NYC Building Commish Tied to potential Mob Gambling Investigation
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Re: NYC Building Commish Tied to potential Mob Gambling Investigation
Not say indictments are not coming but we have all heard that before
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Re: NYC Building Commish Tied to potential Mob Gambling Investigation
Apparently Ulrich told investigators that Eric Adams tipped him off that he was under investigation:
https://nypost.com/2023/07/31/reboot-of ... -to-probe/
https://nypost.com/2023/07/31/reboot-of ... -to-probe/
"Hey, hey, hey — this is America, baby! Survival of the fittest.”
Re: NYC Building Commish Tied to potential Mob Gambling Investigation
District Attorney’s Investigations Burrow Into Adams’s Circle of Support
Mayor Eric Adams has not been implicated in any wrongdoing, but District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg has targeted people who are in the mayor’s circle.
By Jonah E. Bromwich and William K. Rashbaum
Aug. 3, 2023
The Manhattan district attorney’s office is prosecuting two criminal cases that come uncomfortably close to Mayor Eric Adams, bringing unwanted attention to the administration and raising questions about Mr. Adams’s relationships with the accused.
One involves Mr. Adams's former buildings commissioner, who has been charged in a sealed indictment with corruption-related crimes, according to two people familiar with the investigation who asked for anonymity to discuss sealed charges.
In the other, six people — including a longtime friend of the mayor, Dwayne Montgomery — were charged with conspiring to illegally funnel money to Mr. Adams’s mayoral campaign in 2021.
The cases have subjected the mayor’s associates — and to a degree, Mr. Adams himself — to the scrutiny of the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg. While there is no suggestion that Mr. Adams is under criminal investigation, the cases are not the first to place the mayor, who touts his law-and-order credentials, in the awkward position of having to explain his conduct or that of his associates.
Since taking office in January 2022, the mayor also has been linked with a Brooklyn pastor known as the “bling bishop” who was charged with fraud and extortion and to twin brothers who share a criminal history involving money laundering.
In the most recent case, the sealed indictment against the mayor’s former buildings commissioner, Eric Ulrich, Mr. Adams has faced questions about his relationship with the former agency head.
Mr. Ulrich resigned in November 2022, days after investigators with the district attorney’s office seized his phone and he was questioned by prosecutors. He told them that months earlier, Mayor Adams had warned him that he was the focus of a criminal investigation, two of the people said. (Mr. Ulrich’s comments to prosecutors were first reported by The Daily News.)
Mr. Adams has denied that he gave any warning, which would not appear to violate state laws in any event. A spokesman for Mr. Adams said in a statement Thursday that the mayor had not received any requests from the Manhattan district attorney regarding either Mr. Ulrich or the straw donor case.
“The mayor hasn’t spoken to Mr. Ulrich or Mr. Montgomery about either of the respective investigations, either before or after they became public,” he said.
In recent weeks, a grand jury voted to charge Mr. Ulrich with having accepted a discounted apartment from a real estate developer who has had business before the city, the people said. Mr. Ulrich accepted at least some of the benefit while he was still in charge of the agency. The Brooklyn-based developer, Mark Caller, is also charged in the indictment, the people said.
The charges also touch on what prosecutors are expected to characterize as Mr. Ulrich’s ties to organized crime, the people said. The indictment is likely to be announced by Mr. Bragg in September.
A lawyer for Mr. Ulrich, Samuel M. Braverman, said last month that until he saw the charges in an indictment, he would not comment. On Thursday, he said he had nothing to add.
Mr. Caller’s lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said he had not seen the indictment but that he expected it to include an allegation that Mr. Ulrich received a discounted apartment in one of Mr. Caller’s buildings.
“That is patently false,” Mr. Brafman said. “He paid market rate without any discount whatsoever,” Mr. Brafman said, adding that Mr. Ulrich had rented the apartment before becoming buildings commissioner.
Last month, Mr. Bragg announced the indictment of the six people who he said had recruited and reimbursed individual donors to Mr. Adams’s campaign in order to illegally obtain more money from the city. The lead defendant is Mr. Montgomery, a retired Police Department inspector, longtime friend of the mayor and a former colleague on the force. Prosecutors said that the defendants had sought to influence the administration.
According to court papers filed by the district attorney’s office, Mr. Montgomery and Rachel Atcheson, a close aide to Mr. Adams, set up a fund-raiser at which straw donors gave the campaign $250 apiece. Neither Ms. Atcheson nor Mr. Adams have been accused of wrongdoing.
New York City has a matching funds program designed to dilute the influence of big donors that rewards campaigns for donations of up to $250 from residents. For every personal donation of that amount to a mayoral campaign, the city gives a campaign $2,000.
The mayor, a retired police captain, campaigned as a tough-on-crime candidate who would restore order to New York City in the wake of the pandemic. In a Monday news conference, Mr. Adams said that he would not be distracted by the case against Mr. Ulrich.
“The D.A. has his job,” he said. “I have my job.”
Mr. Bragg, who like Mr. Adams was elected in 2021, has studiously avoided direct confrontation with the mayor, and the two men maintain a cordial relationship. But the district attorney, a former federal prosecutor who handled public corruption cases, has said he wants his office to pursue investigations into the powerful.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Bragg declined to comment on either of the cases.
Mr. Ulrich told prosecutors that Mr. Adams’s warning was delivered during a brief meeting in 2022, the people said. Beforehand, the mayor asked Mr. Ulrich to hand his phone to an associate, they said.
Then, as the two men talked, Mr. Adams warned Mr. Ulrich to “watch your back and watch your phones,” according to the people. Mr. Ulrich, they said, later told prosecutors that he understood the mayor to mean that he was a focus of a criminal investigation.
At the Monday news conference, Mr. Adams said that he had not even known that Mr. Ulrich was under criminal investigation.
Mr. Adams has shown few qualms about maintaining ties with people who have been accused of wrongdoing. He appointed Mr. Ulrich to head the buildings department despite a letter Mr. Ulrich had written four years earlier on behalf of a constituent with mob ties, and despite Mr. Ulrich’s acknowledged gambling and alcohol addictions.
The mayor also remains close with Johnny and Robert Petrosyants, twin brothers who pleaded guilty to financial crimes in 2014 and have continued to engage in a pattern of questionable business dealings, according to a New York Times investigation.
“I’m going to talk with people who have stumbled and fell,” Mr. Adams has said of the Petrosyants. “Because I’m perfectly imperfect, and this is a city made up of perfectly imperfect people.”
Supporters and members of the Adams administration are not Mr. Bragg’s only recent City Hall targets: His prosecutors are pursuing a third case, which focuses on the administration of Mr. Adams’s predecessor, Bill de Blasio.
The district attorney’s office is expected, in the coming weeks, to unveil charges against Howard Redmond, the head of Mr. de Blasio’s security detail. Mr. Redmond has been accused of blocking an investigation into the misuse of the detail by Mr. de Blasio, including bringing his security team on unauthorized city-financed trips related to his failed 2020 presidential bid. That inquiry was conducted by the Department of Investigation.
A lawyer for Mr. Redmond declined to comment.
In June, Mr. de Blasio was fined close to $500,000 by the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board for that conduct. Mr. de Blasio has appealed that ruling.
Jonah E. Bromwich covers criminal justice in New York, with a focus on the Manhattan district attorney's office, state criminal courts in Manhattan and New York City's jails. More about Jonah E. Bromwich
William K. Rashbaum is a senior writer on the Metro desk, where he covers political and municipal corruption, courts, terrorism and law enforcement. He was a part of the team awarded the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News. More about William K. Rashbaum
Mayor Eric Adams has not been implicated in any wrongdoing, but District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg has targeted people who are in the mayor’s circle.
By Jonah E. Bromwich and William K. Rashbaum
Aug. 3, 2023
The Manhattan district attorney’s office is prosecuting two criminal cases that come uncomfortably close to Mayor Eric Adams, bringing unwanted attention to the administration and raising questions about Mr. Adams’s relationships with the accused.
One involves Mr. Adams's former buildings commissioner, who has been charged in a sealed indictment with corruption-related crimes, according to two people familiar with the investigation who asked for anonymity to discuss sealed charges.
In the other, six people — including a longtime friend of the mayor, Dwayne Montgomery — were charged with conspiring to illegally funnel money to Mr. Adams’s mayoral campaign in 2021.
The cases have subjected the mayor’s associates — and to a degree, Mr. Adams himself — to the scrutiny of the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg. While there is no suggestion that Mr. Adams is under criminal investigation, the cases are not the first to place the mayor, who touts his law-and-order credentials, in the awkward position of having to explain his conduct or that of his associates.
