Former FDNY chief Brian Cordasco, who was convicted of fast-tracking safety inspections for business owners who paid him off, was sentenced to 20 months in prison on Monday.
Manhattan Federal Judge Lewis Liman said what Cordasco did in the brazen pay-to-play bribery scheme that netted $190,000 was “a very serious crime” committed out of greed. Acknowledging the ex-chief’s record as a firefighter was “impeccable” before his promotion in 2020, the judge said the term was essential to deter others from committing similar conduct.
“You betrayed the hardworking people under you, who perform such an important service for New York, and you betrayed the hardworking professionals you dealt with in the Bureau of Fire Protection and the clients whom they represent,” Liman said.
“The crime was opportunistic. You took advantage of your position, you took advantage of the COVID crisis,” the judge later said, adding Cordasco engaged in further wrongdoing by lying about his crimes.
Liman also imposed a term of two years of supervised release and said he’d recommend Cordasco serve his term at FCI Otisville in New York or FCI Fort Dix in New Jersey, low-security prisons close to the city, where he must surrender on June 17.
Cordasco, 50, a father of two young kids from Staten Island, retired last year. He admitted in October to pocketing thousands in ill-gotten gains by expediting inspections by the FDNY’s Bureau of Fire Prevention between 2021 and 2023, copping to one count of conspiring to solicit and receive bribes. His supervisor, Anthony Saccavino, pleaded guilty to his role in the bribery conspiracy in January and is yet to be sentenced.
The case filed in September accused the two chiefs who oversaw safety inspections for large city buildings and projects of exploiting a backlog of inspections that piled up amid the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to enrich themselves.
In court Monday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Greenwood said the “extremely serious” conduct of the 19-year vet of the FDNY warranted a term of 3½ to four years in prison.
Greenwood said Cordasco’s crimes were not a one-time aberration but carried out over months and concealed by repeated lies. He sought to let commercial entities with business before the FDNY’s Bureau of Fire Prevention skip the line in exchange for cash bribes despite earning a generous salary and pension of $9,000 a month, which Greenwood noted had not been jeopardized by his conviction.
“The defendant simply was not satisfied. His salary of nearly $250,000 a year, his pension, all of that was not enough,” the prosecutor said. “There was no reason he had to engage in this scheme but for greed.”
Highlighting the shamelessness of his dishonesty, prosecutors noted in their sentencing memo that Cordasco had publicly slammed City Hall for directing the BFP to give preferential treatment to select projects, saying it was “extremely unfair” to the general public while screwing over the public behind closed doors.
“Cordasco’s hypocrisy lays bare a plain truth: Cordasco corrupted the first-come, first-served approach with full awareness that his actions were wrong, and knew that his actions undermined the public’s confidence that government services were being administered fairly.”
Prosecutors also provided the judge with a list of sentences imposed by other judges in the Southern District for crimes involving public corruption, as Liman had requested.
Cordasco’s attorney, David Stern, requested Liman sentence his client to supervised release, asking the judge to credit him for his years of service and saying the shame of the case was sufficient punishment.
“He was shamed in front of his son, he was shamed in front of his wife and friends,” Stern said. “I think your sentence has to reflect or should reflect all of the good in his life, weighed against the bad.”
In comments to the court, the retired chief said he let down the honest civilian employees who worked for and alongside him at the FDNY bureau where he committed his crimes.
He said he reached out to a few over Thanksgiving but that the conversations were “awkward” and “there was no promise of speaking again.” Cordasco said he hadn’t received letters of support from anyone he contacted at the bureau.
“They deserve better than having their long-standing principles and procedures questioned by authorities because of my actions. They are overworked, they are underpaid, and sincerely underappreciated by the majority of New York City residents, who really have no understanding of what they do,” Cordasco said.
“They always do the right thing even when no one is looking. Regretfully, your honor, I betrayed the very same people who took me in with open arms as a new member to the bureau in 2020, who trained me extensively to ensure my success.”
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