F.B.I. agents early Thursday searched the homes of two senior New York Fire Department chiefs responsible for overseeing safety inspections while city investigators also searched the chiefs’ offices at the agency’s headquarters in Brooklyn, people with knowledge of the matter said.
The corruption investigation by the bureau, federal prosecutors in Manhattan and the city’s Department of Investigation began late in the summer and was initially focused on whether the chiefs had been paid nearly $100,000 each in a scheme to help expedite or arrange inspections, several of the people said.
There was no immediate indication that the searches were part of a broad federal corruption investigation focused on Mayor Eric Adams and fund-raising for his 2021 campaign, although spokesmen for the F.B.I. and the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan declined to comment. A spokeswoman for the Department of Investigation could not immediately be reached for comment.
Neither of the chiefs, Brian Cordasco and Anthony Saccavino, has been accused of wrongdoing.
The Fire Department said in a statement that Commissioner Laura Kavanagh has “proactively” placed both chiefs on modified duty.
“The F.D.N.Y.’s first priority is always keeping New Yorkers safe, and we expect every member of the department to act appropriately,” the statement said. “As soon as Commissioner Kavanagh was alerted to these allegations last year, she immediately referred them to D.O.I. to investigate them.”
A man standing inside the door of Mr. Cordasco’s home on Staten Island declined to comment Thursday morning and told a reporter to call his lawyer, though he did not say who was representing him. Mr. Saccavino could not immediately be reached for comment. It could not be immediately determined if either man had a lawyer.
As of earlier this year, the investigation was examining, at least in part, whether a retired firefighter made the payments as part of an effort to help expedite or influence fire inspections on building projects, some of the people said.
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