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Five Department of Buildings Employees Indicted and Arrested for Taking Bribes

NEW YORK CITY-Eight people, five of whom are high-ranking employees at the DOB, have been arrested and indicted. The staffers are charged with taking bribes that allegedly influenced their job performance.

By Amy Vaughn | Updated on September 28, 2000

NEW YORK CITY-Manhattan DA Robert M. Morgenthau and Department of Investigations commissioner Edward J. Kuiansky have released the names of five DOB employees, and three others, who have been indicted and arrested for taking bribes or gratuities in exchange for permits and other favors.

Those indicted yesterday are: Barry Cox, the deputy commissioner for operations for the DOB, the second ranking officer at the agency; James Leonard, the Queens Borough commissioner of the DOB; Joseph Mineo, the executive chief inspector for DOB; Darral Hilton, the administrative chief inspector for Brooklyn; Siegfried Wyner, a DOB plans examiner; Edmund Cunningham, since-retired chief of the Bureau of Fire Prevention for the New York City Fire Department; Christopher Yagasits, formerly of the Department of Transportation; and Joseph DeFranzo, an employee of the New York State Canal Authority.

Cox, Hilton, Wyner and Cunningham are all facing charges stemming from individual situations in which they allegedly accepted gifts and/or money to aid permit applicants. Specifically, Cox is reportedly charged with two felony counts of offering a false instrument for filing and four misdemeanor counts of receiving unlawful gratuities. These stem from his alleged acceptance of a family vacation in Florida, sports tickets, wine and use of an apartment in exchange for permit approvals.

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