Posts tagged NYPD
NYPD’s ‘get out of jail free’ cards are real — and they’re wrong
September 27, 2024 // Bianchi was repeatedly scolded by fellow officers and told by his union that the courtesy card system was customary and that it wouldn’t protect him unless he honored it. In addition to complaining to his supervisors, he filed formal complaints with his union and with internal affairs. The only action the NYPD took in response was to pull him off the day-shift traffic unit and re-assign him to a night-shift patrol unit. Eventually, Bianchi filed a lawsuit in federal court, which the NYPD agreed to settle for $175,000, blandly claiming that “resolving this case was best for all parties.” I’m sure it was. It was certainly better for the NYPD, as an actual trial would have been embarrassing beyond belief.
Cop who refused to honor the “get out of jail” cards that NYPD officers sell wins $175k settlement after retaliation
September 16, 2024 // The police department declined to comment, deferring questions to the law department. The Police Benevolent Association, NYPD's largest police union, didn't respond to an email seeking comment Tuesday. The city's police unions have long faced scrutiny over the cards because of the appearance of corruption and their appearance for sale on eBay. Bianchi said Tuesday that he's since moved to a dayside shift but that his efforts to advance his career have been limited by the lawsuit.
Rigged: The fight over a union election in New York City
April 3, 2024 // According to Local 983’s filings, Puleo in 2022 received $349,083 in compensation from the union, more than 10 percent of the $3.2 million Local 983 received from membership dues, meaning at least ten cents of every dollar members paid the union for representation went to him. Puleo gets an extra bump of $22,522 from the District Council, bringing total pay in 2022 to $371,605, putting his pay just above that of DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido, and well above the compensation for Mayor Eric Adams and New York Governor Kathy Hochul. Puleo and his union administration had won election in 2013 over long-time incumbent Mark Rosenthal. Rosenthal had been elected to union leadership in 1998 following a corruption investigation that revealed a “vast pig-sty of corruption, self-dealing, lavish party going, and vote rigging,” according to City Journal. The scandal within DC 37 saw union local presidents in handcuffs and DC 37 placed under trusteeship by AFSCME International. Rosenthal came in and cleaned house. When he was elected, it was the first contested election in 20 years and it was not without controversy, including accusations of threats and intimidation. Puleo won an election in 2013 over the aging Rosenthal, who since passed away in 2017, and has been at the helm of Local 983 ever since.
NYPD officer sues city, claiming years of sexual abuse by union
November 27, 2023 // In a lawsuit filed Wednesday afternoon, Officer Meaghan Ciotti, 39, said Officer Jamie Angelastro demanded sexual favors from her, threatened her with his gun, strangled her and violently raped her. Ciotti said she has suffered from migraines, neck pain, panic attacks and crippling fear because of the alleged abuse. The suit comes a day before the deadline for the Adult Survivors Act, a state law that provides an extra year for people to file sexual assault lawsuits past the statute of limitations, in civil court.
Disgraced ex-NYPD union boss Ed Mullins asks for no-jail sentence in embezzlement case
July 28, 2023 // The disgraced ex-head of the NYPD’s Sergeants Benevolent Association is asking a judge to impose a no-jail penalty at his sentencing in an embezzlement case next month. Ed Mullins, 61, in January copped to stealing $600,000 from the union he helmed — submitting inflated expense reports between 2017 and 2021 and using money for high-end meals, clothes, jewelry, home appliances and a relative’s college tuition. Mullin’s lawyer Thomas Kenniff said his client’s 39 years of public service, otherwise spotless criminal record and other factors warrant leniency, according to a Thursday letterto Manhattan federal Judge John Koeltl. “While the stain of this conviction will forever tarnish Mr. Mullins’ SBA tenure, it does not define it,” Kenniff wrote. “Nor must it erase the many years of faithful service he devoted to the SBA, and the successes the organization achieved under his leadership.”
Ex-NYPD union boss delays fraud sentence with re-entry class while collecting six-figure city pension
June 14, 2023 // Ed Mullins — who faces up to 20 years behind bars for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in union dues from the Sergeants Benevolent Association — was scheduled to be sentenced on May 25 in the federal case. But Mullins, 61, managed to delay the potential prison term to complete a 12-week pre-sentencing course run by the Focus Forward Project that helps criminal defendants prepare for life in lockup and re-entry into society, according to court documents. Federal prosecutors said he used the member dues to pay for hundreds of personal high-end meals as well as clothing, jewelry and home appliances — and even a relative’s college education.
PBA head Patrick Lynch won’t seek reelection after years at helm of NYPD’s biggest union
April 12, 2023 // Lynch, the longest-serving president of the city’s largest police union, announced his departure after hammering out a new contract between the PBA and the city last week. The PBA had been working without a contract for six years before the deal was reached. Under Lynch’s leadership, officers also turned their backs on de Blasio when he spoke at the fallen officers’ funerals, as well as at the funeral of Police Officer Miosotis Familia in 2017. Lynch made headlines — and ruffled a few political feathers — when he and the union endorsed former President Donald Trump for reelection in 2020. It was the first time in the union’s history that it formally backed a presidential candidate, he noted at the time.
Disgraced ex-NYPD union head Ed Mullins to plead guilty in federal case
January 19, 2023 // Mullins is accused of using union member dues to pay for hundreds of personal high-end meals as well as clothing, jewelry and home appliances, court records show. The feds alleged he even tapped SBA money to pay for a relative’s college education.
NYPD sergeants union members fear loose spending rules, indictment of president Ed Mullins will bring more
February 25, 2022 // Rocco Parascandola, New York Daily News Thu, February 24, 2022, 7:34 PM·5 min read Loose expense reimbursement rules at the Sergeants Benevolent Association — detailed in the indictment of its longtime president, Ed Mullins — have many of its 12,600 members asking whether other union officials improperly spent union money.