Former NYC Buildings inspector pleads guilty to extortion

May 22, 2017 By Paul Frangipane Special to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle

A former NYC Buildings Department inspector pled guilty to extortion and taking bribes during a trial in federal court on Monday. AP file photo

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A former inspector for the New York City Buildings Department pled guilty Monday in federal court in Brooklyn to extortion after he used his power to threaten contractors, and lead them to pay a contracting company he silently co-owned.

Massimo Dabusco, a Napoli, Italy native, pled guilty to one count of extortion after he told contractors that they were in violation of Buildings Department codes and issued stop work orders. He would then advise them to use A&G Contracting Group, to which he was a silent owner, to amend their fake violations. The interactions took place between Dec. 2013 to June 2015.

Dabusco, 55, read a personal statement through thin-framed glasses to Chief Judge Dora L. Irizarry in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

“In 2013, I was a building manager with the New York City Buildings Department…for personal profit, I agreed to be partners with Menadi.”

Vito Menadi, was allegedly Dabusco’s partner and fellow owner of A&G, who Dabusco would refer construction managers to.

Dabusco could face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison with a fine of $250,000, but a guideline sentence of 18 to 20 months in prison was agreed upon by federal prosecutors and Dabusco’s attorney, Michael Gold.

Dabusco was employed by the Buildings Department between July 2013 and Aug. 2015 when he resigned. In Sept. 2013, the DOB issued a general contractor license to A&G at 1958 W. 5th St. in Brooklyn for demolition and excavation work.

Collecting profits, Dabusco would threaten contractors and introduce them to Minadi to do clean-up work. Contractors recorded conversations with Dabusco in which he would illegally consult them of violations. In one instance, on July 2014, Menadi sent someone to pick up a $3,000 cash payment from the construction manager to “take care of the inspectors.”

In another, on Oct. 15, 2015, Dabusco spoke with a construction manager to relay a message to a contractor. “Tell him he’s gotta straighten this s… out. Or else God help me, I will come to Flushing. He’ll never work in Flushing. I’ll shut down every job he’s got,” Dabusco said, according to court documents.

There is no date set for sentencing at this time.