Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Corrupt crane inspector pleads guilty

From the NY Post:

The city's former chief cranes inspector took a two-to-six-year prison plea today, admitting he repeatedly sold answers to the crane operator licensing test -- and the licenses themselves -- for as little as $500 a pop.

Disgraced Department of Buildings official James Delayo and his bargain-basement greed put at least a handful of under-qualified people behind the controls of the 200-foot-high, 50-ton cranes known as "cherry pickers."

Delayo, 61, of the Bronx, pleaded guilty to pocketing petty bribes -- prosecutors could only prove he took a little over $10,000 over the course of 7 years -- to pass cranes through inspection.

Prosecutors said he sold his favors to the owner of a Long Island-based crane company, Nu-Way Crane Service, which employed 13 operators.

The Copiague-based company's owner, Michael Sackaris, remains charged with bribery in the case, as is one of his crane operators, Michael Pascalli. Prosecutors say Pascalli, 24, bribed Delayo to sign off on a drivers exam he never took.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

That dishevelled geezer is the chief inspector?

Anonymous said...

A sentence of only 2-6 year sentence? He should be charged with murder not bribery. This murderer is no better than the murderer that inspected the stand pipe at the Deutsche Bank. It is all about the money and not the safety.

Lino said...

The conservatives have a simple solution: Self Certification.

Less regulation= greater profit.

Deaths= Collateral damage.

Queens Crapper said...

Conservatives? Self-certification is as liberal a policy as they come, pal!

Anonymous said...

Why isn't he charged with murder?

Anthony Bordello said...

The conservatives have a simple solution: Self Certification.

Lino's solution on a lonely Saturday night: self gratification!

Lino LOVES regulation, as long as it's not the restaurant industry that's getting regulated!!

Lino said...

" Queens Crapper said...
Conservatives? Self-certification is as liberal a policy as they come, pal!"

"Liberal" in results only.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self_Certification_%28New_York_City_Department_of_Buildings%29#History

Quoting:
According to the New York Times, the Department of Buildings has for decades allowed "...licensed professionals [to] self-certify that components of the construction process itself—installation of the girders, the bolts, the concrete, the fireproofing, the wiring and more—are performed according to code.[1]

-In 1995, under Mayor Giuliani, this program was expanded to include the design itself.-

Perfect doctrinaire conservatism.

Anonymous said...

Giuliani was the Liberal Party candidate - twice.

Queens Crapper said...

Not liberal in results. Liberal from the beginning to the end. Allowing someone to skate by without checking, caring or cracking down is a liberal way of thinking. Insisting that people play by the rules is conservative (unless a crackdown is used solely as a source of income, then that's more like liberalism).

Lino said...

" Queens Crapper said...
Not liberal in results. Liberal from the beginning to the end. Allowing someone to skate by without checking, caring or cracking down is a liberal way of thinking."

I see..so such misguided acts as repeal of the Glass-Steagall act (w/acquiescence of a semi -liberal President) was "liberal' policy?

Again, only if you enclose it with the ensuing free-for-all that transformed our banking system into a three card monty scheme.

Conservatives chafe against regulations that safeguard average citizens against the predations of their benefactors. I don't know how this could have eluded you.

Queens Crapper said...

Conservative political philosophy and conservative values are 2 different things. Same with liberal political philosophy that wants to write laws banning everything, yet liberal values are the opposite. I don't know how this could have eluded you.

Anonymous said...

Throw the key away for this inspector. Make it a 25 year sentence, he knew better than to take small bribes that potentially could ignore critical important requirements for public saftey.

Auntie Invasion said...

Thank God he is from the Bronx and not Queens. we don't allow that kind of crap in our boro.