Three Current and Former NYPD Officers Charged with Bribery

 

In Exchange for Bribes, Two NYPD Officers Steered Damaged Vehicles to a Tow Truck Company Operated by a Former NYPD Officer

 An indictment was unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn charging James Davneiro, Giancarlo Osma, and Michael Perri with one count of conspiracy to violate the Travel Act and one count of using interstate facilities to commit bribery.  During the relevant period, Davneiro, Osma, and Perri were New York City Police Department (“NYPD”) officers assigned to the 107th Precinct in Queens.  Perri retired from the NYPD in June 2020.

The defendants were arrested and are scheduled to be arraigned before United States Magistrate Judge Lois Bloom.

Jacquelyn M. Kasulis, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Michael J. Driscoll Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), and Dermot Shea, Commissioner, NYPD, announced the charges.

“As alleged in the indictment, these defendants disgraced their badges and betrayed the public trust and their oaths as police officers by lining their pockets with cash bribes,” stated Acting U. S. Attorney Kasulis.  “We will continue to root out and prosecute corruption by those who are sworn to enforce and uphold the law.”  Ms. Kasulis also thanked the National Insurance Crime Bureau for its assistance with the case.

“Accepting bribes as a law enforcement officer in lieu of following legal procedure is against the law and won't be tolerated. Those charged today aren't representative of the tens of thousands of men and women who serve the NYPD with honor day in and day out and, as such, will be held accountable for their alleged crime,” stated FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Driscoll.

“The NYPD cleans its own house. Corruption is a crime and a violation of a police officer’s sworn oath. This investigation is the third phase of an ongoing case where our Internal Affairs Bureau investigators left no stone unturned. I want to thank our FBI partners from the Public Corruption Unit, and the prosecutors of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York who have helped guide this case throughout,” stated NYPD Commissioner Shea.

Beginning in approximately May 2020, after Davneiro and Osma responded as NYPD officers to automobile accidents, they would steer the damaged vehicles to a licensed tow trucking and automobile repair business operated by Perri, instead of using the NYPD’s Directed Accident Response Program, as legally required. That program requires the NYPD to identify appropriate licensed tow trucking and automobile repair businesses to respond to automobile accident scenes and remove damaged vehicles.  In exchange for steering the removal and repair of damaged vehicles to Perri’s business, Perri paid Davneiro and Osma thousands of dollars in cash bribes.

The charges in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.  If convicted, the defendants face up to five years in prison.

Governor Hochul Updates New Yorkers on State's Progress Combating COVID-19 - OCTOBER 3, 2021

107,640 Vaccine Doses Administered Over Last 24 Hours

30 COVID-19 Deaths Statewide Yesterday

 Governor Kathy Hochul today updated New Yorkers on the state's progress combating COVID-19.

"New Yorkers continue to battle COVID-19 every day across our state, and we can't sit idly by and accept that situation—we have to continue fighting this virus," Governor Hochul said. "The vaccine is the way forward, and we have to get as many eligible New Yorkers to take the shot as soon as we possibly can. New York State maintains numerous convenient vaccination sites and we have ample supply, so don't hesitate to get your shot right away."

 

Today's data is summarized briefly below:

• Test Results Reported - 194,919
• Total Positive - 4,584
• Percent Positive - 2.35%
• 7-Day Average Percent Positive - 2.44%
• Patient Hospitalization - 2,151 (-26)
• Patients Newly Admitted - 246
• Patients in ICU - 525 (+0)
• Patients in ICU with Intubation - 285 (+0)
• Total Discharges - 201,610 (+267)
• New deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS - 30
• Total deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS - 44,641

The Health Electronic Response Data System is a NYS DOH data source that collects confirmed daily death data as reported by hospitals, nursing homes and adult care facilities only.

• Total deaths reported to and compiled by the CDC - 56,758

This daily COVID-19 provisional death certificate data reported by NYS DOH and NYC to the CDC includes those who died in any location, including hospitals, nursing homes, adult care facilities, at home, in hospice and other settings.

• Total vaccine doses administered - 25,478,584
• Total vaccine doses administered over past 24 hours - 107,640
• Total vaccine doses administered over past 7 days - 456,925
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with at least one vaccine dose - 82.0%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with completed vaccine series - 73.9%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with at least one vaccine dose (CDC) - 84.4%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with completed vaccine series (CDC) - 75.7%
• Percent of all New Yorkers with at least one vaccine dose - 69.4%
• Percent of all New Yorkers with completed vaccine series - 62.4%
• Percent of all New Yorkers with at least one vaccine dose (CDC) - 71.5%
• Percent of all New Yorkers with completed vaccine series (CDC) - 63.9%

State Parks Announces Federal Grant Supporting LGBT Heritage Research in Greenwich Village

 

Fifth Grant Supports Project Begun in 2014

Nine Greenwich Village Properties Named to State, National Historic Registers So Far

 Marking LGBT History Month in October, the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation announced today the award of a $49,999 federal grant from the National Park Service to expand State and National Registers of Historic Places documentation for the Greenwich Village Historic District in Manhattan.

