Accused of accepting bribes from a former NYPD officer, two current New York Police Department cops were recently indicted on federal conspiracy and bribery charges. The retired officer was also charged in the conspiracy.
Between May 2020 and May 2021, NYPD Officer Michael Perri, who operated a tow truck and vehicle repair business, allegedly paid thousands of dollars in bribe payments to NYPD Officers James Davneiro and Giancarlo Osma in exchange for responding to car accidents and steering the damaged vehicles to Perri’s business. Although Davniero and Osma were legally required to use the NYPD’s Directed Accident Response Program to identify an appropriate licensed tow trucking and automobile repair business to respond to the scene, they repeatedly called Perri’s business instead for cash bribes.
Perri retired from the NYPD in June 2020, but the scheme continued until May 2021, according to the indictment.
On Friday, Davneiro, Osma, and Perri were arrested on federal charges of conspiracy to violate the travel act and using interstate facilities to commit bribery. Davniero and Osma have both been suspended without pay.
“As alleged in the indictment, these defendants disgraced their badges and betrayed the public trust and their oaths as police officers by lining their pockets with cash bribes,” stated Acting U. S. Attorney Jacquelyn Kasulis in a recent press release. “We will continue to root out and prosecute corruption by those who are sworn to enforce and uphold the law.”
“Accepting bribes as a law enforcement officer in lieu of following legal procedure is against the law and won’t be tolerated. Those charged today aren’t representative of the tens of thousands of men and women who serve the NYPD with honor day in and day out and, as such, will be held accountable for their alleged crime,” said FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Michael Driscoll.
“The NYPD cleans its own house. Corruption is a crime and a violation of a police officer’s sworn oath. This investigation is the third phase of an ongoing case where our Internal Affairs Bureau investigators left no stone unturned,” asserted NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea.
If convicted, the defendants face up to five years in prison.
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