Since taking office in January 2022, the mayor also has been linked with a Brooklyn pastor known as the “bling bishop” who was charged with fraud and extortion and to twin brothers who share a criminal history involving money laundering.
In the most recent case, the sealed indictment against the mayor’s former buildings commissioner, Eric Ulrich, Mr. Adams has faced questions about his relationship with the former agency head.
Mr. Ulrich resigned in November 2022, days after investigators with the district attorney’s office seized his phone and he was questioned by prosecutors. He told them that months earlier, Mayor Adams had warned him that he was the focus of a criminal investigation, two of the people said. (Mr. Ulrich’s comments to prosecutors were first reported by The Daily News.)
Mr. Adams has denied that he gave any warning, which would not appear to violate state laws in any event. A spokesman for Mr. Adams said in a statement Thursday that the mayor had not received any requests from the Manhattan district attorney regarding either Mr. Ulrich or the straw donor case.
“The mayor hasn’t spoken to Mr. Ulrich or Mr. Montgomery about either of the respective investigations, either before or after they became public,” he said.
In recent weeks, a grand jury voted to charge Mr. Ulrich with having accepted a discounted apartment from a real estate developer who has had business before the city, the people said. Mr. Ulrich accepted at least some of the benefit while he was still in charge of the agency. The Brooklyn-based developer, Mark Caller, is also charged in the indictment, the people said.
The charges also touch on what prosecutors are expected to characterize as Mr. Ulrich’s ties to organized crime, the people said. The indictment is likely to be announced by Mr. Bragg in September.
A lawyer for Mr. Ulrich, Samuel M. Braverman, said last month that until he saw the charges in an indictment, he would not comment. On Thursday, he said he had nothing to add.
Mr. Caller’s lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said he had not seen the indictment but that he expected it to include an allegation that Mr. Ulrich received a discounted apartment in one of Mr. Caller’s buildings.
“That is patently false,” Mr. Brafman said. “He paid market rate without any discount whatsoever,” Mr. Brafman said, adding that Mr. Ulrich had rented the apartment before becoming buildings commissioner.
Last month, Mr. Bragg announced the indictment of the six people who he said had recruited and reimbursed individual donors to Mr. Adams’s campaign in order to illegally obtain more money from the city. The lead defendant is Mr. Montgomery, a retired Police Department inspector, longtime friend of the mayor and a former colleague on the force. Prosecutors said that the defendants had sought to influence the administration.
According to court papers filed by the district attorney’s office, Mr. Montgomery and Rachel Atcheson, a close aide to Mr. Adams, set up a fund-raiser at which straw donors gave the campaign $250 apiece. Neither Ms. Atcheson nor Mr. Adams have been accused of wrongdoing.
New York City has a matching funds program designed to dilute the influence of big donors that rewards campaigns for donations of up to $250 from residents. For every personal donation of that amount to a mayoral campaign, the city gives a campaign $2,000.
The mayor, a retired police captain, campaigned as a tough-on-crime candidate who would restore order to New York City in the wake of the pandemic. In a Monday news conference, Mr. Adams said that he would not be distracted by the case against Mr. Ulrich.
“The D.A. has his job,” he said. “I have my job.”
Mr. Bragg, who like Mr. Adams was elected in 2021, has studiously avoided direct confrontation with the mayor, and the two men maintain a cordial relationship. But the district attorney, a former federal prosecutor who handled public corruption cases, has said he wants his office to pursue investigations into the powerful.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Bragg declined to comment on either of the cases.
Mr. Ulrich told prosecutors that Mr. Adams’s warning was delivered during a brief meeting in 2022, the people said. Beforehand, the mayor asked Mr. Ulrich to hand his phone to an associate, they said.
Then, as the two men talked, Mr. Adams warned Mr. Ulrich to “watch your back and watch your phones,” according to the people. Mr. Ulrich, they said, later told prosecutors that he understood the mayor to mean that he was a focus of a criminal investigation.
At the Monday news conference, Mr. Adams said that he had not even known that Mr. Ulrich was under criminal investigation.
Mr. Adams has shown few qualms about maintaining ties with people who have been accused of wrongdoing. He appointed Mr. Ulrich to head the buildings department despite a letter Mr. Ulrich had written four years earlier on behalf of a constituent with mob ties, and despite Mr. Ulrich’s acknowledged gambling and alcohol addictions.
The mayor also remains close with Johnny and Robert Petrosyants, twin brothers who pleaded guilty to financial crimes in 2014 and have continued to engage in a pattern of questionable business dealings, according to a New York Times investigation.
“I’m going to talk with people who have stumbled and fell,” Mr. Adams has said of the Petrosyants. “Because I’m perfectly imperfect, and this is a city made up of perfectly imperfect people.”
Supporters and members of the Adams administration are not Mr. Bragg’s only recent City Hall targets: His prosecutors are pursuing a third case, which focuses on the administration of Mr. Adams’s predecessor, Bill de Blasio.
The district attorney’s office is expected, in the coming weeks, to unveil charges against Howard Redmond, the head of Mr. de Blasio’s security detail. Mr. Redmond has been accused of blocking an investigation into the misuse of the detail by Mr. de Blasio, including bringing his security team on unauthorized city-financed trips related to his failed 2020 presidential bid. That inquiry was conducted by the Department of Investigation.
A lawyer for Mr. Redmond declined to comment.
In June, Mr. de Blasio was fined close to $500,000 by the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board for that conduct. Mr. de Blasio has appealed that ruling.
Jonah E. Bromwich covers criminal justice in New York, with a focus on the Manhattan district attorney's office, state criminal courts in Manhattan and New York City's jails. More about Jonah E. Bromwich
William K. Rashbaum is a senior writer on the Metro desk, where he covers political and municipal corruption, courts, terrorism and law enforcement. He was a part of the team awarded the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News. More about William K. Rashbaum
Re: NYC Building Commish Tied to potential Mob Gambling Investigation
https://www.qchron.com/editions/ulrich- ... fb529.html
Ulrich charged in sealed indictment, reports say
Queens Chronicle
by Kristen Guglielmo, Associate Editor Aug 4, 2023
Ulrich charged in sealed indictment, reports say 1
According to reports, Eric Ulrich has been charged with corruption in a sealed indictment.
Former Republican Councilman of Queens’ 32nd District and city Department of Buildings Commissioner Eric Ulrich has been charged with corruption in a sealed indictment by the Manhattan district attorney, sources told The New York Times and Daily News.
According to the Times, the case is expected to center around Ulrich accepting a discounted apartment from Brooklyn real estate developer and his landlord, Mark Caller, who has had business dealings before the city. Caller is also expected to be charged in the indictment.
Caller’s lawyer, Ben Brafman, could not be reached by the Chronicle for comment, but told the News he had not yet seen the indictment, though he had been informed of it. He called it “patently false” that his client did anything amounting to bribery.
According to the Times, Ulrich’s charges will also touch on his alleged ties to organized crime and illegal gambling.
The gambling investigation centered around a pizzeria with a history of mob ties, co-owned by Joseph Livreri, Ulrich’s former aide during his time serving the 32nd District in the City Council. The News reported that Livreri was fired from his City Council job last month.
Ulrich first learned he was under investigation from Mayor Adams in May 2022, months before the probe became public in November, the News reported last week.
Ulrich told Manhattan prosecutors that Adams told him “watch your back and watch your phones.” The former buildings commissioner allegedly interpreted the comment as a warning that he was being investigated.
Adams denies the encounter with Ulrich and is not expected to face any criminal charges.
In a press conference on Monday, Adams insisted he had not known Ulrich was under criminal investigation, and that he would not be distracted by Ulrich’s indictment.
“The DA has his job. I have my job,” he said.
Ulrich and his attorney, Samuel Braverman, could not be reached for comment regarding the indictment.
Ulrich charged in sealed indictment, reports say
Queens Chronicle
by Kristen Guglielmo, Associate Editor Aug 4, 2023
Ulrich charged in sealed indictment, reports say 1
According to reports, Eric Ulrich has been charged with corruption in a sealed indictment.
Former Republican Councilman of Queens’ 32nd District and city Department of Buildings Commissioner Eric Ulrich has been charged with corruption in a sealed indictment by the Manhattan district attorney, sources told The New York Times and Daily News.
