Hundreds of thousands of dollars taken in payoffs; Projects approved without making inspections; City setting short-term and long-term solutions to inspector shortage
Fifteen of New York City's 24 plumbing inspectors -- 70 percent of the staff -- were charged June 25 with extorting hundreds of thousands of dollars to approve projects around the city. Among those charged were the top inspector; the top supervisors in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx; three former plumbing inspectors; and a former boiler inspector.
Papers filed in Federal District Court in Brooklyn charge that the inspectors routinely extorted cash bribes of $50 to $500 in exchange for approvals of plumbing work on commercial construction projects and home renovations, according to The New York Times. Prosecutors said that over the last 10 years the men took hundreds of thousands of dollars in payoffs from contractors.