MAYOR TO GIVE BACK TAINTED $$
More than $31K in campaign donations tied to indicted former buildings boss Ulrich
Mayor Adams’ campaign is returning more than $31,000 in donations made by criminally indicted former Buildings Department boss Eric Ulrich, his six co-defendants and myriad relatives.
Vito Pitta, Adams’ campaign lawyer, confirmed the planned refunds Monday, telling the Daily News that the mayor’s team “began the process of returning contributions from these individuals when their indictments were announced.”
“The campaign has always set the highest standard, and we know that our more than 10,000 contributors would expect nothing less,” Pitta said.
Pitta would not give an exact dollar figure for the expected refunds, though he did say the campaign will return donations from Ulrich, his co-defendants and any “identified family members of those indicted.” City records reviewed by The News show Ulrich and the six co-defendants contributed a combined $7,925 to Adams’ 2021 campaign, while family members of two co-defendants, Michael Mazzio and Mark Caller, gave another $23,900, meaning the refund should total $31,825.
Five indictments unsealed by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Sept. 13 allege Ulrich, a Republican, used his government positions to secure favors — like expedited health inspections and municipal agency jobs — for his co-defendants in exchange for $150,000 in bribes.
Ulrich’s scheme played out at least between 2017 and November 2022, the indictments charge. Over that span, he abused all his roles in municipal government, first as a City Council member, then as a senior City Hall adviser to Adams and, finally, as the mayor’s Buildings Department commissioner, prosecutors say.
Neither Adams nor any current members of his administration are accused of any wrongdoing as part of Ulrich’s indictments.
The sole contribution Ulrich is listed as having made to Adams was in January 2021, when he gave $175, according to campaign finance filings. Months later, in August 2021, Ulrich co-hosted a high-dollar fund-raiser for Adams at Russo’s on the Bay in Howard Beach, Queens, with three of his co-defendants: Mazzio, and brothers Joseph and Anthony Livreri.
In addition to co-hosting that fund-raiser, the Livreri brothers, who own Aldo’s, a Queens pizzeria with a history of reputed mob ties, contributed $2,000 each to Adams between July 2020 and August 2021, campaign finance filings show.
According to Bragg’s prosecutors, Adams and his chief adviser, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, met with Ulrich and the Livreris several times before and after Adams’ January 2022 inauguration.
Among other alleged actions, prosecutors charge that Ulrich, in exchange for cash and gifts, secured a City Council job for Joseph Livreri and helped dispense with health code violations that threatened Aldo’s ability to stay open.
Ulrich and his co-defendants have all pleaded not guilty. Neither Ulrich nor an attorney for the Livreris returned requests for comment Monday on the Adams campaign’s decision to return their donations.
Mazzio, the other co-defendant who co-hosted the Russo’s fund-raiser, also gave $2,000 to Adams’ 2021 campaign, records show. Mazzio’s family members gave another $8,500 that is now set to be returned.
Among the relatives who contributed are Mazzio’s brothers, Salvatore and Angelo Mazzio, who gave $1,000 each, records show.
In 2018, the three brothers were charged in an unrelated indictment alleging they participated in an organized-crime-connected conspiracy related to a tow truck business venture. That case is still pending.
Reached by The News on Monday afternoon, James Frocarro, an attorney for Michael Mazzio, said he had never before heard of the donations his client and relatives made to the mayor. Frocarro declined to comment further.
Like the Livreris, Michael Mazzio allegedly met with Adams and Lewis-Martin, including at Aldo’s in December 2021, weeks after the mayor’s election. Bragg’s prosecutors charge Mazzio showered Ulrich with bribes, including Mets tickets, in exchange for help with getting his tow truck license reinstated.
The other three co-defendants who contributed money to Adams are Caller, Department of Buildings filing representative Paul Grego and retired Correction Department Capt. Victor Truta.
Grego donated $1,250 between February and July 2021, records show. Grego allegedly bribed Ulrich with a high-end painting, a custom-made suit and cash in exchange for Ulrich securing favorable Buildings Department actions for his clients.
Truta, who allegedly gave Ulrich cash in exchange for help with getting a relative a city government job, donated $100 to Adams’ campaign in 2019, records show. He could not be reached for comment Monday.
Caller, who contributed $400 to Adams, hosted a fund-raiser for him in August 2021 that raked in more than $47,000, as first reported by news outlet The City this month. Records show $15,400 of that haul came from Caller’s relatives, meaning it’s going to be returned.
An attorney for Caller — who allegedly bribed Ulrich with a discounted apartment and other gifts in exchange for official government actions — suggested his client remains willing to provide monetary support for the mayor when asked about the decision to return his donation.
“The mayor may again seek Mr. Caller’s support after he is acquitted of all of the charged crimes as they are entirely baseless allegations,” the lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said.