NYC Crane Inspector Accused Of Taking Thousands in Bribes From Crane Company

June 6, 2008 — -- An assistant chief crane inspector with the New York City buildings department falsely claimed that crane inspections took place and helped operators pass exams in exchange for thousands of dollars, according to the results of an investigation by the city.

There have been two fatal crane collapses in the city this spring, but investigators say that there is no evidence to date that this inspector's activity had anything to do with those accidents.

James Delayo, a 26 year veteran of the buildings department, was arrested today and charged with taking thousands of dollars in bribes over the past eight years from a crane and equipment company.

Investigators say Delayo, who earns slightly over $74,000 a year, falsely reported that the company's mobile cranes had been inspected, when in fact no inspections were performed.

Investigators also say that Delayo provided the company with advance copies of the written exams that would-be crane operators are required to pass to qualify for a city license.

"DOI's (Department of Investigation) investigation revealed the profoundly disturbing and sobering realization that a senior inspector responsible for ensuring that cranes operating in New York City are in proper condition and are operated by qualified individuals is charged with selling out his own integrity in a way that compromised public safety, leaving it in the hands of the individuals who paid him bribes, and rendered his inspectional job meaningless," said the Commissioner of DOI, Rose Gill Hearn today.

District Attorney Robert Morgenthau's office is handling the continuing corruption investigation. New York City's Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city will not tolerate corruption.

"We have zero tolerance for any corruption anywhere in City government, and when corruption appears in a public safety agency like the Department of Buildings, it is all the more deplorable," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.  "The Department of Buildings has made enormous strides in rooting out corruption over the past six years, but this case underscores that there remains more work to do."

News of the arrest comes just one week after the latest crane collapse in New York claimed the lives of two workers, and follows the arrest of another Buildings Department inspector for falsifying records prior to the March collapse of another crane which claimed the lives of seven.

It was after that collapse that Delayo was promoted from Assistant Chief Inspector to his current position where he is also in charge of issuing licenses to crane operators.

In this case, as in the earlier one, the city said there was no direct link between the inspector's alleged wrongdoing and the crane collapses. Delayo is alleged to have only signed off on the inspection of smaller cranes and not the large tower cranes involved in the two recent collapses.

Delayo is accused of signing off on the annual inspection of between 20 and 30 Class C cranes since 2002 without conducting any examination in exchange for "several hundred dollars" a piece. Currently there are in excess of 200 cranes in operation at building sites in New York. It is not immediately known how many are the smaller class cranes, known as "Class C."

Delayo, 60, surrendered this morning to investigators the city Department of Investigation. He will be arraigned by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office tonight or tomorrow.

Delayo will likely be charged with receiving an unlawful gratuity and offering a false instrument for filing, officials said.