A pair of Queens brothers and pizzeria owners admitted to bribing former Mayor Eric Adams’ administration in Manhattan on Wednesday, two weeks before they were set to go on trial for corruption alongside Adams’ buildings chief Eric Ulrich.
Indicted in September 2023, Joseph and Anthony Livreri were among the first in a wave of people to face charges in connection with the Adams administration — including the former mayor himself, who faced federal public corruption charges later dropped by the Trump Justice Department.
The co-owners of Aldo in Ozone Park, a pizzeria with a history of mob ties, pleaded guilty in Manhattan Supreme Court to conspiracy and bribery counts for payoffs made to Ulrich, Adams’ former advisor and city Department of Buildings Commissioner, in 2022.
The Livreri brothers will not cooperate against Ulrich if called to the witness stand by prosecutors, according to their plea agreement, which says they would plead the Fifth.
They’re expected to be sentenced on December 10, prosecutors said.
They admitted to illegally bribing the former buildings boss with $4,000 to stop the DOB from forcing them to vacate Fortunato Brothers Bakery in Williamsburg after it was shut down following a fire.
The Daily News reached out to the Livreri’s attorney, Jake Lasala, for comment. Lasala told The City Reporter that they were not planning to cooperate against Ulrich.
The pleas cover a fraction of the allegations in the charges the brothers faced when they were indicted in September 2023, which included paying off Ulrich to expedite health inspections at their pizza parlor after it was shuttered due to multiple health violations, and trying to remove licensing hurdles for their codefendant, Michael Mazzio, so he could tow on city highways during snowstorms.
In a statement, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the brothers’ payoffs undermined the integrity of city government.
“In exchange for the bribes they sent to city officials, the defendants sought jobs for themselves and family members and expedited inspections at businesses with health and building code violations,” the DA said.
Nadia Shihata, the chief of the city Department of Investigations, which gathered evidence against Adams’ administration along with Bragg’s office and the feds, said in a statement that the brothers’ conduct represented “quintessential public corruption.”
Charging documents outlined the brothers’ significant ties to the former mayor, including donations they contributed to his mayoral campaign and a high-dollar fundraiser they hosted with Mazzio at Russo’s On The Bay in Howard Beach in August 2021. The trio met with the incoming mayor in person at Aldo’s less than 10 days before his tenure began in December 2021, court docs detail.
Prosecutors say Ulrich spent much of his proceeds at an illegal gambling club called the 89th Street Café, partially owned by Joseph Livreri, who was first hired in 2019 by then-Republican Councilman Ulrich to serve as a constituent staffer.
Ulrich has pleaded not guilty to a smattering of charges spread across five indictments handed up in connection with the scheme, which collectively accuse him of abusing the power of every public service position he held — city council member, Adams’ senior advisor, and DOB commissioner.
The ex-DOB chief, who’s due in court Thursday and headed to trial on Sept. 28, has acknowledged suffering from gambling and alcohol addiction but denies that his taxpayer-funded salaries were complemented by $150,000 in bribes, season tickets to the Mets and a painting by the last surviving apprentice of Salvador Dali.
Neither Ulrich nor his attorney could immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.
Dining and Cooking