Back in the day, Ron Lattanzio was accused of throwing cocaine parties in his city Buildings Department office, then later bribing some of the department’s top officials after he was fired.
He sought favors from City Council members and regularly certified projects as safe using a stamp from a retired engineer who never saw the plans. Eventually he got caught, secretly pleaded guilty to bribery and for two years worked as an undercover informant against his former Buildings Department pals.
Lattanzio testified repeatedly before a grand jury and in open court, and in the end corruption charges were filed against 18 people, including the No. 2 official in the department.
Prosecutors recommended he get no jail time and a judge agreed. He then promptly disappeared.
Lattanzio, 59, has quietly returned to again pull levers at the same city Buildings Department he once corrupted every chance he could, a Daily News investigation has found.
Through several companies he runs, he and his employees deal each week with the Buildings Department, obtaining permits and interacting with inspectors for developers of some of the biggest buildings in the city.
He and his executives are also once again writing thousands of dollars of checks to politicians, including Mayor de Blasio and Jumaane Williams, chair of the City Council committee that oversees the Buildings Department.
