New York – Another high-ranking NYPD official was stripped of his gun and badge Wednesday as an ongoing federal investigation into police accepting gifts for favors continued to rock the department, DNAinfo reported.
Inspector Peter DeBlasio, no relation to the mayor, was the operations coordinator for the Brooklyn South patrol borough until he was placed on modified duty, sources said.
He was questioned by the FBI weeks ago, but it was not immediately clear why he was interviewed or why he was disciplined.
“The inspector has cooperated fully and answered questions presented to him by federal investigators at his home in an early morning unscheduled interview weeks ago,” said Roy Richter, president of the Captains Endowment Association. “Today’s action by the NYPD is unexpected.”
Ten other officers — most of them high ranking supervisors — have been placed on modified assignment or transferred from the positions amid the probe.
The probe centers on two Brooklyn businessman with ties to Mayor Bill de Blasio and to former Chief of Department Philip Banks, and whether they gave gifts or campaign contributions in exchange for favors from the police or City Hall officials.
Peter DeBlasio was once the commanding officer of the 66th Precinct, where the two businessmen lived and where several of the officers who have been disciplined have worked.
Another high-ranking NYPD officer has been disciplined amid the wide-ranging federal probe into alleged police corruption, law-enforcement sources said Wednesday.
Brooklyn South Borough Inspector Peter DeBlasio was put on desk duty after he refused to answer questions before a federal grand jury hearing evidence in the case, sources said.
FBI agents also had gone to DeBlasio’s home twice to interview him, the sources said.
Captain’s Benevolent Association President Roy Richter said he was surprised by the department taking disciplinary action against DeBlasio.
“The inspector has cooperated fully and answered questions presented to him by federal investigators at his home in an early-morning unscheduled interview weeks ago,” Richter said.
DeBlasio is being representing by Barry Slotnick, a lawyer best known for defending subway vigilante Bernhard Goetz.
“He will be totally exonerated,” Slotnick said.
The department also announced Wednesday that it has fired embattled Detective Mike Milici after he failed to cooperate with the probe. The veteran detective failed to show up Friday for a departmental trial, after refusing to testify before a federal grand jury last month.
Patrick Parrotta, the lawyer for Milici, said, “From the inception, we were of the belief that the NYPD as an institution is certainly capable of being cannibalistic of their own.
“When we saw that the list of potential people in the crosshairs were three and four star chiefs, deputy inspectors and captains, we knew that we were at the bottom of the foodchain and probably the easiest target.”
“[Milici] has a right to remain silent and a right to counsel, and he invoked both of those rights, thankfully.”
Meanwhile, NYPD Deputy Inspector James Grant is being hauled into the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau for a hearing Monday, paving the way for his expected suspension in connection with the probe, sources said.
Grant, the former commanding officer of the Upper East Side’s 19th Precinct, will be expected to answer questions by investigators for his alleged role in accepting cash and diamonds in exchange for favors from one of the Orthodox businessmen at the center of the scandal, sources said.
Grant is about two months shy of his 20-year mark with the NYPD — and stands to lose millions of dollars in future pension benefits if the NYPD follows through on firing him before he can qualify for his pension, sources said.