Sackaris pleads guilty on corruption charges
21 May 2010Nu-Way Crane Service owner Michael Sackaris, and his employee Michael Pascalli, have pleaded guilty on charges of paying bribes to James Delayo, acting chief inspector for cranes and derricks at New York City department of buildings. The charges came in the wake of, but were not linked to, two mass fatality crane accidents.
In a statement, Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance said, “Sackaris was the de facto owner of Nu-Way Crane Service Inc. On approximately twenty occasions, Sackaris paid James Delayo, the acting chief inspector for cranes and derricks at the department of buildings, to complete and file false paperwork with the department of buildings indicating that Nu-Way cranes had passed city inspections, when in fact the cranes had not been inspected at all, or only in a perfunctory way.
“On six other occasions, Sackaris paid Delayo to certify that Nu-Way employees seeking crane operator licenses passed their examinations. On one occasion, Sackaris paid Delayo to complete and file documents that stated Michael Pascalli, an employee of Nu-Way, had passed a New York State hoisting machine operating license examination. In fact, Delayo never administered such an exam to Pascalli.”
Department of investigation (DOI) commissioner Rose Gill Hearn said: “These defendants systematically exploited a corrupt City inspector, showing contempt for public integrity and safety and the professionalism of their own industry. Now, they rightly stand convicted for crimes that disregarded City rules and the taxpayers. This investigation and successful prosecution underscores that doling out bribes to a City buildings inspector to circumvent City regulations will not only be uncovered, but will end in arrest, prosecution, and conviction. DOI and the Manhattan district attorney will continue to work together to uncover unsafe practices and corruption in any industry that does business in New York City.”
Sackaris and Pascalli will be sentenced in July, when he can expect a prison sentence of two to six years. Sackaris's lawyer Ron Russo said that his client acknowledged that what he had done was wrong, and the criminality of his actions.
He pointed out that when the corruption charges were first made, there had been two mass fatality crane accidents that had coloured perceptions of the crane industry in the city. However, according to Russo, when Nu-Way's cranes were inspected, “there was not a bolt wrong.” Nu-Way was not involved in either of the tower crane accidents. Russo said that Sackaris felt the case had, in the end, been resolved fairly.
