1 year ago
NEW YORK — A trove of surveillance, wiretaps and government records released Wednesday by Manhattan prosecutors painted an unflattering picture of New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ administration, showing how intertwined it became in the multiple bribery schemes alleged of former city buildings commissioner Eric Ulrich.
Neither Adams nor any of his high-ranking aides were accused of wrongdoing in five indictments unveiled by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. The case covered Ulrich’s time running the Department of Buildings — as well as his tenure as a senior adviser to the mayor and his final term on the New York City Council. But the mayor and government brass nevertheless played recurring roles, the court records show.
Bragg accused Ulrich of accepting money and gifts in exchange for pulling the levers of government and introducing his associates to high-ranking administration employees. And as the indictment alleges — he was often successful.
Six others were charged Wednesday. Several of them got face time with the mayor and his chief adviser.
Breaking bread
In December of 2021, for example, Adams sat down with Ulrich and three people named in Wednesday’s indictment: Michael Mazzio, who owns a towing company, and brothers Joseph and Anthony Livreri, who own a Queens pizzeria, according to the indictment.
Joseph Livreri, who worked for Ulrich in the Council as a part-time aide, is also alleged by prosecutors to be a part owner of an illegal gambling spot in Ozone Park. Public records show all three donated $2,000 each to Adams’ mayoral campaign — the maximum allowed by law.
Days before Adams would officially begin his term, the group convened at Aldo’s, the Livreris’ pie joint, with the anticipation that Ulrich would join the administration — an expectation realized when the former Council member was named a senior adviser, the records showed.
In February, the mayor again sat down with Ulrich and the Livreris, according to Bragg’s office, this time at Vetro Restaurant and Lounge in Howard Beach.
And in June, an unnamed chief adviser to the mayor supped with Ulrich, Joseph Livreri and Michael Mazzio at Philippe Chow, an upscale Chinese eatery in Midtown, according to court documents.
Bragg brushed away questions about Adams at a press conference Wednesday, saying that he didn’t want to talk about anything that wasn’t specifically included in the indictment. He did, however, emphasize Ulrich was profiting off his access to the mayor.
“There are allegations of invitations to invite-only events,” Bragg said. “Certainly part of the monetization of the role was providing access.”
Ulrich, the Livreri brothers and Mazzio co-hosted a fundraiser for Adams at a waterfront Queens restaurant in August 2021.
When asked at a press conference last month, Adams did not directly address whether he knew the Livreri brothers, but said generally that he is often approached by people, and that he does not know everyone who threw him a fundraiser or donated to his campaign.
“Being the mayor, particularly a mayor that does not live in a bubble, I am constantly having people around me all day every day,” he said. “So those who hosted events, I don’t know all the names, I don’t know all the faces. I have a fundraising team and they are handling that.”
City Hall said the administration is cooperating with the investigation.
“We always expect all our employees to adhere to the strictest ethical guidelines. While we don’t have any details about the indictment other than what has been made public so far, as we have previously stated, we will allow this investigation to run its course and will continue to assist the DA in any way needed,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
The spokesperson added: The mayor has not received any requests from the Manhattan DA surrounding this matter and has never spoken to Mr. Ulrich about this investigation.”
Bragg, at his press conference, broadly thanked City Hall for “strong cooperation … in terms of making folks available.”
Ulrich and the Livreri brothers pleaded not guilty in Manhattan state court Wednesday. Mazzio’s arraignment was delayed because he had Covid-19, according to his attorney.
“Throughout the process, Mr. Ulrich has maintained his innocence, and today’s proceedings do nothing to change that. His integrity remains intact,” Ulrich’s attorney, Samuel Braverman, said in a statement.
The pizzeria
Over the course of 2022, the Livreris and Mazzio had much to discuss with the Adams team.
In February 2022, Joseph Livreri and Mazzio had multiple conversations with the mayor’s chief adviser, who is unnamed, about getting Mazzio’s towing company authorized to remove cars from city highways during snowstorms, according to the indictment. The duo also asked the adviser to remove a rival company from the roster.
Ulrich also allegedly reached out to high-ranking officials for separate requests on the trio’s behalf.
That same month, the brothers’ pizzeria was shut down by the health department, according to Bragg. After a frantic call from Joseph Livreri, Ulrich allegedly reached out to the director of the Mayor’s Office of Community Affairs and said, “the Mayor’s favorite restaurant in Queens got shut down tonight by the Board of Health.”