According to the Times, the case is expected to center around Ulrich accepting a discounted apartment from Brooklyn real estate developer and his landlord, Mark Caller, who has had business dealings before the city. Caller is also expected to be charged in the indictment.
Caller’s lawyer, Ben Brafman, could not be reached by the Chronicle for comment, but told the News he had not yet seen the indictment, though he had been informed of it. He called it “patently false” that his client did anything amounting to bribery.
According to the Times, Ulrich’s charges will also touch on his alleged ties to organized crime and illegal gambling.
The gambling investigation centered around a pizzeria with a history of mob ties, co-owned by Joseph Livreri, Ulrich’s former aide during his time serving the 32nd District in the City Council. The News reported that Livreri was fired from his City Council job last month.
Ulrich first learned he was under investigation from Mayor Adams in May 2022, months before the probe became public in November, the News reported last week.
Ulrich told Manhattan prosecutors that Adams told him “watch your back and watch your phones.” The former buildings commissioner allegedly interpreted the comment as a warning that he was being investigated.
Adams denies the encounter with Ulrich and is not expected to face any criminal charges.
In a press conference on Monday, Adams insisted he had not known Ulrich was under criminal investigation, and that he would not be distracted by Ulrich’s indictment.
“The DA has his job. I have my job,” he said.
Ulrich and his attorney, Samuel Braverman, could not be reached for comment regarding the indictment.
Re: NYC Building Commish Tied to potential Mob Gambling Investigation
3 Hosts of an Eric Adams Fund-Raiser Are Said to Face Indictment
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/28/nyre ... aiser.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/28/nyre ... aiser.html
Re: NYC Building Commish Tied to potential Mob Gambling Investigation
Developer lawyered up with Ben Brafman, a heavy hitter.
Carl Fava was Genovese guy connected to towing industry and that older case if I remember right … think he’s part of same crew as Barry Nichilo.
Carl Fava was Genovese guy connected to towing industry and that older case if I remember right … think he’s part of same crew as Barry Nichilo.
Re: NYC Building Commish Tied to potential Mob Gambling Investigation
He is probably twice as much now since he defended Harvey weinstein.
Re: NYC Building Commish Tied to potential Mob Gambling Investigation
Ex-NYC Buildings chief Eric Ulrich’s massive bribery scheme traded political favors for $150K in benefits: DA
https://nypost.com/2023/09/13/ex-nyc-do ... scheme-da/
Former Buildings Chief Accused of Trading Favors for $150,000 in Bribes
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/13/nyre ... ibery.html
https://nypost.com/2023/09/13/ex-nyc-do ... scheme-da/
Former Buildings Chief Accused of Trading Favors for $150,000 in Bribes
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/13/nyre ... ibery.html
Re: NYC Building Commish Tied to potential Mob Gambling Investigation
**article mentions Fortunato Bakery, but I think author got it wrong since don’t think Livreris own the bakery, they own Aldo’s.
Ex-Buildings Commissioner Indicted on Bribery Charges After Allegedly Trading Favors
Adams appointee Eric Ulrich pocketed $150,000 from associates seeking city actions, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg charged.
BY GREG B. SMITH GSMITH@THECITY.NYC SEP 13, 2023,
Former Department of Buildings commissioner Eric Ulrich sits in front of a judge in Manhattan Criminal Court during his arraignment on bribery charges.Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
A former Queens City Council member and top aide to Mayor Eric Adams was charged Wednesday with pocketing $150,000 in bribes in exchange for performing a remarkably wide variety of favors for a host of bribe-paying individuals, including four major fundraisers for Adams.
Eric Ulrich, 38, was arraigned on charges outlined in a quintet of indictments alleging that he regularly and corruptly used his influence as a public official to meddle in the activities of the FDNY, the City Planning Commission, and the departments of Buildings, Health and Mental Hygiene, and Consumer and Worker Protection.
The beneficiaries of his interference included an eclectic group seeking smooth sailing through New York City’s vast bureaucracy: a real estate developer, a tow truck company owner, a consultant hired to expedite building permits and co-owners of a Queens pizza joint.
The bribery scheme outlined in the charges emerged, in part, from a years worth of secret recordings obtained over Ulrich’s phones, a marathon surveillance effort that began Nov. 4, 2021, just two days after Adams was elected mayor.
During that time Ulrich served first as a Queens Council member, then as a senior advisor to Adams, then as Adams’ buildings commissioner. He resigned in November when word leaked out that investigators had seized his cell phones.
In a press conference unveiling the multiple and sprawling schemes that also included charges against six alleged bribers, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg declined to say whether any of the recorded conversations included Ulrich’s chats with the mayor. None of the indictments directly implicated the mayor in any of his advisor’s alleged improprieties.
Several of Ulrich’s co-defendants, however, raised tens of thousands of dollars for Adams’ mayoral 2021 bid.
In August 2021, after Adams had won the primary but before he became mayor, Joseph and Anthony Livreri and Michael Mazzio hosted a $1,000-a-plate fete at Russo’s on the Bay in Howard Beach that raised more than $140,000.
Prosecutors alleged that Ulrich intervened to speed up re-inspections for the Livreri brothers, when their pizza joint, Aldo’s Ozone Park, was shut down due to multiple health code violations. He also stepped in when their Brooklyn bakery, Fortunato Brothers, was shut down by the buildings department after a fire. In both cases the sites quickly re-opened after Ulrich intervened.
As for Mazzio, an indictment alleges that Ulrich helped him win approval for a license for his tow truck company, Mike’s Heavy Duty Towing, that the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection had held up. And as a senior aide to Adams, Ulrich is accused of pulling strings to get Mazzio’s daughter a better-paying job in the city Department of Correction.
Another co-defendant who raised big bucks for Adams is real estate developer Mark Caller. On Aug. 10, 2021, Caller threw a rooftop party at the Brooklyn office of his firm, the Marcal Group, which raised $47,000 for Adams. Prosecutors say Ulrich helped Caller deal with multiple problems he was having with zoning and building department issues.
“As an elected official and a government employee, Eric Ulrich’s duty was to the people of the City of New York, not to his friends, not to his associates, and certainly not to himself,” Bragg said Wednesday. “Whether appointed or elected...when you enter public service you are bound to abide by laws, ethics and regulations that are central to the public trust. Flying in the face of all of that, Eric Ulrich monetized each elected and appointed role that he held in New York government. Rather than serving the public, he used his roles to benefit himself and his friends.”
Anthony Livreri is arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court along with former Department of Buildings commissioner Eric Ulrich on bribery charges.Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
Bragg noted “strong cooperation” from the city, and late Wednesday an Adams spokesperson, Charles Lutvak, issued a brief statement: “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. And, while we do not discuss private conversations, to avoid speculation, the mayor has not received any requests from the Manhattan DA surrounding this matter and has never spoken to Mr. Ulrich about this investigation.”
Discount Beach Apartment
Speaking with reporters, Bragg spelled out what Ulrich got in exchange for using his influence as a public official: premium Mets season tickets, a “bespoke suit,” a valuable painting from an associate of Salvador Dali, a discount luxury apartment in the Rockaways and “lots of cash” he used to settle mounting and persistent gambling debts. None of this income was reported on Ulrich’s financial disclosure forms.
One of the more disturbing allegations involved Ulrich’s effort in 2022 to shut down a hotel housing the homeless because it enraged Caller, the real estate developer. Prosecutors say he made this corrupt effort to aid Caller at the same time he was negotiating to obtain a discount apartment across the street from the hotel from Caller.
At one point in March 2022, while he was a senior advisor to Adams, Caller let Ulrich know he wanted to shut down a hotel at 158 Beach 116th Street that was housing homeless adults because it happened to be across the street from and adjacent to two of his upscale rental buildings.
In a WhatsApp exchange captured by prosecutors, Caller wrote to Ulrich, “There has to be a way to put 158 B116th out of business. It’s an absolute disgrace.”
Real estate developer Mark Caller is arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court along with former Department of Buildings commissioner Eric Ulrich on bribery charges.Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
In response, Ulrich promised Caller to set up a “task force” of inspectors from the FDNY and the buildings department, writing, “They might be able to vacate the f...g thing. It’ll take months to get it reopened.”
Prosecutors described a conversation Ulrich had with a state Assemblymember described as Jane Doe #1. At the time, Stacy Pheffer Amato was the Assembly member representing the Rockaways.
Ulrich is alleged to have requested that the Assembly member demand an FDNY/DOB inspection of the hotel, and instructed the Assembly member “to make sure FDNY and DOB issue a full vacate order so the occupants can be moved by the New York City Department of Homeless Services into alternative housing.”
