Ex-Buildings boss Eric Ulrich reached out to upper ranks of City Hall to advance alleged scheme

Former Buildings Commissioner Eric Ulrich used his influence to try and sway officials at the very top tier of Mayor Adams’ administration as part of an alleged corruption scheme that netted him cash and free rent, according to sources and records reviewed by the Daily News.

The identities of several of those City Hall officials have not been previously disclosed, as the five indictments charging Ulrich and his six co-defendants only refer to them as “John Does” or other anonymous monikers.

But The News has learned the officials Ulrich reached out to include Community Affairs Commissioner Fred Kreizman, Legislative Affairs Director Connor Martinez and Planning Department Director Dan Garodnick, as well as Department of Correction Commissioner Louis Molina, who the Adams administration announced Monday is resigning his post later this month to become a public safety adviser to the mayor.

The indictments against Ulrich and his cohorts are part of a growing list of criminal investigations focused on people in Mayor Adams’ orbit. On Thursday, the FBI raided the home of top campaign staffer Brianna Suggs as part of a corruption probe, and in July, six people were charged in a scheme to funnel illegal donations to Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign.

An analysis by The News, which for the first time publicly identifies the officials in the Ulrich indictments, illustrates just how high up in City Hall’s ranks Ulrich reached as he used his roles as Buildings commissioner and senior adviser to Adams to further his alleged scheme.

Among the favors Ullrich was seeking for his alleged co-defendants were a new Health Department inspection at a shuttered pizza shop and a development-related zoning change.

Neither Kreizman, Martinez, Garodnick, Molina nor any other City Hall officials are accused of wrongdoing as part of the indictments, and there’s no indication they knew Ulrich was up to anything illegal when he approached them for assistance.

Asked for comment on The News’ findings, City Hall spokesman Charles Lutvak said the Adams administration expects “all our employees to adhere to the strictest ethical guidelines.”

“While we cannot comment on the names provided or any role these individuals have had in the ongoing investigation, no one currently working in the Adams administration has been accused of any wrongdoing whatsoever in connection to this case,” Lutvak added.

Ulrich declined to comment, as did his attorney, Sam Braverman.

According to the five indictments unsealed by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in September, Ulrich accepted up to $150,000 in bribes from his co-defendants in exchange for netting them official favors.

Kreizman and Martinez are referred to as “John Doe #2” and “John Doe #3” in one of the five indictments.

A third unidentified Adams official who is referenced in the indictments as being approached by Ulrich for favors is Garodnick, according to a review of records and sources familiar with the case. A fourth individual who spoke with Ulrich as part of his scheme is referred to in court documents as a “high-ranking City Hall official.”

That person remains unidentified.

Based on the indictments, Ulrich pushed Garodnick, Kreizman and Martinez to help carry out favors that would have been beneficial to the co-defendants from whom he was allegedly receiving bribes.

One involved an effort to reopen a shuttered pizza shop owned by one of Ulrich’s co-defendants.

In the indictment against Ulrich and three of his co-defendants, Michael Mazzio and brothers Joseph and Anthony Livreri, prosecutors allege Ulrich called Kreizman and Martinez, who was at the time Kreizman’s chief of staff, to inform them the Livreris’ Queens pizza joint, Aldo’s, had been shut down after a failed Department of Health inspection.

At Anthony Livreri’s request, Ulrich pushed them in February 2022 for it to be reopened immediately, prosecutors charge.

“The Health Department shut them down,” Ulrich is quoted in the indictment as telling “John Doe #3,” who sources confirmed to be Martinez. “So, all we need to do is make sure they get a speedy reinspection so they can reopen.”

In February 2022, Ulrich and Joseph Livreri also spoke with Ingrid Lewis-Martin, Adams’ chief adviser, about Aldo’s health code predicament, the indictments show. The day after their conversation with Lewis-Martin, Aldo’s was able to reopen, court records say. Lewis-Martin is not accused of wrongdoing.

Ulrich is also accused of taking a bribe for trying to smooth the way for a zoning change.

Prosecutors say Ulrich attempted to enlist Garodnick to help secure that change on a Queens lot for real estate developer Mark Caller, who’s charged alongside Ulrich in a separate bribery indictment. Garodnick is referred to in the indictment as “DCP Director,” and his identity was confirmed by sources.

Gardonick and Caller met at Ulrich’s urging, the indictment claims. And Garodnick told Ulrich he’d walk Caller “and his lawyers through what [they believed was] a path for him” to secure the rezoning in that meeting, according to court papers.

Caller repaid Ulrich for the rezoning assistance by providing him with a discounted apartment in Rockaway Park, prosecutors charge.

Garodnick referred to the City Hall press office when asked for comment.

The senior City Hall official whose identity remains unknown to The News is connected to the indictments via Caller on a matter separate from the zoning change.

According to court papers, Caller told Ulrich on April 11, 2022 that he was in a holding pattern on a development project due to a wait on an FDNY inspection. The same day, Ulrich called the unnamed City Hall official “to expedite an FDNY inspection” of the property, prosecutors allege.

The criminal charges against Mazzio are mostly tied to bribes he allegedly paid Ulrich in exchange for help with locking down city contracts for his towing firm, Mike’s Heavy Duty, despite it being barred from doing business with the city following a separate 2018 indictment focused on a bid-rigging conspiracy in the tow trucking industry.

In addition, Ulrich is alleged to have communicated with Molina about getting a Department of Correction job for Mazzio’s daughter, according to court records.

“This one is from the boss,” Ulrich wrote in a Feb. 1, 2022 email to Molina with the resume for Mazzio’s daughter attached, though it’s unclear to whom Ulrich was referring. Prosecutors say Molina is not named as a defendant in the indictment nor is he accused of wrongdoing.

A few days later, prosecutors allege Ulrich told Mazzio that Molina could offer his daughter a Correction Department analyst job with a $52,000 starting salary. Mazzio then paid Ulrich $500 in cash, according to court papers.

The last unidentified person in the indictments, “John Doe #1,” is George Russo, president of Queens restaurant Russo’s on the Bay, The News has learned.

Ulrich, a major fundraiser for Adams during his 2021 mayoral run, co-hosted a fundraising event for Adams with Russo at his Howard Beach eatery in August 2021. Mazzio and the Livreris were also co-hosts of that fundraiser, which raked in more than $140,000 for the soon-to-be mayor. Russo himself donated $2,000 to Adams’ 2021 run, records show.

In another indication that Ulrich was using his government influence to help friends, the indictment notes that Joseph Livreri told “John Doe #1″ in a January 2022 telephone conversation that Ulrich had recommended a candidate for the vacant commissioner post at the city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. Russo responded to Livreri “that’s a big deal for Mike [Mazzio]” as that agency regulates tow trucking licenses in the city.

In a separate conversation a month later — the same month Aldo’s reopened — Joseph Livreri also told “John Doe 1” that Ulrich “hit him up” for money before going to the Resorts World New York casino, according to the indictment.

Russo, who did not return a request for comment this week, is not accused of wrongdoing.