Crane Inspector Arrested For Taking Bribes, Responsible For Crane Accident

BY ADAM LISBERG
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF

Updated Friday, June 6th 2008, 4:45 PM

The city's top crane inspector was charged Friday with taking thousands of dollars in bribes from a company in exchange for approving fake crane inspections and slipping the company copies of the qualifying exam for operators.

James Delayo was arrested a week after the top of a crane snapped off and crashed onto E. 91st St., killing two workers and prompting outrage at the city's rash of deadly construction accidents.

The city Department of Investigation said there was no evidence that Delayo's alleged corruption affected that collapse or the March crane collapse on E. 51st St. that killed seven people.

Delayo, 60, a 26-year employee of the Buildings Department who lives in the Bronx, was serving as acting chief of the Cranes and Derricks Unit. He turned himself into authorities this morning and was awaiting arraignment this evening.

He was the second crane inspector to be charged with a felony this year. Buildings inspector Edward Marquette was arrested after the March 15 crane collapse, charged with ignoring a complaint about the crane's safety that he was supposed to check out.

"There is much work to be done with the Cranes and Derricks Unit, and we are in the midst of a full operational overhaul," Acting Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri said. "Our number one priority is to ensure the department's staff conduct their jobs with the utmost integrity."

Delayo is accused of taking money from an unnamed crane and equipment company for the past eight years "for falsely reporting that the company's mobile cranes had been inspected and that its crane operators had taken and passed required practical examinations, when in fact no such inspections or practical examinations were conducted," the Department of Investigation said.

He allegedly also gave a crane company the questions and answers for a hoisting machine operator exam. He earns $74,224 a year but is expected to be suspended soon.

"DOB has made enormous strides in rooting out corruption over the past six years, but this case underscores that there remains more work to do," Mayor Bloomberg said. "We are fully committed to eliminating all traces of the corrupt culture that long infiltrated the construction process."

Bloomberg stood with city, industry and union leaders two days ago to announce a tough package of reforms to make city construction safer.

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, who was not part of that push, said Friday that Delayo's arrest shows the Buildings Department needs a stronger shakeup.

"Before we begin any new procedures to implement the administration's construction reforms, we must have a top-to-bottom review of the Buildings Department, its procedures and its personnel," Stringer said.

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