Prosecutors say that shortly after several violations were issued at that address, but none involved a vacate order. Pheffer Amato did not respond to THE CITY’s questions Wednesday about this exchange.
While Ulrich was targeting the homeless shelter, he was simultaneously discussing with Caller obtaining an apartment at a discount rate in a building across the street from the hotel, an upscale address at 133 Beach 116th Street, prosecutors say.
Caller then offered Ulrich an apartment for $2,000 a month, the lowest monthly rental in the building, and said Ulrich could apply the rental toward a down payment on the unit at a reduced rate. He also threw in the furniture and offered to void the closing costs.
Ulrich moved into the apartment about a week before he was named buildings commissioner. Just before the appointment was made public, he called Caller to advise that their communications would no longer be direct.
“We have to be smart,” he said. “I have to be a little more careful because I can’t be conflicted. If you have to communicate with me about something directly, about something concerning 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.”
Much of the alleged corruption circled around the buildings department, both before and after Ulrich became Department of Buildings commissioner in May 2022. One indictment alleges Ulrich did favors for the clients of Paul Greco, a consultant hired by developers to expedite permit approval from DOB.
As a Council member, Ulrich sought DOB’s help for the owner of a restaurant called Cafe Rum who needed a DOB “letter of verification” that had been denied. The owner needed it to obtain a state liquor license. Soon after Ulrich intervened, the letter of verification was granted. Then once he became buildings commissioner, he ordered that a Manhattan DOB inspector who had rejected the application of a Lower East Side restaurant owner who was a Greco client be transferred “back to Queens.”
In exchange, Greco gifted Ulrich with what prosecutors described as a “bespoke suit” and got him a valuable painting entitled “Don Quixote De La Mancha” by Francisco Poblet, the “last surviving apprentice” of the avant garde artist Salvador Dali, according to prosecutors.
Often Ulrich and his co-conspirators would try to use cryptic language to discuss the nature of their transactions, as demonstrated by Greco’s interactions over the Poblet painting.
In one call he asked Ulrich if he was using his “regular phone,” then stated, “I got the things for you, the painting that your daughter did.” Prosecutors described this as “a coded reference to the Poblet Don Quixote painting.
Paul Greco is arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court along with former Department of Buildings commissioner Eric Ulrich on bribery charges.Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
The multiple indictments of Ulrich are the second time in three months that individuals seeking favors from City Hall who’d raised tens of thousands of dollars for Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign have been charged with criminal activity.
In July Bragg indicted a former cop and friend of Adams, Dwayne Montgomery, and six others in what he described as a “a deliberate scheme to game the system in a blatant attempt to gain power.”
That indictment charged that Montgomery and his co-defendants arranged illegal donations — “pass through” contributions that were reimbursed by others — that combined with public matching funds generated $250,000 in contributions to the mayor’s 2021 run for City Hall.
Included in the evidence presented by Bragg was an email Montgomery sent on July 9, 2021, after Adams won the primary, telling one of his co-defendants that Adams “doesn’t want to do anything if he doesn’t get 25gs.”
In another email written Jan. 1, 2022, the first day of the Adams administration, Montgomery wrote to an associate involved in the fundraising identified as unindicted co conspirator No. 1 with the subject line “[UCC-1] and Dwayne support for Eric Adams.”
An attachment to that email contained a list of actions the two had taken in support of Eric Adams, including in substance, “with matching funds, Raised over 250k from a diverse group of donors for mayor’s race.”
Montgomery has pleaded not guilty in that case. Adams has acknowledged social interactions with Montgomery, but his campaign spokesperson, Evan Thies, has said “there is no indication that the campaign or the mayor is involved in this case or under investigation.”
Ex-Buildings Commissioner Indicted on Bribery Charges After Allegedly Trading Favors
Adams appointee Eric Ulrich pocketed $150,000 from associates seeking city actions, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg charged.
BY GREG B. SMITH GSMITH@THECITY.NYC SEP 13, 2023,
Former Department of Buildings commissioner Eric Ulrich sits in front of a judge in Manhattan Criminal Court during his arraignment on bribery charges.Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
A former Queens City Council member and top aide to Mayor Eric Adams was charged Wednesday with pocketing $150,000 in bribes in exchange for performing a remarkably wide variety of favors for a host of bribe-paying individuals, including four major fundraisers for Adams.
Eric Ulrich, 38, was arraigned on charges outlined in a quintet of indictments alleging that he regularly and corruptly used his influence as a public official to meddle in the activities of the FDNY, the City Planning Commission, and the departments of Buildings, Health and Mental Hygiene, and Consumer and Worker Protection.
The beneficiaries of his interference included an eclectic group seeking smooth sailing through New York City’s vast bureaucracy: a real estate developer, a tow truck company owner, a consultant hired to expedite building permits and co-owners of a Queens pizza joint.
The bribery scheme outlined in the charges emerged, in part, from a years worth of secret recordings obtained over Ulrich’s phones, a marathon surveillance effort that began Nov. 4, 2021, just two days after Adams was elected mayor.
During that time Ulrich served first as a Queens Council member, then as a senior advisor to Adams, then as Adams’ buildings commissioner. He resigned in November when word leaked out that investigators had seized his cell phones.
In a press conference unveiling the multiple and sprawling schemes that also included charges against six alleged bribers, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg declined to say whether any of the recorded conversations included Ulrich’s chats with the mayor. None of the indictments directly implicated the mayor in any of his advisor’s alleged improprieties.
Several of Ulrich’s co-defendants, however, raised tens of thousands of dollars for Adams’ mayoral 2021 bid.
In August 2021, after Adams had won the primary but before he became mayor, Joseph and Anthony Livreri and Michael Mazzio hosted a $1,000-a-plate fete at Russo’s on the Bay in Howard Beach that raised more than $140,000.
Prosecutors alleged that Ulrich intervened to speed up re-inspections for the Livreri brothers, when their pizza joint, Aldo’s Ozone Park, was shut down due to multiple health code violations. He also stepped in when their Brooklyn bakery, Fortunato Brothers, was shut down by the buildings department after a fire. In both cases the sites quickly re-opened after Ulrich intervened.
As for Mazzio, an indictment alleges that Ulrich helped him win approval for a license for his tow truck company, Mike’s Heavy Duty Towing, that the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection had held up. And as a senior aide to Adams, Ulrich is accused of pulling strings to get Mazzio’s daughter a better-paying job in the city Department of Correction.
Another co-defendant who raised big bucks for Adams is real estate developer Mark Caller. On Aug. 10, 2021, Caller threw a rooftop party at the Brooklyn office of his firm, the Marcal Group, which raised $47,000 for Adams. Prosecutors say Ulrich helped Caller deal with multiple problems he was having with zoning and building department issues.
“As an elected official and a government employee, Eric Ulrich’s duty was to the people of the City of New York, not to his friends, not to his associates, and certainly not to himself,” Bragg said Wednesday. “Whether appointed or elected...when you enter public service you are bound to abide by laws, ethics and regulations that are central to the public trust. Flying in the face of all of that, Eric Ulrich monetized each elected and appointed role that he held in New York government. Rather than serving the public, he used his roles to benefit himself and his friends.”
Anthony Livreri is arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court along with former Department of Buildings commissioner Eric Ulrich on bribery charges.Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
Bragg noted “strong cooperation” from the city, and late Wednesday an Adams spokesperson, Charles Lutvak, issued a brief statement: “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. And, while we do not discuss private conversations, to avoid speculation, the mayor has not received any requests from the Manhattan DA surrounding this matter and has never spoken to Mr. Ulrich about this investigation.”
Discount Beach Apartment
Speaking with reporters, Bragg spelled out what Ulrich got in exchange for using his influence as a public official: premium Mets season tickets, a “bespoke suit,” a valuable painting from an associate of Salvador Dali, a discount luxury apartment in the Rockaways and “lots of cash” he used to settle mounting and persistent gambling debts. None of this income was reported on Ulrich’s financial disclosure forms.
One of the more disturbing allegations involved Ulrich’s effort in 2022 to shut down a hotel housing the homeless because it enraged Caller, the real estate developer. Prosecutors say he made this corrupt effort to aid Caller at the same time he was negotiating to obtain a discount apartment across the street from the hotel from Caller.
At one point in March 2022, while he was a senior advisor to Adams, Caller let Ulrich know he wanted to shut down a hotel at 158 Beach 116th Street that was housing homeless adults because it happened to be across the street from and adjacent to two of his upscale rental buildings.
