Lt. holstered in Boro Park
A high-ranking Brooklyn cop has been stripped of his badge and gun over ties to a key figure in an alleged $1 million NYPD bribery scheme, The Post has learned.
Lt. Michael Andreano of the 66th Precinct in Borough Park was put on desk duty as part of the wide-ranging corruption probe that has resulted in pending charges against three NYPD bosses, sources said.
Andreano is suspected of having improper dealings with Alex “Shaya” Lichtenstein, a leader of the Borough Park Shomrim patrol who was busted in April on bribery and conspiracy charges involving pistol permits, sources said.
“This guy was tight with Shaya and would go out of his way to accommodate him,” a source said.
Andreano served as a community-affairs sergeant in the 66th Precinct before getting promoted to lieutenant in 2015 and moved to the 60th Precinct in Brighton Beach.
He was transferred back to the 66th after “a month or two,” sources said, and put in charge of Special Operations there.
Lichtenstein was allegedly recorded offering a whistleblowing cop $6,000 a pop to “expedite” approval of pistol permits for members of Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish community.
During that conversation, feds say Lich- tenstein used a calculator to show that 150 permits would be worth $900,000.
He also allegedly bragged that he had already scored 150 permits for clients who paid him up to $18,000 each for the service but said he had lost his connection in the NYPD’s License Division.
Earlier this month, a prosecutor revealed there had been “continuous discussions” for Lichtenstein to strike a plea deal, and a judge gave both sides until Nov. 3 to come to terms or proceed with the case.
The cop who recorded Lichtenstein, former License Division member Richard Ochetal, secretly pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with authorities after admitting that he had accepted “lunch money” from Lichtenstein.
The lieutenants union declined to comment on Andreano’s behalf.