Corrupt NYC Construction Crane Inspector Pays Price For Taking Bribes
Courtesy of the New York Post. NYC's former top crane inspector pleads guilty to taking bribes
Shame on you. That's all there it to say to New York City's former top crane inspector. On March 24 , 2010, 61-year old James Delayo plead guilty to pocketing over $10,000 in bribes and selling the safety of his city's residents up the river. He admitted he repeatedly sold answers to the "crane-operator licensing test" , and even sold the licenses themselves!
Although the bribes were relatively small, the risk this so-called "public servant" exposed the general public to was enormous, since as a result of his greed, Delayo put many people who had never honestly passed the city's crane-operator test behind the controls of NYC's largest construction cranes - cranes measuring 200 feet tall and weighing fifty tons!
According to prosecutors, Delayo's partner in crime was a Long Island based crane company called Nu Way Crane Service, and that he provided that company with advance copies of the crane operator's exam for three thousand dollars.
Delayo's scheme was uncovered by the Manhattan DA's office who had been investigating a series of deadly construction accidents involving giant cranes-- such as the one on March 15, 2008 which killed 7 people and destroyed a townhouse on Manhattan's Upper East Side, and another accident where two people were also killed in New York City as a result of giant crane crash.
This is not the first time new Manhattan District Attorney has thrown the book on people who break the law in the construction industry. Earlier this month, DA Cyrus Vance Jr., charged the owner of a crane rental company with manslaughter for his role in a deadly crane accident on East 91st Street in New York's Upper East Side. The DA Vance's recent crackdown on illegality in the construction industry is a big step in the right direction.
This is especially true when it comes to public officials like Mr. Delayo, who are morally and legally required to hold themselves to a higher standard than ordinary folk. The City of New York not only paid Mr. Delayo's salary; its residents trusted him to protect them. Delayo repaid them by selling out their safety for a few extra bucks. Mr. Delayo will be sentenced in May and is facing from two to six years in jail. Even New York's best construction accident lawyers cannot protect the public from this type of criminality.
Perhaps when he is behind bars, Mr. Delayo will have time to consider that he has not only broken the law, but betrayed the very people he was hired to protect.