In a WhatsApp exchange captured by prosecutors, Caller wrote to Ulrich, “There has to be a way to put 158 B116th out of business. It’s an absolute disgrace.”
Real estate developer Mark Caller is arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court along with former Department of Buildings commissioner Eric Ulrich on bribery charges.Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
In response, Ulrich promised Caller to set up a “task force” of inspectors from the FDNY and the buildings department, writing, “They might be able to vacate the f...g thing. It’ll take months to get it reopened.”
Prosecutors described a conversation Ulrich had with a state Assemblymember described as Jane Doe #1. At the time, Stacy Pheffer Amato was the Assembly member representing the Rockaways.
Ulrich is alleged to have requested that the Assembly member demand an FDNY/DOB inspection of the hotel, and instructed the Assembly member “to make sure FDNY and DOB issue a full vacate order so the occupants can be moved by the New York City Department of Homeless Services into alternative housing.”
Prosecutors say that shortly after several violations were issued at that address, but none involved a vacate order. Pheffer Amato did not respond to THE CITY’s questions Wednesday about this exchange.
While Ulrich was targeting the homeless shelter, he was simultaneously discussing with Caller obtaining an apartment at a discount rate in a building across the street from the hotel, an upscale address at 133 Beach 116th Street, prosecutors say.
Caller then offered Ulrich an apartment for $2,000 a month, the lowest monthly rental in the building, and said Ulrich could apply the rental toward a down payment on the unit at a reduced rate. He also threw in the furniture and offered to void the closing costs.
Ulrich moved into the apartment about a week before he was named buildings commissioner. Just before the appointment was made public, he called Caller to advise that their communications would no longer be direct.
“We have to be smart,” he said. “I have to be a little more careful because I can’t be conflicted. If you have to communicate with me about something directly, about something concerning 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.”
Much of the alleged corruption circled around the buildings department, both before and after Ulrich became Department of Buildings commissioner in May 2022. One indictment alleges Ulrich did favors for the clients of Paul Greco, a consultant hired by developers to expedite permit approval from DOB.
As a Council member, Ulrich sought DOB’s help for the owner of a restaurant called Cafe Rum who needed a DOB “letter of verification” that had been denied. The owner needed it to obtain a state liquor license. Soon after Ulrich intervened, the letter of verification was granted. Then once he became buildings commissioner, he ordered that a Manhattan DOB inspector who had rejected the application of a Lower East Side restaurant owner who was a Greco client be transferred “back to Queens.”
In exchange, Greco gifted Ulrich with what prosecutors described as a “bespoke suit” and got him a valuable painting entitled “Don Quixote De La Mancha” by Francisco Poblet, the “last surviving apprentice” of the avant garde artist Salvador Dali, according to prosecutors.
Often Ulrich and his co-conspirators would try to use cryptic language to discuss the nature of their transactions, as demonstrated by Greco’s interactions over the Poblet painting.
In one call he asked Ulrich if he was using his “regular phone,” then stated, “I got the things for you, the painting that your daughter did.” Prosecutors described this as “a coded reference to the Poblet Don Quixote painting.
Paul Greco is arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court along with former Department of Buildings commissioner Eric Ulrich on bribery charges.Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
The multiple indictments of Ulrich are the second time in three months that individuals seeking favors from City Hall who’d raised tens of thousands of dollars for Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign have been charged with criminal activity.
In July Bragg indicted a former cop and friend of Adams, Dwayne Montgomery, and six others in what he described as a “a deliberate scheme to game the system in a blatant attempt to gain power.”
That indictment charged that Montgomery and his co-defendants arranged illegal donations — “pass through” contributions that were reimbursed by others — that combined with public matching funds generated $250,000 in contributions to the mayor’s 2021 run for City Hall.
Included in the evidence presented by Bragg was an email Montgomery sent on July 9, 2021, after Adams won the primary, telling one of his co-defendants that Adams “doesn’t want to do anything if he doesn’t get 25gs.”
In another email written Jan. 1, 2022, the first day of the Adams administration, Montgomery wrote to an associate involved in the fundraising identified as unindicted co conspirator No. 1 with the subject line “[UCC-1] and Dwayne support for Eric Adams.”
An attachment to that email contained a list of actions the two had taken in support of Eric Adams, including in substance, “with matching funds, Raised over 250k from a diverse group of donors for mayor’s race.”
Montgomery has pleaded not guilty in that case. Adams has acknowledged social interactions with Montgomery, but his campaign spokesperson, Evan Thies, has said “there is no indication that the campaign or the mayor is involved in this case or under investigation.”
Re: NYC Building Commish Tied to potential Mob Gambling Investigation
The Unwise Guy A top official in the Adams administration gambled with the mob and, allegedly, took bribes.
By James D. Walsh, Intelligencer staff writer
Eric Ulrich going into court on Wednesday to face a slew of bribery charges brought by prosecutors over his time in the Adams administration. Photo: Mark Peterson
This article was featured in One Great Story, New York’s reading recommendation newsletter. Sign up here to get it nightly.
Eric Ulrich adjusted his pocket square and looked straight ahead for the cameras. As a public official — first as a city councilmember, then as a senior adviser to Mayor Eric Adams, and finally as commissioner of the Department of Buildings — he knew all about photo ops, ever ready to deliver a sharp sound bite in his dry Queens accent. But on Wednesday, inside Manhattan criminal court, he uttered just two words: “Not guilty.”
Ulrich, 38, was arraigned on charges brought by District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office that he accepted $150,000 worth of bribes. It was the result of a yearslong investigation into organized crime, including an underground casino where Ulrich gambled with several co-defendants. Ulrich is accused of using his position as a top aide to Adams to pull strings for his friends, who allegedly paid him with thousands in cash, Mets tickets, a discounted seaside apartment, and more. “Eric Ulrich monetized each elected and appointed role that he held in New York government,” Bragg said at a press conference. “Rather than serving the public, he used his roles to benefit himself and his friends.”
Ulrich and his co-defendants, five of whom pleaded not guilty, also worked together to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to elect the mayor. Their efforts afforded some of them remarkable access to Adams and his staff, including face-to-face meetings. When Adams was asked about the investigation this summer, he claimed he didn’t know about it or Ulrich’s pals who hosted fundraisers for him. “If you ask me, did I know everyone who came or hosted an event or what have you? No. I don’t know everyone that hosts events,” he said. “I don’t know their names, I don’t know all their faces.”
Though not charged, Adams and his advisers featured throughout the indictments — and an explosive story over the summer reported that the mayor tipped Ulrich off to Bragg’s investigation last year. Ulrich’s relationship with the mayor runs deep, and this case may ultimately provide the most detailed look at how, time and again, Adams finds himself surrounded by people embroiled in scandal or, with increasing frequency, the subject of criminal investigation. Selecting Ulrich, a chronic gambler with friends in organized crime, to lead the Buildings Department — an agency historically dogged by suggestions that it has ties to the mafia — was potentially the most alarming personnel decision the mayor has made, bringing prosecutors and alleged mobsters uncomfortably close to his administration.
Former NYC Commissioner of Buildings Eric Ulrich going into court being charged and leaving the courthouse in lower Manhattan, September 13, 2023. Photo: Mark Peterson
As much as any city councilmember, Eric Ulrich was cut from the cloth of the area he represented, and, in southern Queens, organized crime was part of the patchwork. Gambino crime boss John Gotti’s unofficial headquarters, the Bergin Hunt and Fish Club, was in Ozone Park, not far from Robert’s Lounge, the dive bar where Lucchese associates hashed out their plan for the Lufthansa heist, as famously reenacted in Goodfellas. Raised by his Italian American grandparents as a devout Catholic, Ulrich flirted with the priesthood, attending a seminary high school. Instead, he answered another higher calling: politics.
A week after his 24th birthday in 2009, Ulrich won a special election to the City Council, mainly representing Ozone Park, Howard Beach, and the Rockaways. “Even though he was a conservative Republican, I liked him from the jump,” said Jimmy Van Bramer, the Democratic former City Council majority leader, who became close friends with Ulrich. “For a kid that young to be so talented, there was something special about him. Part of his success came from how he was raised and the gifts he was born with. Tough, smart, savvy — I think that was part of Eric’s skill as a politician.” That swagger would attract television producers behind Showtime’s The Circus and VH1’s Mob Wives, who followed Ulrich around for a month for a potential show about the City Council, though it never got made.
