spring of 2023.
Authorities allege that Saccavino and Cordasco colluded in secret with a retired firefighter, Henry Santiago Jr., then 46, of Staten Island, who owned an expediting business. Cordasco, Saccavino and Santiago allegedly exchanged bribes at FDNY Headquarters and swanky restaurants.
“At times [Santiago] personally delivered these cash and check payments to Saccavino and Cordasco, including during meetings at the BFP [ Bureau of Fire Prevention ] headquarters in Brooklyn and during steakhouse dinners in Manhattan,” the indictment alleges.
Saccavino and Cordasco sometimes identified and steered potential marks to Santiago, who solicited and accepted the bribes, according to the indictment.
Santiago allegedly promised owners and developers that their requests would be put on the fast track if they paid the bribes. Once Saccavino and Cordasco were given their share of the illicit payments, they would ensure that those properties were promptly serviced, authorities said.
“To carry out this conspiracy, Cordasco lied to his BFP [ Bureau of Fire Prevention ] subordinates to justify otherwise improper expediting requests,” said Monday’s statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. “Cordasco also lied to law enforcement when interviewed about his involvement in the scheme.”
Authorities allege that Cordasco pocketed $57,000 from the bribery scheme. In addition to the prison term, Cordasco was sentenced to two years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit $57,000 and pay a $100,000 fine.
The charge to which the former chiefs pleaded guilty carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
Santiago cooperated with the government and accepted a plea agreement on Sept. 10, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
‘The City Hall List’
The indictment alleges that the FDNY defendants were able to divert attention from their own scheme to City Hall because individuals at the highest levels of the department and city government were aware years ago of something referred to in court documents as a “City Hall List .”
Projects on the list were to be fast-tracked by the Bureau of Fire Prevention.
Cordasco is the only defendant specifically named in a portion of the indictment detailing how the “City Hall List,” which sometimes was referred to as the “DMO List,” an abbreviation for the Deputy Mayor’s Office, allegedly was used during the time frame covered by the investigation.
Some of the properties on the “City Hall List,” including schools and hospitals, likely required swift action on the part of the Bureau of Fire Prevention since they were linked to vital city services. However, the indictment alleges that facilities for leisure and fitness activities, including a movie theater, restaurants and a luxury gym, also were on the list.
The indictment alleges that in 2021 and 2022, “representatives of the FDNY’s Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs (the ‘IGA’) maintained a list of projects with plan reviews or inspections pending before the Bureau of Fire Prevention.
“The list was used to track inquiries and requests from City Hall stakeholders external to the IGA — such as the Deputy Mayor’s Office, or the ‘DMO’ — so that the FDNY and its leadership in the Fire Commissioner’s Office could prioritize requests that were deemed important by those City Hall Officials,” the indictment states.
The indictment alleges that the Bureau of Fire Prevention was notified that projects on the list needed to be expedited.
The indictment alleges that Cordasco made it known at the FDNY and to the public that he opposed efforts to prioritize projects through the “City Hall List” or other means.
Cordasco sent an internal FDNY email on April 7, 2022, that later was published by the media. The indictment states that in the email, Cordasco was “complaining that attempts by the Mayor’s Office to expedite a major Midtown development were ‘extremely unfair to the applicants who have been waiting at least 8 weeks for their inspection. Industry opposition will include questions as to why certain projects are advanced while others need to be canceled and pushed back?‘”
After the story about his email appeared in the media, Cordasco allegedly exchanged messages with friends. The indictment quoted the 49-year-old defendant as writing about “council people requesting stuff all the time, and we have emails asking city hall to prioritize for us... and they did. It highlights the lack of staffing too, which we have been saying for 3yrs. There is no support for Fire Prevention, but elected’s want what they want, when they want it....”
The indictment alleges that “despite claiming to be an opponent of the BFP giving select projects preferential treatment, Cordasco did just that in exchange for tens of thousands of dollars in bribes.”
Alleged bribes
The properties allegedly targeted by the chiefs included apartment buildings, restaurants, bars, hotels and other businesses that typically arranged Bureau of Fire Prevention services through filing representatives, commonly known as expeditors.
Some of the filing representatives paid thousands of dollars per project in the scheme, authorities allege.
The indictment alleges that the chiefs padded their six-figure, annual salaries of $263,478 for Saccavino and $257,295 for Cordasco.
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