The grant was made under the National Park Service's Underrepresented Community Grants Program, which works towards diversifying nominations submitted to the National Register of Historic Places. The grant will be facilitated by Park’s Division for Historic Preservation and the New York City LGBT Historic Sites Project, a cultural heritage initiative documenting the city’s LGBT heritage.

State Parks Commissioner Erik Kulleseid said, "Greenwich Village, a site of layered social, art, and culture movements, holds a singular place in the nation’s LGBTQ history. It is of the utmost importance that we preserve the Greenwich Village landscape for future generations to understand the accomplishments, struggles, and fortitude of the individuals that have paved the way to expand LGBTQ rights.”

While the Greenwich Village Historic District was originally listed in the Registers in 1978, documentation then did not acknowledge the significant role that the LGBT community played in the history of the village.

In 2014, State Parks received a $49,999 federal grant to help launch the New York City LGBT Historic Sites Project to supplement research in the historic district. This was followed by another $49,999 federal grant in 2016 and additional grants of $25,000 in 2018 & 2019.

The latest grant will expand the registers’ documented history of the historic district, adding important scholarship on LGBT history that encompasses early 20th century LGBT culture and contributions, through late 20^th century, an era of extraordinary significance due to the impact of AIDS epidemic.

Amanda Davis, Manager of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project said, "In the 1920s, Greenwich Village emerged as one of the world's most famous LGBT enclaves, building a presence that continues today through sites of activism, arts and culture, community, nightlife, and residence. Creating an LGBT overlay to the Greenwich Village National Register Historic District will officially recognize the transformative contributions that the LGBT community has made to this famed neighborhood and, we hope, will inspire other historic preservationists to look for and document queer history within new or existing historic districts throughout the country going forward."

October’s LGBT History Month was founded in 1994 by Missouri high school teacher Rodney Wilson. The month-long celebration promotes LGBTQ+ role models and documents the contributions of the LGBTQ+ community.

So far, nine New York City properties have been listed on the National Register due to the project, with the most recent being the Women’s Liberation Center, the first permanent advocacy space for women’s and lesbians’ organizations in New York, and Raisin in the Sun author Lorraine Hansberry’s residence in New York City. 

The Stonewall Inn State Historic Site, a New York City bar and site of a 1969 uprising widely recognized as a key turning point in the LGBT rights movement, was the first such site of its kind in the nation to be added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.

State Parks has subcontracted the Greenwich Village District amendment project to the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, which so far has documented the history of more than 350 sites across the city, including residences, stores, performance venues, bars and restaurants, organizational and community spaces, medical facilities, and cultural and educational institutions.

The project has documented these locations on its website http://www.nyclgbtsites.org/ and disseminates its content through social media at @nyclgbtsites.

In 2018, State Parks honored the NYC LGBT Sites Project team with a state Historic Preservation Award for its ground-breaking, nationally significant work.

The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation oversees more than 250 parks, historic sites, recreational trails, golf courses, boat launches and more, which are visited by 78 million people annually. For more information on any of these recreation areas, call 518-474-0456 or visit www.parks.ny.gov, connect with us on Facebook, or follow on Instagram and Twitter

90 Days and Counting

 

Let me get ready for my Monday morning media advisory. Let's see, I am going to have to go over the public schools, the vaccination rate, and COVID indicators. I am going to have to go to Staten Island to commission a new ferry at lunch time. Then I have a taping later with Errol Louis for the 7 PM Inside City Hall show on NY1. 

I wonder what questions those pesky reporters are going to have for me, so I better make sure my moderator does not call on any pesky reporter that I don't want to be questioned by. That goes for that pesky reporter from the Bronx, who always puts me into a corner with his questions, so he is on my do not call on list.

Attorney General James' Statement on Wayne LaPierre’s Re-Election to NRA Board

 

 New York Attorney General Letitia James today released the following statement after the National Rifle Association (NRA) yesterday announced that Wayne LaPierre was re-elected to the NRA board as executive vice-president:

“The NRA’s decision to re-elect Wayne LaPierre and other top leaders yesterday despite the detailed evidence of repeated fraud and self-dealing we have laid out in our lawsuit and during the bankruptcy trial underscores that board governance is broken and that the rot runs deep at the NRA. For years, Mr. LaPierre and his lieutenants used the NRA and its donors as a breeding ground for personal gain and to live a lavish lifestyle, which is why they must be removed. Our fight for transparency and accountability will continue because no one is above the law.”

In August 2020, Attorney General James filed a lawsuit against the NRA and four of the organization’s current or former top executives for failing to manage the NRA’s funds; failing to follow numerous state and federal laws, as well as the NRA’s own bylaws and policies; and contributing to the loss of more than $64 million in just three years. The suit was filed against the NRA as a whole, as well as LaPierre, former Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer Wilson “Woody” Phillips, former Chief of Staff and Executive Director of General Operations Joshua Powell, and Corporate Secretary and General Counsel John Frazer.