Ulrich’s former staffers say that he won over skeptics by taking constituent work seriously; he tracked down a deceased constituent’s relative so she wouldn’t be buried in a pauper’s grave on Hart Island and organized Hurricane Sandy relief efforts moments after his daughter was born.
Some of those constituents included wise guys. In 2011, Ulrich wrote a letter of support for William “Old Man Willy” Pazienza, a soldier in the Gambino family who pleaded guilty to trafficking women from Eastern Europe into New York strip clubs under the protection of the Gambinos and Bonannos. “I have known the defendant for the past seven years and consider him a personal friend,” he wrote to the judge on his City Council letterhead. In 2017, Robert Pisani, owner of a Howard Beach bagel shop and an alleged Bonanno family associate, pleaded guilty to collecting gambling debts as part of a $26 million loan-sharking operation. Ulrich vouched for him too. “Mr. Pisani is a kind person, devoted family man and a selfless individual,” he wrote.
Before he was 30, Ulrich established himself as a political connector between Republican candidates and Queens leaders and power brokers. Often, he held court at Aldo’s, a pizzeria in Ozone Park where he brought Joe Lhota to stump for mayor in 2013. “Eric had an enormous amount of energy, knew everybody in the southern part of Queens, and in a campaign that’s an important thing to have,” Lhota said. In 2018, Ulrich brought gubernatorial candidate Marc Molinaro to Aldo’s, where he made pizza while the restaurant’s new owners, Joe and Anthony Livreri, took photos. Aldo’s was something of a hangout for Ulrich, who was friends with the Livreris, and the city councilman would hire Joe to a part-time position on his staff in 2020. Both Livreri brothers would emerge as key figures in the DA’s investigation. Ulrich would also spend time at Aldo’s with Mike Mazzio, the owner of a Brooklyn tow-truck firm who was fresh off being indicted alongside 16 others for allegedly price-fixing towing jobs around the city.
When the Brooklyn borough president Eric Adams began eyeing a bid for mayor, he came to rely on Ulrich’s connections in Queens. The two struck up a relationship over meetings at Aldo’s, and Ulrich introduced Adams to southern Queens civic leaders and high-dollar donors. In December 2019, Adams attended a fundraiser at Aldo’s hosted by Ulrich, the Livreris, and Mazzio that raised more than $16,350 for his mayoral campaign. Mark Caller, a Brooklyn-based real-estate developer, pitched in $1,000.
Months later, as the pandemic set in, Ulrich drank at the bar at Aldo’s two or three days a week, and Joe Livreri soon invited him to play cards at a space he’d set up in Ozone Park on 101st Avenue. Though the building was inconspicuous, everyone in the neighborhood knew it had previously been the headquarters of Ciro Perrone, a capo in the Genovese family, who would sunbathe on the sidewalk in plain view of federal agents. In 2020, years after Perrone died, Livreri renovated the space as a private “social/soccer club,” according to business records. Inside, the front looked like any other bar or café, but in the back was a room full of slots and video poker machines. Downstairs, ergonomic chairs surrounded high-end card tables.
Ulrich, who was in his third and final term as a city councilmember in 2020, would later admit to going to the illegal casino during interviews with the DA’s office, according to people familiar with the sessions. But he claimed that he’d merely played Rumino, an Italian variant of gin rummy, on Monday nights with the Livreris, Mazzio, and others. Still, Ulrich told prosecutors that he’d witnessed dozens of people playing high-stakes Texas Hold’em in the club’s basement. (Joe Livreri didn’t respond to requests for comment. Anthony, asked at Aldo’s about the casino allegation before his arraignment, told me that it was his “cousin who was caught up in all of that.”) Ulrich told prosecutors that he stopped going to the casino in May 2021.
Two months later, after Adams won the Democratic primary, he went into overdrive to raise money. On August 8, Ulrich, the Livreri brothers, and Mazzio again joined forces, throwing a fundraiser for Adams at Russo’s on the Bay in Howard Beach. Tickets cost $1,000 apiece. The event was a smash, raising nearly $160,000 for Adams. Two days later, Adams attended a fundraiser on the rooftop of the Brooklyn headquarters of the Marcal Group, Caller’s development firm, which raised $47,050.
Ulrich and his southern Queens crew ended up doing more for Adams than he ever did for fellow Republicans, raising hundreds of thousands for the would-be mayor. “I think Eric was pursuing opportunities and he had access to donors who wouldn’t have normally contributed to a Democratic mayoral candidate,” said one former staffer. “He picked a horse and stuck to it. Adams wasn’t a sure bet, and Eric didn’t know if that would lead to him becoming a commissioner.”
Ulrich’s loyalty paid off. A month after Adams was elected, he went to Aldo’s and met again with Ulrich, the Livreri brothers, and Mazzio. A week later, the mayor-elect named Ulrich as a senior adviser. Little did Ulrich know that two days after the election, investigators had tapped his phone.
Anthony Livreri is accused of bribing Ulrich, who gambled at an underground casino run by Livreri’s brother, Joe. Photo: Mark Peterson
Almost as soon as Ulrich started working for Adams, he allegedly began accepting bribes. In January 2022, according to prosecutors, Ulrich discussed with the Livreris and Mazzio how he might get Mazzio exclusive city towing contracts and resolve licensing issues for his company. A few weeks later, Ulrich allegedly called the head of the Department of Correction and urged him to hire Mazzio’s daughter. In return, Mazzio is accused of paying him back with, among other things, a premium Mets ticket package. (Around the same time, Ulrich allegedly took $3,600 from Victor Truta, a former corrections officer, in exchange for getting Truta’s family members city jobs.)
Then in February, Anthony Livreri called Ulrich in a panic. Health inspectors had visited Aldo’s and found a raft of violations, including evidence of mice. Inspectors evaluate restaurant safety using a system where 28 points or more can result in a grade-C rating and closure — Aldo’s earned 46 points, according to city records. “I need fucking help,” Anthony pleaded. Ulrich then allegedly reached out to a number of high-level city officials, including Adams’s chief adviser. “The mayor’s favorite restaurant in Queens got shut down tonight by the Department of Health,” he told one official. Three days later, Aldo’s received a reinspection, earning just nine points and a grade-A rating.
Ulrich is accused of doing other illegal favors for the Livreris. In March, the brothers allegedly asked him to help rescind a city order to vacate the Fortunato Brothers Bakery in Williamsburg after a fire temporarily shut the business down. (The bakery’s owner was twice convicted of participating in a 1994 killing by Genovese hit men, but both verdicts were overturned on appeal.) With Ulrich’s help, prosecutors say the bakery quickly reopened.
Hitting Ulrich up came at a price, prosecutors said: Since 2017, he solicited and received tens of thousands of dollars from Mazzio, the Livreris, and others, doled out a few hundred at a time, then turned around and gambled with some of those alleged bribes at Livreri’s casino.
Caller, the Brooklyn real-estate developer, was also quick to contact Ulrich after he started working in City Hall. “I just need your help,” he said on a February 2022 call. “There’s millions and millions of dollars … that many, many partners that have been waiting, you know, for the administration to change … Now I need City Planning and you to help me.” He asked Ulrich to get the city to approve the rezoning of a development on 115th Street in Rockaway Park. Later, Ulrich said that he would call the City Planning director about “a couple of projects that are the Mayor’s agenda.” Following a meeting between Adams, Caller, and Ulrich, he texted the planning director Caller’s contact information, and the two scheduled a meeting.
At the same time, Ulrich phoned Caller and said he needed a new place to live. Caller allegedly gave Ulrich a $30,000 discount on a two-bedroom apartment his company owned, paid the closing costs, and threw in a free parking spot. While they were negotiating the apartment, prosecutors say Caller asked Ulrich to shut down a homeless shelter near the 115th Street development. “We’re going to send Buildings Department and Fire Department this week, and there’s a good chance they may vacate the building,” Ulrich replied, though the effort was unsuccessful.
In late April, just before taking over the Buildings Department, Ulrich seemed to get nervous. “I have to be a little bit more careful because I can’t be conflicted,” he told Caller, directing him to use an intermediary in the future.
On May 3, 2022, Ulrich was sworn in as commissioner, officially putting him in charge of the inspection and safety of the city’s 1.1 million buildings. Three days later, he joined Adams at a Bronx jobsite to address a few dozen workers for Construction Safety Week. After some public remarks, Adams pulled Ulrich aside and asked him to hand his cell phone over to a member of the mayor’s security detail, according to multiple people familiar with the conversation. Then Adams said that “a little birdie” had told him that a friend of Ulrich’s was being investigated and indicated that Ulrich was under surveillance. “Watch your back and watch your phones,” the mayor warned.
