Several Hispanics who worked as “supers” in buildings top the list of dozens of New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) employees and contractors arrested yesterday in a massive $2 million dollar corruption investigation.
Those detained are 55 current NYCHA employees and 15 retirees. They were arrested by the Department of Investigation (DOI), Homeland Security (DHS), and the city’s Office of the Inspector General of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) at their homes as well as at the Taft Houses and the Martin Luther King Houses, both in Harlem. , and in other public housing complexes.
Since at least 2013, “They obtained just over $2 million dollars in bribing private actors in exchange for awarding them no-bid contracts to carry out building repairs in various Housing Authority projects throughout the city, according to a series of criminal complaints revealed Tuesday,” he summarized Daily News.
Bribery and extortion crimes were committed in approximately one-third of the hundreds of NYCHA developments, the nation’s largest public housing system.with 13,000 employees and 360,000 residents.
Typical bribes ranged from $500 to $2,000, or around 10% to 20% of the value of the contractshe detailed New York Post. Among all the accused, there are several Hispanics on the list of superintendents who allegedly received the most money in bribes:
-Juan Mercado: super from the Hammel Houses and Carleton Manor complexes in Queens; $314,300 dollars, the largest amount reported.
-Jose Hernandez: Marble Hill Houses, The Bronx; $95,000.
-Rigoberto “Ricky” Charriez: Richmond Terrace, Queens and other buildings; $70,000.
-Frankie Villanueva: Mott Haven Houses en The Bronx; $50,000.
–Alex Tolozano: The Bronx; $41,000.
-Elizabeth Tapia: Brooklyn; $11,000.
“The charges (…) constitute the largest number of federal bribery charges in a single day in the history of the Department of Justice (DOJ),” an unnamed Southern District spokesperson said yesterday. “The accused allegedly They accepted cash payments of contractors in exchange for awarding NYCHA contracts.”
In her first reaction yesterday, the NYCHA CEO Lisa Bova-Hiatt He said that those arrested “They put their greed first and violated the trust of our residents, his colleagues at NYCHA and all New Yorkers.”
New York Mayor Eric Adams has not commented. All charges are mere accusations and those charged are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.
2024-02-07 20:19:00
