New York City’s former chief crane inspector James Delayo was sentenced in Manhattan state Supreme Court to two to six years in prison for taking more than $10,000 in payoffs, according to an MSNBC report. The charges were filed in 2008 in a crackdown on corruption in the construction industry after two crane collapses in the city killed nine people.
Delayo was quoted as saying, "I'd like to apologize to the city in general for letting them down ... and to my family especially and the Buildings Department who do a difficult job and don't get recognition,” and commended other inspectors for the difficult and important work they do, saying, "They don't deserve the bad publicity I brought them."
He pleaded guilty earlier this year to receiving bribes from Nu-Way Crane Service Inc. for falsifying crane inspections . Nu-Way’s Michael Sackaris pleaded guilty to bribery, acknowledging his company paid Delayo more than $10,000 to fake results for inspections that were never conducted and to certify that Nu-Way workers had passed crane operator tests at least one of them never took. Nu-Way operator Michael Pascalli pleaded guilty to a false-filing charge.
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