03/14/11 No Wonder This Rag Is Called The Westmore Snooze: Former Westmore News Reporter Nik Bonopartis Has Filed Another Report About The Latest Building Department Police Raid And Richard Abel Is Still Asleep At The Switch

Photo: Once Again Westmore News Publisher Richard "My Daddy Gave Ne This Newspaper After He Forgot To Pay Over 100 Tax Bills" Abel Is In A Self Induced Coma.

Ace Nik Bonopartis Files One Breaking Port Chester News Story After Another At The New AOL / Patch News Website.

Staffing Changes Pending for Building Department as Authorities Review Thousands of Records

Of some 3,000 building permits issued over a decade, more than 1,000 are incomplete, creating a major time-sink for investigators.

By Nik Bonopartis - AOL / Port Chester Patch

Staffing changes and new leadership are in store for the building department as police and prosecutors dig through "thousands" of records that span more than a decade, officials said Monday.

For all intents and purposes, the building department remains frozen in time after police detectives installed new locks on the beleaguered office on Friday. The office is physically off-limits to anyone except investigators from the Port Chester Police Department and the Westchester County District Attorney's Office, as authorities look to preserve records and evidence.

An investigation into corruption at the building department began on April 29 of last year, when police closed the office for the first time and carted away boxes of records. Some employees were sent home Friday after police returned to lock the office down, but the department's clerical staff has been moved and will remain available to take applications and answer questions, Mayor Dennis Pilla said.

Police have remained mum of the details of the investigation, but former Building Inspector Frank Ruccolo was suspended in the aftermath, and officials say police have been digging through thousands of individual paper records that span a decade, when Leonard Cusumano – Ruccolo's predecessor – helmed the department.

When maintenance worker Daniel DeLisa was fired in February for allegedly outsourcing his $5,400-a-year cleaning job, DeLisa told authorities the late Cusumano gave his blessing to outsource the job a decade ago. Similar stories abound in the village.

One major time-sink for investigators is the sheer number of records in disorganized paper files. Those records pre-date recent modernization and digitization efforts at village hall, and Pilla said investigators are working through a cache of 3,000 building permits.

Of those permit files, 1,000 were never closed, meaning current staffers don't know what happened with those cases.

The process involves "reinspecting all of the suspicious-looking inspections from the past, to make sure that in the present tense there are no violations," Pilla said. "There are thousands of records that are abnormal. And the people of Port Chester need to understand that's going to take time."

While Pilla said potential criminal charges would come "not soon enough," he said the investigation's scope has expanded beyond the records at village hall.

Police have not discussed details, but a source familiar with the investigation said authorities are looking at the bank statements, property assets and financial records of suspected employees. The source pointed to one former employee who owns a home worth almost $1 million and likely could not have financed the home with official, reported income.

Sources say those patterns have increasingly become a focus of several concurrent criminal investigations – including the building department case and the parking meter theft probe.

In the meantime, Port Chester's leaders are exploring several options for the future of the building department. Pilla said staffers are exploring the possibility of combining building department operations with a nearby municipality, while Village Manager Christopher Russo interviews civil service candidates for the building inspector role. Russo will present a list of candidates to the board "very shortly," possibly at the next public board meeting.

Check back with Port Chester Patch for updates on the building department investigation.

HERE IS NIK'S PREVIOUS BREAKING NEWS STORY FROM EARLIER TODAY:

03/14/11 Where's The Westmore News? Here Is Another Port Chester Patch Breaking News Alert

BREAKING NEWS

TWO THUMBS UP FOR THE PORT CHESTER PATCH !!!! FORMER WESTMORE NEWS REPORTER NIK BONOPARTIS HAS ONCE AGAIN SCOOPED HIS OLD BOSS RICHARD "MY DADDY GOT ME THIS NEWSPAPER BY FORGETTING TO PAY OVER 100 PROPERTY TAX BILLS" ABEL . GOVERNMENT Police Shutter Building Department Again; Employees Sent Home Ten months after launching an investigation into corruption at Port Chester's building department, police have shut the office down again. By Nik Bonopartis | Mar 14, 2011

In a sign that a 10-month corruption investigation may be coming to a close, Port Chester police shuttered the building department at village hall on Friday, freezing operations and sending employees home. Details remain few. Port Chester police Lt. James Ladeairous confirmed detectives closed the office on Friday, saying the office is physically off-limits pending action by the police and village government. Mayor Dennis Pilla also confirmed the lock-down. "This is yet another step in the journey of rooting out corruption in Port Chester," he wrote in reply to a query from Patch......

