Ex-chum of NYPD brass jailed in con

THE CIVILIAN Complaint Review Board recommended the NYPD discipline the cop who used a banned chokehold in the death of Eric Garner in Staten Island three years ago.

The CCRB sent letters to Garner’s family and the NYPD notifying them of the long-awaited decision, sources said. The board substantiated two complaints against Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the Garner case.

The clash over selling untaxed cigarettes that led to the 43-year-old man’s death in July 2014 (inset) has been the subject of a long-running federal civil rights investigation.

“This is just more evidence as to why the federal government should bring civil rights charges against this officer,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton, who met with Attorney General Jeff Sessions about the case in the spring.

“This is all the more reason why this officer should be fired,” he added.

Sharpton said he and four other civil rights leaders met with Sessions. He said he asked Sessions if the Justice Department chief had closed the investigation. Sessions said he had not, according to Sharpton.

A Sessions spokesman wouldn’t comment when reached Friday.

In July, Sharpton and Garner’s family met with officials from the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn and the FBI. They again told Sharpton at the meeting that there’s still an active investigation into Garner’s death. Sharpton said he’s heard nothing since then.

A federal grand jury weighing the charges has been dormant since the DOJ met with Garner’s family in June, a source familiar with the case said.

A CCRB spokesman declined to comment Friday.

“The NYPD is aware that the executive board of CCRB has elected to move forward with their findings and recommendations pertaining to the actions of Officer Pantaleo,” an NYPD spokesman said via email. “The New York City Police Department will not proceed with any internal disciplinary proceedings, at the request of the Department of Justice and due to their ongoing investigation.”

Pantaleo’s attorney Stuart London found it odd that the CCRB upheld the charges without interviewing the cop.

“It is highly irregular — and a violation of my client’s due-process rights — for charges to be substantiated without speaking to the subject of the investigation,” London said.

Pantaleo used the barred chokehold while he and other cops arrested Garner. As he collapsed and died, Garner helplessly repeated, “I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe,” according to a video first released on nydailynews.com.

Pantaleo remains on modified duty — stripped of his badge and gun.

Sources close to Garner’s family said his mother, Gwen Carr, first learned about the CCRB recommendation when reporters asked her about it on Friday.

“I’ve said it many times,” Carr told The News. It was an injustice. He should be fired along with the rest of the officers that were involved.”

Garner’s daughter Erica Garner didn’t mince words on Twitter in her response to a Rolling Stone link to the magazine’s version of the story.

“F---. The.Police. Eric Garner was innocent,” she wrote. A HARLEM restaurateur who was once tight with NYPD higher-ups was sentenced Friday to five years in federal lockup for running a Ponzi scheme.

Hamlet Peralta, 38, pleaded guilty in May to a single wire fraud count for persuading investors to plunk $12 million into a bogus wholesale liquor-distribution business, according to the proceeding and prosecutors.

But much of Peralta’s hourlong sentencing was concerned with Jona Rechnitz, a big-time Mayor de Blasio donor — and his alleged role in the scheme.

“We don’t dispute that Mr. Rechnitz was bringing Mr. Peralta investors,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Kan Nawaday said of Rechnitz, who copped a plea in a separate bribery scheme and was expected to be a key witness against Peralta.

In their bid for leniency, Peralta’s lawyers contended that Rechnitz pressured Peralta to get more and more cash for his own schemes.

Peralta focused the blame on himself.

“What I have done is wrong,” he told Manhattan Federal Judge Katherine Forrest. “I’m deeply sorry.”

Forrest wasn’t swayed by Rechnitz’s alleged pressure on Peralta, saying criminal behavior comes with “baggage.” “It was the vortex that you created,” she said.