Ulrich later told investigators that he’d informed Livreri about the probe almost immediately. Three days after Adams’s tip-off, according to court papers, Ulrich met with Mazzio and another friend who’d played cards at Livreri’s casino at a Queens diner. Before they talked, they deposited their phones on a windowsill ten feet away. It wasn’t the only precaution Ulrich took once he knew he was under investigation. According to authorities, Ulrich spoke in “coded conversations” with Paul Grego, who was allegedly trying to get a liquor license for his client. They were recorded discussing a painting by the last surviving apprentice of Salvador Dalí that Grego allegedly gave Ulrich in return.
One morning in early November, the DA’s investigators finally moved in. They raided Livreri’s casino and swarmed Ulrich as he left his Rockaway apartment building, confiscated his phone, and told him he was wanted for questioning downtown. The next day, Ulrich sat for the first of two interviews in which prosecutors revealed they had been listening to his phone conversations for the past year.
Many of their questions were focused on organized crime. They asked about Fortunato Brothers Bakery and if Ulrich knew who Joe Livreri was paying protection money to for his underground casino. (Ulrich said he didn’t know.) When prosecutors asked Ulrich about Zelle and Venmo payments between him and the Livreris and Mazzio, Ulrich claimed he borrowed buy-in money all the time from his friends and he’d always paid them back.
Not long after Ulrich walked out of the DA’s office, news broke of the investigation. He resigned shortly after. Ulrich spent the months between his resignation and arraignment trying to establish a second career in insurance. He also wrote a children’s book, If Pets Could Vote. On Wednesday morning, he arrived at court holding a different book: Bill O’Reilly’s Killing Jesus. “When thousands of phone calls and documents are cherry-picked and cut into small bits, and then viewed with eyes biased towards guilt, anyone can be made to look bad,” Ulrich’s attorney, Samuel Braverman, said in a statement after his client was released from court.
Asked about the indictments last week, Mayor Adams emphasized the fact that his administration hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing. Gone was the facetious bite of his remarks over the summer when, after the New York Daily News first broke the story that Adams had tipped off Ulrich, the mayor shrugged off the allegation. “I was reading that article, I felt like it was a reboot of Goodfellas,” Adams said. “Why would it make sense to appoint someone a commissioner if you know they’re under criminal investigation?”
By James D. Walsh, Intelligencer staff writer
Eric Ulrich going into court on Wednesday to face a slew of bribery charges brought by prosecutors over his time in the Adams administration. Photo: Mark Peterson
This article was featured in One Great Story, New York’s reading recommendation newsletter. Sign up here to get it nightly.
Eric Ulrich adjusted his pocket square and looked straight ahead for the cameras. As a public official — first as a city councilmember, then as a senior adviser to Mayor Eric Adams, and finally as commissioner of the Department of Buildings — he knew all about photo ops, ever ready to deliver a sharp sound bite in his dry Queens accent. But on Wednesday, inside Manhattan criminal court, he uttered just two words: “Not guilty.”
Ulrich, 38, was arraigned on charges brought by District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office that he accepted $150,000 worth of bribes. It was the result of a yearslong investigation into organized crime, including an underground casino where Ulrich gambled with several co-defendants. Ulrich is accused of using his position as a top aide to Adams to pull strings for his friends, who allegedly paid him with thousands in cash, Mets tickets, a discounted seaside apartment, and more. “Eric Ulrich monetized each elected and appointed role that he held in New York government,” Bragg said at a press conference. “Rather than serving the public, he used his roles to benefit himself and his friends.”
Ulrich and his co-defendants, five of whom pleaded not guilty, also worked together to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to elect the mayor. Their efforts afforded some of them remarkable access to Adams and his staff, including face-to-face meetings. When Adams was asked about the investigation this summer, he claimed he didn’t know about it or Ulrich’s pals who hosted fundraisers for him. “If you ask me, did I know everyone who came or hosted an event or what have you? No. I don’t know everyone that hosts events,” he said. “I don’t know their names, I don’t know all their faces.”
Though not charged, Adams and his advisers featured throughout the indictments — and an explosive story over the summer reported that the mayor tipped Ulrich off to Bragg’s investigation last year. Ulrich’s relationship with the mayor runs deep, and this case may ultimately provide the most detailed look at how, time and again, Adams finds himself surrounded by people embroiled in scandal or, with increasing frequency, the subject of criminal investigation. Selecting Ulrich, a chronic gambler with friends in organized crime, to lead the Buildings Department — an agency historically dogged by suggestions that it has ties to the mafia — was potentially the most alarming personnel decision the mayor has made, bringing prosecutors and alleged mobsters uncomfortably close to his administration.
Former NYC Commissioner of Buildings Eric Ulrich going into court being charged and leaving the courthouse in lower Manhattan, September 13, 2023. Photo: Mark Peterson
As much as any city councilmember, Eric Ulrich was cut from the cloth of the area he represented, and, in southern Queens, organized crime was part of the patchwork. Gambino crime boss John Gotti’s unofficial headquarters, the Bergin Hunt and Fish Club, was in Ozone Park, not far from Robert’s Lounge, the dive bar where Lucchese associates hashed out their plan for the Lufthansa heist, as famously reenacted in Goodfellas. Raised by his Italian American grandparents as a devout Catholic, Ulrich flirted with the priesthood, attending a seminary high school. Instead, he answered another higher calling: politics.
A week after his 24th birthday in 2009, Ulrich won a special election to the City Council, mainly representing Ozone Park, Howard Beach, and the Rockaways. “Even though he was a conservative Republican, I liked him from the jump,” said Jimmy Van Bramer, the Democratic former City Council majority leader, who became close friends with Ulrich. “For a kid that young to be so talented, there was something special about him. Part of his success came from how he was raised and the gifts he was born with. Tough, smart, savvy — I think that was part of Eric’s skill as a politician.” That swagger would attract television producers behind Showtime’s The Circus and VH1’s Mob Wives, who followed Ulrich around for a month for a potential show about the City Council, though it never got made.
Ulrich’s former staffers say that he won over skeptics by taking constituent work seriously; he tracked down a deceased constituent’s relative so she wouldn’t be buried in a pauper’s grave on Hart Island and organized Hurricane Sandy relief efforts moments after his daughter was born.
Some of those constituents included wise guys. In 2011, Ulrich wrote a letter of support for William “Old Man Willy” Pazienza, a soldier in the Gambino family who pleaded guilty to trafficking women from Eastern Europe into New York strip clubs under the protection of the Gambinos and Bonannos. “I have known the defendant for the past seven years and consider him a personal friend,” he wrote to the judge on his City Council letterhead. In 2017, Robert Pisani, owner of a Howard Beach bagel shop and an alleged Bonanno family associate, pleaded guilty to collecting gambling debts as part of a $26 million loan-sharking operation. Ulrich vouched for him too. “Mr. Pisani is a kind person, devoted family man and a selfless individual,” he wrote.
Before he was 30, Ulrich established himself as a political connector between Republican candidates and Queens leaders and power brokers. Often, he held court at Aldo’s, a pizzeria in Ozone Park where he brought Joe Lhota to stump for mayor in 2013. “Eric had an enormous amount of energy, knew everybody in the southern part of Queens, and in a campaign that’s an important thing to have,” Lhota said. In 2018, Ulrich brought gubernatorial candidate Marc Molinaro to Aldo’s, where he made pizza while the restaurant’s new owners, Joe and Anthony Livreri, took photos. Aldo’s was something of a hangout for Ulrich, who was friends with the Livreris, and the city councilman would hire Joe to a part-time position on his staff in 2020. Both Livreri brothers would emerge as key figures in the DA’s investigation. Ulrich would also spend time at Aldo’s with Mike Mazzio, the owner of a Brooklyn tow-truck firm who was fresh off being indicted alongside 16 others for allegedly price-fixing towing jobs around the city.
When the Brooklyn borough president Eric Adams began eyeing a bid for mayor, he came to rely on Ulrich’s connections in Queens. The two struck up a relationship over meetings at Aldo’s, and Ulrich introduced Adams to southern Queens civic leaders and high-dollar donors. In December 2019, Adams attended a fundraiser at Aldo’s hosted by Ulrich, the Livreris, and Mazzio that raised more than $16,350 for his mayoral campaign. Mark Caller, a Brooklyn-based real-estate developer, pitched in $1,000.
