7 Long Islanders among 70 charged in NYC housing authority bribe scheme

More than a half dozen Long Islanders were charged Tuesday as part of a sprawling federal investigation into alleged kickbacks paid to New York City public housing employees to land no-bid contracts.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams called it a “classic pay-to-play” scheme. Public housing superintendents across the five boroughs bribed the contractors in exchange for the repair jobs, Williams said, netting $2 million in kickbacks on $13 million in contracts.

“If the contractors didn’t pay up, the defendants wouldn’t give them the work,” Williams said at a news conference in lower Manhattan. “That’s classic pay-to-play, and this culture of corruption at NYCHA ends today.”

The New York City Housing Authority, the largest public housing agency in the United States, receives more than $1.5 billion of federal funding and provides homes to 1 in 17 city residents.

In connection with the scheme, Long Island residents Gwendolyn Bell, 38, of Baldwin; Charles Starks, 57, and Nymiah Branch, 44, both of Elmont; Evelyn Ortiz, 55, of Freeport; James Baez, 58, of Valley Stream; and Juan Mercad, 49, of West Babylon, were all charged with extortion and soliciting bribes, according to a federal complaint.

In all, prosecutors charged 70 current and former NYCHA employees living in New York, New Jersey and as far away as South Carolina.

Information about lawyers for the defendants was not immediately available.

The city housing authority has a long history of broken elevators, busted security doors, faulty gas service and lead paint.

Residents have often complained about lengthy repair time.

To streamline the repair process, contractors with the authority do not have to submit bids for “micro purchases” — repair work costing under $5,000, until mid-2019, and then $10,000 after that. To win the job, companies must only get the approval of supervisors and assistant supervisors of the specific housing complex in need of repairs.

Under this scheme, according to the U.S. attorney, NYCHA supervisors required a 10% kickback on the cost of the repair in order to win the job.

With AP