Manhattan district attorney Robert Morgenthau said James Delayo, a 26-year veteran of the New York City department of buildings, and acting chief inspector for cranes and derricks, had been charged with bribe receiving, falsifying business records, offering false instruments for filing, tampering with public records and receiving unlawful gratuities.
The district attorney’s office implicitly linked the arrest with the earlier arrest of New York City tower crane inspector James Marquette, shortly after the March 14 crane collapse that killed seven people, and the New York State inspector general’s investigation into Frank Fazzio.
The district attorney’s office said, “[Delayo’s] arrest is the result of information discovered in two ways: the New York State Inspector General issued a report in April 2008 concerning the licensing of crane operators by the New York State department of labor. During that investigation, they developed information about city licensing of crane operators which they referred to the New York City department of investigation. The New York City department of investigation was already looking into the New York City department of buildings’ division of cranes and derricks. The Manhattan district attorney’s office and DOI have been investigating the spate of construction site incidents in Manhattan.”
Marquette was charged with falsifying records, after admitting that he had filed a report saying he had inspected the fatal crane shortly before its collapse, when he had not in fact visited the site.
Fazzio was investigated after it was found that he had issued more than 200 improper certificates to operators in New York State who had failed practical exams. Due to the time passed since the certificates were issued, no criminal case could be made (and, it should be said, a criminal case may not have been warranted).
Specifically, the district attorney’s office said, “The complaint alleges that the defendant, on numerous occasions between 2002 and 2007, met with the owner of a Long Island-based crane company and accepted numerous bribes for passing individuals whether or not they had passed the written or practical exams.
“On one occasion, he accepted a $500 bribe for passing an individual who had not even taken the examination. In 2004, the defendant is also charged with giving a copy of the crane operator’s examination to a crane company operator in exchange for $3000.
“All cranes must be inspected yearly. The defendant is charged with accepting bribes, ranging from $200–$500, to re-certify cranes that he had not actually inspected and then filing false paperwork with the New York City Department of Buildings.”
Delayo was arrested after voluntarily attending the New York County district attorney’s office. At an arraignment proceeding, his lawyer entered no plea. A report in the New York Times states that he had admitted taking bribes, prior to being arrested.
As Delayo inspected mobile cranes, not towers, there is no suggestion his activities were linked to either of the two recent fatal accidents.