Ulrich allegedly contacted several other officials on the matter, including the mayor’s chief adviser, who purportedly spoke with Joseph Livreri in a February 16 telephone call explaining to him why the eatery had been shuttered.
The city eventually provided an expedited health inspection, according to Bragg.
While in his role as senior adviser, Ulrich also called his predecessor at the buildings department to remove a vacate order from a bakery named Fortunato Brothers at the behest of the Livreri brothers — and an expedited inspection eventually led the buildings department to amend its vacate order.
And when Mazzio wanted a better job for his daughter, who worked for the Department of Correction, Ulrich allegedly called the commissioner and sent along her resume.
“This one is from the boss,” Ulrich allegedly wrote.
In February 2022, Ulrich allegedly told Mazzio his daughter had been offered a title that paid $20,000 more than she was previously making.
In exchange for greasing the gears of government and his introductions to the mayor and his chief adviser, Bragg alleged that Urich accepted cash and gifts including season tickets to the New York Mets.
'The guy across the street has got to go'
February 21, 2022 was a crucial evening at Vetro Restaurant and Lounge, the Howard Beach restaurant where the mayor and Ulrich sat down with the Livreris and Mazzio, according to Bragg’s office.
That same day, Adams and Ulrich were together at the eatery with a developer named Mark Caller, chief executive of Marcal Group, who was currently seeking a zoning change for a Rockaway development project, per the indictment. It was unclear whether the sitdown coincided with the mayor’s meeting with the Livreris and Mazzio.
Caller, too, had donated to Adams’ mayoral campaign and hosted a fundraiser that brought in nearly $50,000 for the mayor’s campaign, including $15,400 from members of Caller’s family, The City first reported.
Over several days in February, including the day at the restaurant, Ulrich contacted the director of the City Planning Department to inquire about Caller’s zoning application, which Bragg alleged ultimately led to a meeting between the developer and the planning director.
Caller also needed action from the buildings department to get the project started before the expiration of a lucrative tax break for developers — a prospect that Ulrich allegedly found to be much riskier after he was named DOB commissioner in May, 2022.
“I have to be a little bit more careful because I can’t be conflicted,” he allegedly told Caller, according to the indictment. “... If you have to communicate with me about something directly, about something involving a property you own, maybe it’s better if it comes from the councilwoman or the elected officials, so that we’re working on it at their requests ... We have to do it smart.”
Ulrich allegedly facilitated several interactions between the buildings department and Caller. And in exchange for these actions, Bragg alleged Caller provided Ulrich with a discounted luxury beachfront apartment.
There was, however, one problem with the place.
“The guy across the street has got to go,” Ulrich allegedly wrote to Caller in a WhatsApp message in March 2022 when he was still a senior adviser to the mayor.
He was referring to 158 Beach 116th St., an apartment building across the street from Ulrich’s new digs that Bragg’s office said was occupied by low-income residents.
“There has to be a way to put 158 B116th out of business,” Caller replied. “It’s an absolute disgrace.”
It turns out, there was. At least temporarily.
Ulrich allegedly suggested to Caller that he could get the buildings department to inspect the property and issue a vacate order, which would have potentially taken months to correct. To facilitate this task, he sought the help of a state Assembly member and a buildings department official — who were also unnamed in court papers — who told the inspector eventually dispatched to the property to “be creative,” according to Bragg.
Caller’s lawyers, Benjamin Brafman and Jacob Kaplan, said in a statement that Caller did nothing illegal, “as Mr. Ulrich obtained an apartment in one of Mr. Caller’s buildings at a market rate.” They added that Caller did not know any of the other men mentioned in the indictment.
The Surrealist
The indictment accuses Ulrich of goading the buildings department into action on behalf of a filing representative with clients seeking all manner of approvals and decisions from the agency.
While a Council member, a senior adviser and DOB commissioner, the indictment alleges, Ulrich gave preferential treatment to the clients of Paul Grego.
Ulrich allegedly assisted in getting a permit for a restaurant, expedited applications within the department, connected Grego with high-ranking buildings officials and even took staffing recommendations from the private-sector representative.
In exchange, Bragg alleged, Ulrich accepted a bespoke suit and a painting for his girlfriend, who was interested in the works of Francisco Poblet, an acolyte of famed surrealist Salvador Dalí.
“I got the things for you,” Grego said to Ulrich during a June, 2022 phone call, using a code word for Poblet’s work, Don Quixote De La Mancha. “The painting that your daughter did.”
Grego pleaded not guilty Wednesday.
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