DOI: Deutsche Bank Probe Highlight of a Busy Year

ROSE GILL HEARN: Sending a message.

The Department of Investigation ended 2008 with 848 arrests, up more than 50 percent from the previous year, while showing a 15-percent increase in complaints.

For the DOI, the year was punctuated by the indictments of three on-site supervisors and one sub-contractor for their role in the 2007 Deutsche Bank building fire, which resulted in the deaths of two Firefighters. The agency also arrested 105 people, many of whom were city workers, for defrauding government housing monies.

Sees Deterrent Effect

"These statistics demonstrate DOI's strong message of deterrence and its comprehensive approach to protecting the city and its taxpayers from wrongdoing," DOI Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn said in a statement.

Among the various agencies that kept the DOI busy in 2008 was the Department of Buildings. A crane collapse on March 15 on East 51st St. in Manhattan, killing seven people, sparked an investigation resulting in the arrest and indictment of DOB Inspector Edward Marquette, who allegedly made a false entry March 4 indicating that he had inspected the crane when he had not. Prior to the collapse, the DOB received a complaint that the crane did not seem to be secure. The negative publicity from the incident caused DOB Commissioner Patricia Lancaster to resign a week after she told a City Council hearing that permits for building at the site were mistakenly issued.

In October of 2008, Acting DOB Chief Inspector for Cranes and Derricks James Delayo was indicted for allegedly accepting $10,000 in bribes as a result of a DOI probe. The DOI also arrested several individuals for attempting to bribe DOB Inspectors.

Covers 7 WTC, Subway Project

Working with DOI, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office indicted in October the seven men connected to the Ossining-based construction material testing company specializing in examining concrete mixes on charges of defrauding state agencies and private firms. Some of the 102 projects at which the DA alleges fraud are 7 World Trade Center, the Second Ave. Subway and various sites within the City University of New York.

In terms of fire safety, the DOI worked with the Fire Department to arrest more than 200 people who did not address outstanding fire code violations. Most recently, the DOI arrested a Bronx-based Firefighter Dec. 11 for making a false emergency call to 911 after the FDNY announced the closing of four units' night tours, in- cluding the one where he worked, in order to cut its budget.