Months later, as the pandemic set in, Ulrich drank at the bar at Aldo’s two or three days a week, and Joe Livreri soon invited him to play cards at a space he’d set up in Ozone Park on 101st Avenue. Though the building was inconspicuous, everyone in the neighborhood knew it had previously been the headquarters of Ciro Perrone, a capo in the Genovese family, who would sunbathe on the sidewalk in plain view of federal agents. In 2020, years after Perrone died, Livreri renovated the space as a private “social/soccer club,” according to business records. Inside, the front looked like any other bar or café, but in the back was a room full of slots and video poker machines. Downstairs, ergonomic chairs surrounded high-end card tables.
Ulrich, who was in his third and final term as a city councilmember in 2020, would later admit to going to the illegal casino during interviews with the DA’s office, according to people familiar with the sessions. But he claimed that he’d merely played Rumino, an Italian variant of gin rummy, on Monday nights with the Livreris, Mazzio, and others. Still, Ulrich told prosecutors that he’d witnessed dozens of people playing high-stakes Texas Hold’em in the club’s basement. (Joe Livreri didn’t respond to requests for comment. Anthony, asked at Aldo’s about the casino allegation before his arraignment, told me that it was his “cousin who was caught up in all of that.”) Ulrich told prosecutors that he stopped going to the casino in May 2021.
Two months later, after Adams won the Democratic primary, he went into overdrive to raise money. On August 8, Ulrich, the Livreri brothers, and Mazzio again joined forces, throwing a fundraiser for Adams at Russo’s on the Bay in Howard Beach. Tickets cost $1,000 apiece. The event was a smash, raising nearly $160,000 for Adams. Two days later, Adams attended a fundraiser on the rooftop of the Brooklyn headquarters of the Marcal Group, Caller’s development firm, which raised $47,050.
Ulrich and his southern Queens crew ended up doing more for Adams than he ever did for fellow Republicans, raising hundreds of thousands for the would-be mayor. “I think Eric was pursuing opportunities and he had access to donors who wouldn’t have normally contributed to a Democratic mayoral candidate,” said one former staffer. “He picked a horse and stuck to it. Adams wasn’t a sure bet, and Eric didn’t know if that would lead to him becoming a commissioner.”
Ulrich’s loyalty paid off. A month after Adams was elected, he went to Aldo’s and met again with Ulrich, the Livreri brothers, and Mazzio. A week later, the mayor-elect named Ulrich as a senior adviser. Little did Ulrich know that two days after the election, investigators had tapped his phone.
Anthony Livreri is accused of bribing Ulrich, who gambled at an underground casino run by Livreri’s brother, Joe. Photo: Mark Peterson
Almost as soon as Ulrich started working for Adams, he allegedly began accepting bribes. In January 2022, according to prosecutors, Ulrich discussed with the Livreris and Mazzio how he might get Mazzio exclusive city towing contracts and resolve licensing issues for his company. A few weeks later, Ulrich allegedly called the head of the Department of Correction and urged him to hire Mazzio’s daughter. In return, Mazzio is accused of paying him back with, among other things, a premium Mets ticket package. (Around the same time, Ulrich allegedly took $3,600 from Victor Truta, a former corrections officer, in exchange for getting Truta’s family members city jobs.)
Then in February, Anthony Livreri called Ulrich in a panic. Health inspectors had visited Aldo’s and found a raft of violations, including evidence of mice. Inspectors evaluate restaurant safety using a system where 28 points or more can result in a grade-C rating and closure — Aldo’s earned 46 points, according to city records. “I need fucking help,” Anthony pleaded. Ulrich then allegedly reached out to a number of high-level city officials, including Adams’s chief adviser. “The mayor’s favorite restaurant in Queens got shut down tonight by the Department of Health,” he told one official. Three days later, Aldo’s received a reinspection, earning just nine points and a grade-A rating.
Ulrich is accused of doing other illegal favors for the Livreris. In March, the brothers allegedly asked him to help rescind a city order to vacate the Fortunato Brothers Bakery in Williamsburg after a fire temporarily shut the business down. (The bakery’s owner was twice convicted of participating in a 1994 killing by Genovese hit men, but both verdicts were overturned on appeal.) With Ulrich’s help, prosecutors say the bakery quickly reopened.
Hitting Ulrich up came at a price, prosecutors said: Since 2017, he solicited and received tens of thousands of dollars from Mazzio, the Livreris, and others, doled out a few hundred at a time, then turned around and gambled with some of those alleged bribes at Livreri’s casino.
Caller, the Brooklyn real-estate developer, was also quick to contact Ulrich after he started working in City Hall. “I just need your help,” he said on a February 2022 call. “There’s millions and millions of dollars … that many, many partners that have been waiting, you know, for the administration to change … Now I need City Planning and you to help me.” He asked Ulrich to get the city to approve the rezoning of a development on 115th Street in Rockaway Park. Later, Ulrich said that he would call the City Planning director about “a couple of projects that are the Mayor’s agenda.” Following a meeting between Adams, Caller, and Ulrich, he texted the planning director Caller’s contact information, and the two scheduled a meeting.
At the same time, Ulrich phoned Caller and said he needed a new place to live. Caller allegedly gave Ulrich a $30,000 discount on a two-bedroom apartment his company owned, paid the closing costs, and threw in a free parking spot. While they were negotiating the apartment, prosecutors say Caller asked Ulrich to shut down a homeless shelter near the 115th Street development. “We’re going to send Buildings Department and Fire Department this week, and there’s a good chance they may vacate the building,” Ulrich replied, though the effort was unsuccessful.
In late April, just before taking over the Buildings Department, Ulrich seemed to get nervous. “I have to be a little bit more careful because I can’t be conflicted,” he told Caller, directing him to use an intermediary in the future.
On May 3, 2022, Ulrich was sworn in as commissioner, officially putting him in charge of the inspection and safety of the city’s 1.1 million buildings. Three days later, he joined Adams at a Bronx jobsite to address a few dozen workers for Construction Safety Week. After some public remarks, Adams pulled Ulrich aside and asked him to hand his cell phone over to a member of the mayor’s security detail, according to multiple people familiar with the conversation. Then Adams said that “a little birdie” had told him that a friend of Ulrich’s was being investigated and indicated that Ulrich was under surveillance. “Watch your back and watch your phones,” the mayor warned.
Ulrich later told investigators that he’d informed Livreri about the probe almost immediately. Three days after Adams’s tip-off, according to court papers, Ulrich met with Mazzio and another friend who’d played cards at Livreri’s casino at a Queens diner. Before they talked, they deposited their phones on a windowsill ten feet away. It wasn’t the only precaution Ulrich took once he knew he was under investigation. According to authorities, Ulrich spoke in “coded conversations” with Paul Grego, who was allegedly trying to get a liquor license for his client. They were recorded discussing a painting by the last surviving apprentice of Salvador Dalí that Grego allegedly gave Ulrich in return.
One morning in early November, the DA’s investigators finally moved in. They raided Livreri’s casino and swarmed Ulrich as he left his Rockaway apartment building, confiscated his phone, and told him he was wanted for questioning downtown. The next day, Ulrich sat for the first of two interviews in which prosecutors revealed they had been listening to his phone conversations for the past year.
Many of their questions were focused on organized crime. They asked about Fortunato Brothers Bakery and if Ulrich knew who Joe Livreri was paying protection money to for his underground casino. (Ulrich said he didn’t know.) When prosecutors asked Ulrich about Zelle and Venmo payments between him and the Livreris and Mazzio, Ulrich claimed he borrowed buy-in money all the time from his friends and he’d always paid them back.
Not long after Ulrich walked out of the DA’s office, news broke of the investigation. He resigned shortly after. Ulrich spent the months between his resignation and arraignment trying to establish a second career in insurance. He also wrote a children’s book, If Pets Could Vote. On Wednesday morning, he arrived at court holding a different book: Bill O’Reilly’s Killing Jesus. “When thousands of phone calls and documents are cherry-picked and cut into small bits, and then viewed with eyes biased towards guilt, anyone can be made to look bad,” Ulrich’s attorney, Samuel Braverman, said in a statement after his client was released from court.
Asked about the indictments last week, Mayor Adams emphasized the fact that his administration hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing. Gone was the facetious bite of his remarks over the summer when, after the New York Daily News first broke the story that Adams had tipped off Ulrich, the mayor shrugged off the allegation. “I was reading that article, I felt like it was a reboot of Goodfellas,” Adams said. “Why would it make sense to appoint someone a commissioner if you know they’re under criminal investigation?”