Michael Milici fired. First cop to lose job over over NYPD ‘Cash-To-Play’ probe
NYPD detective Michael Milici pleaded the 5th when first questioned, dismissed Wednesday
First casualty of ongoing New York Police corruption probe
Tried to to retire, was fired instead
26 year veteran, was at the center of the NY ‘Police-Cash-To-Play’ probe
The first NYPD officer embroiled in the ongoing federal and NYPD probe has been fired, officials said. Detective Michael Milici, a community affairs officer at the 66th Precinct in Borough Park, Brooklyn, was dismissed on Wednesday by orders of Commissioner Bill Bratton. He was placed on modified assignment after he pleaded the fifth when questioned. He was then suspended last week for failure to cooperate with an investigation when the 26-year veteran put in his papers to retire, officials said.
Police Commissioner Bill Baton and Mayor de Blasio: “We will go where the truth takes us” – Bill Bratton.
Meanwhile, another high-ranking NYPD officer has been swept up in the ongoing corruption probe.
Inspector Peter DeBlasio, 55, of Patrol Borough Brooklyn South, was stripped of his gun and shield on Wednesday after refusing to answer questions about the probe in front of a federal grand jury. Roy Richter, president of the Captains Endowment Association found the move “unexpected.”
Inspector Peter DeBlasio was stripped of his gun and shield.
“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.
So far, 10 NYPD officers,several of them Deputy Inspectors and above, have been either placed on modified assignment or reassigned during the probe of Orthodox businessmen Jeremy Reichberg and Jona Rechnitz, who have been accused of plying cops with gifts and lavish vacations for favors such as police protection and escorts.
Many of the officers involved are linked to Patrol Borough Brooklyn South and the 66th Precinct in Borough Park, where DeBlasio was once the commanding officer.
Jeremy Reichberg (l.), who donated to Mayor de Blasio’s 2013 campaign, is being investigated by the FBI for doling out gifts to cops in exchange for favors
Businessmen Jona Rechnitz allegedly wined and dined cops in exchange for preferential treatment.
On Friday, Inspector Michael Ameri, the commanding officer of the NYPD Highway Patrol, shot himself to death. The Highway Patrol’s offices were recently raided by cops from the Internal Affairs Bureau, who seized police escort logs, sources said.
Many cops have been gripped by fear of the probe, believing criminal indictments could be around the corner along with a shakeup in the upper echelons of the department.
But Bratton said Wednesday that he has not heard of any “hostility about this investigation.”
“We will go where the truth takes us,” Bratton said. “If I have corrupt cops, we will deal with them and I expect that the vast majority of this department will understand the need to have that investigation.”
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