T
wo high-ranking New York Fire Department officials, Brian Cordasco and Anthony Saccavino, have been accused of soliciting and receiving bribes related to projects in Queens, Manhattan, and Brooklyn. The allegations concern incidents that took place between 2021 and 2023. The scheme involved a retired firefighter, Henry J. Santiago Jr., who was not charged in the indictment. Expeditors hired Santiago’s consulting firm because they were steered to it by Cordasco and Saccasvino, who were the No. 1 and No. 2 officials at the Bureau of Fire Prevention.

    Santiago told the expeditors that he could use his connections in the FDNY to speed up approvals that normally took two months or more. By sharing 60 percent of his fees, which ranged from $4,500 to $16,000, with Cordasco and Saccasvino, Santiago was generally able to get his clients’ projects approved within two weeks.

    Prosecutors said the bribes they uncovered exceeded $190,000 and covered about 30 apartment buildings, hotels, restaurants, bars, and other properties. The project addresses were not made public, and it is unclear if the property owners and commercial tenants or their expeditors knew the real reason for their fast approvals.

    The scheme was unrelated to a separate priority list for approvals known as the City Hall list or DMO list. The scandal came to authorities’ attention when Santiago had a falling out with the two FDNY officials and reported the illicit payments to a senior FDNY chief.

    Federal agents and city investigators searched the homes and offices of Cordasco and Saccasvino in February. They were charged with bribery and bribery conspiracy, honest services wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, and making false statements to the FBI.

    Cordasco and Saccasvino could not be reached for comment. There is no known connection between the indictment and the four other corruption investigations dogging Mayor Eric Adams, though the optics are another hit to his administration.