Scores of retired New York City police, fire and corrections officers were arrested on Tuesday as part of a large crackdown on disability faud, which originated from the September 11 terrorist attack. The fraud cost taxpayers millions of dollars, according to prosecutors, as reported by ABC News.
Manhattan district attorney's officers accused "the retired workers, along with their lawyers and doctors, of faking work-related stress, including feigned psychiatric disorder related to 9/11. Among those busted... was John Minerva, the disability consultant for the Detectives Endowment Association," The AP also reported. It turned out that none of the accused in the crackdown suffered from any sort of stress or trauma.
"Many were caught working after retirement, a violation of disability benefits," according to The AP.
The "ringleaders included ex-cop Joseph Esposito who allegedly coached them to act like mental patients when they were being examined by hand-picked psychiatrists to build their case, and again when they were interviewed by Social Security Administration doctors about their claims," according to The New York Post.
"Esposito and John Minerva, another ex-cop who is a "disability" consultant for the NYPD's detectives union, would then introduce them to Raymond Lavallee, 81, a Nassau County lawyer and former FBI agent and prosecutor, and pension consultant Thomas Hale, 89, who would help prepare the phony claims," The New York Post also reported.
ADA Christopher Santora said at the quartet's arraignments Tuesday: "Each defendant knew the Social Security system, and each defendant knew how to take advantage of the system."
The majority of the arrrests took place in New York City, and other places in the state, while also in Florida.
This marks the second 9/11 scam revealed this week. "two New Jersey men pleaded guilty to raising and keeping $50,000 for a Sept. 11 charity that was supposed to help families who lost loved one in the catastrophe," The AP reported. 41-year-old Thomas Scalgione and 67-year-old sold T-shits featuring NYPD and FDNY logos with the supposed intent to donate the proceeds to victims. Instead, they kept it for themselves. They pleaded guilty to third-degree theft.
The four were charged with first- and second-degree grand larceny and attempted second-degree grand larceny charges.
Bail for Lavallee and Hale was set at $1 million each, Esposito's was $500,000, and Minerva's was $250,000.
All made bail and were released.
Retirees who successfully got their disability pensions would be forced to kick back the equivalent of 14 monthly payments to the four ringleaders, who would split the bounty.
Minerva's wife, reached at the couple's Malverne, NY, home Tuesday morning, said she was shocked at her husband's arrest.
But "everything will be all right,'' she insisted before hanging up.
The other scammers - who received the bogus payouts - were charged with second-degree grand larceny and second-degree attempted grand larceny.
Also, "prosecutors are recommending that Niemczyk be sentenced to about a year in jail plus probation, and Scalgione get probation. They are set to be sentenced on March 7, and they must also pay more than $100,000 in penalties and fees."
343 firefighters and 23 police officers were killed in the September 11 terror attacks.
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