This past January, in an effort to avoid accountability altogether, the NRA filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy even though the organization still claimed to have healthy financial reserves. Over the course of the bankruptcy trial, LaPierre and other senior leaders, including incoming NRA President Charles Cotton and incoming First Vice-President Willis Lee, admitted that the bankruptcy was simply a way of avoiding New York’s enforcement action, yet still stated that they believed that New York courts and judges could be trusted to fairly and impartially oversee the case. In May, a federal bankruptcy court in Texas rejected the organization’s claims of bankruptcy after the NRA sought to reorganize in Texas, stating, “that the NRA did not file the bankruptcy petition in good faith.”

Attorney General James’ suit against the NRA, LaPierre, and the other defendants continues.

Governor Hochul Updates New Yorkers on State's Progress Combating COVID-19 - OCTOBER 2, 2021

 

91,507 Vaccine Doses Administered Over Last 24 Hours

22 COVID-19 Deaths Statewide Yesterday 

 Governor Kathy Hochul today updated New Yorkers on the state's progress combating COVID-19.

"We're working to protect New Yorkers from the continued spread of COVID-19, and the vaccine is the central tool in that ongoing effort," Governor Hochul said. "New York State is taking action to keep our children, parents and families safe from this terrible virus, but there's more we have to do. Getting New Yorkers vaccinated is vital to rebuilding our economy and fostering a healthier future for all of us, so I urge everyone who hasn't taken the shot yet to do so immediately."

  

Today's data is summarized briefly below:

• Test Results Reported - 221,209
• Total Positive - 4,701
• Percent Positive - 2.13%
• 7-Day Average Percent Positive - 2.45%
• Patient Hospitalization - 2,177 (+8)
• Patients Newly Admitted - 288
• Patients in ICU - 525 (+5)
• Patients in ICU with Intubation - 285 (-10)
• Total Discharges - 201,343 (+264)
• New deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS - 22
• Total deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS - 44,610

The Health Electronic Response Data System is a NYS DOH data source that collects confirmed daily death data as reported by hospitals, nursing homes and adult care facilities only.

• Total deaths reported to and compiled by the CDC - 56,758

This daily COVID-19 provisional death certificate data reported by NYS DOH and NYC to the CDC includes those who died in any location, including hospitals, nursing homes, adult care facilities, at home, in hospice and other settings.

• Total vaccine doses administered - 25,370,944
• Total vaccine doses administered over past 24 hours - 91,507
• Total vaccine doses administered over past 7 days - 405,196
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with at least one vaccine dose - 81.8%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with completed vaccine series - 73.7%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with at least one vaccine dose (CDC) - 84.3%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with completed vaccine series (CDC) - 75.6%
• Percent of all New Yorkers with at least one vaccine dose - 69.2%
• Percent of all New Yorkers with completed vaccine series - 62.2%
• Percent of all New Yorkers with at least one vaccine dose (CDC) - 71.4%
• Percent of all New Yorkers with completed vaccine series (CDC) - 63.8%

Councilman Mark Gjonaj's NYC Moving Forward Week in Review - 10/1/2021

Dear Friends,

Another week has passed by and we are already in October. I hope you and your families are continuing to do well as are look forward to return to normalcy, while the City grapples with the public health and financial crises brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

October marks the beginning of the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and as we stand with the women and men who have been diagnosed with breast cancer, we honor those who have lost their battles and we hope and pledge to continue fighting for a cure. In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, my office is hosting two Mammogram Events on October 2nd and October 16th in Westchester Square and City Island. Take advantage and call our office to register at 728-931-1721.

Our office has received a lot of complaints especially after Memorial Day on noise and extremely loud music being blasted during the night hours that has been affecting residents from Throggs Neck to Edgewater to Morris Park. I have been in touch with the NYPD 45th Precinct and as of this week they have issued 33 summonses, taken three cars and one motorcycle. Please call 311 to report noise and loud music and alert the local precinct.

I am glad to continue the tradition of bringing Free S.A.T. Prep Courses at the Bronx House. Families and College bound students should benefit from these courses and inquire and register with the Bronx House at (718) 792-1800.

Last week I was proud to sponsor a street co-naming in honor of Lorraine Nugent, a dedicated Northeast Bronx community leader, activist who always led by example and now her memory and her work will be a reminder of gratitude for the community.

The City of New York is offering a temporary program allowing constituents to pay a reduced amount for eligible Environmental Control Board judgments. If anyone has unpaid OATH ECB judgments that are eligible for the FAIRER Program, they may be able to save up to 75% and have the penalties and interest associated with your judgments waived. For more information, Click Here.

Please remember we are here for you, contact my office with issues or concerns at 718-931-1721 or email at MGjonaj@council.nyc.gov.

Sincerely,

NYC Councilman Mark Gjonaj

District 13, Bronx

 

MTA Financial Outlook Precarious            

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has fended off fiscal disaster brought on by the COVID-pandemic, but it is not out of the woods yet, according to a report released by New York State Comptroller DiNapoli. The Comptroller’s annual report on the MTA’s finances details how the combination of higher spending, the winding down of federal aid, the risk of permanently lower ridership levels, the increased impact from extreme weather, potential service reductions and other factors will create escalating challenges with limited time for the authority to solve them.