==========================================
Please send your comments, news tips and press releases to PortChesterRoundup@gmail.com

03/01/11 What A Gavone - Bart "The Bigot" Didden Had No Certificate Of Occupancy At His Downtown Office. Bart Is Just A Fake, Phony And A Fraud.

Is Former Planning Board Member Bart "The Bigot" Didden On Drugs Or Is The The Furniture Upstairs In His Head Just Re-arranged In All The Wrong Rooms?

For Many Years Extremist TEA Party Lunatic Bart "The Bigot" Didden Worked Out Of A Downtown Port Chester Building That Had No Certificate Of Occupancy And Had Many Other Serious Building Code Violations.

Bart "The Bigot" Didden Appears To Be Mentally Ill As He Has Trys To Take Aim At Port Chester Village Manager Chris Russo Over Code Enforcement.

Through The Murk Of Bart "The Bigot" Didden's Long History Of Corruption And Building Code Violations He Now Procliams That "Downtown Is An Embarrassment To Village Residents And That Port Chester Has Not Done Enough To Crack Down On Safety Violations.

Manga-Looch Bart "The Bigot" Didden also accused Port Chester Mayor Dennis Pilla of going back on his promise to increase code enforcement staffing, saying the mayor "transferred funding for two additional code enforcement officers to a contingency fund."

Mayor Dennis Pilla disputes Didden's hallucinations, saying the vacancies in the part-time positions were created when the part-time code enforcement officers were promoted to full-time positions. He pointed to an internal e-mail exchange with Village Manager Christopher Russo.

"Two of the full-time positions were filled by the part-time code enforcement officers being brought up to full time pending civil service exam, of course, but they are legally in the positions provisionally," Port Chester Village Manager Chris Russo wrote. "This resulted in two part time positions now vacant for which we are actively recruiting."

Since taking over code enforcement duties, Christopher Steers has been highly lauded by both Democrats and Republicans on the board. Code enforcement was traditionally part of the long-corrupt building department, which was raided by the Port Chester Police Department early last year, resulting in the retirement of Acting Building Inspector Frank "Dirty Deals Done Dirt Cheap" Ruccolo after he was suspended without pay in May.

Frank "Dirty Deals Done Dirt Cheap" Ruccolo, assistant to longtime building inspector Leonard Cusumano, is widely rumored to have taken bribes.

Several sources say police raided the building department after police received credible evidence that Ruccolo had taken a $1,500 bribe to approve an illegal dwelling, but the investigation has been ongoing for 10 months without a comment from police.

Remnants of the alleged corruption surfaced earlier this month, when maintenance worker Daniel DeLisa was fired for allegedly outsourcing his $5,400-a-year cleaning job. DeLisa told authorities the late Cusumano gave DeLisa his blessing to outsource the job a decade ago; DeLisa had been paying a woman to do the work since 2001.

After the scandal surfaced, Didden was forced to backpedal after claiming he'd "uncovered" the corruption.

Although the police investigation is ongoing, Cusumano passed away in 2007 and Ruccolo was allowed to retire, it's difficult to find a resident in town who does not have a corruption story about the building department.

It all adds up to a staggering amount of corruption Steers has had to contend with as code enforcement director, and in January he threatened to quit after Trustee Sam "Wine, Dine And Pocket Line" Terenzi was dangling a promotion in front of Steers in exchange for political support.

Years Ago, Port Chester's Most Influential Newspaper, The TRUE BLUE CONSERVATIVE REVIEW Reported On The Bart Didden And Lenny Cusumano Corruption Story

THE TRUE BLUE

CONSERVATIVE REVIEW

=============================

Port Chester's most influential newspaper.

=============================

For Years And Years Bart Didden Has

Been Threatening To Send

Corrupt Members Of The

Mayor Gerald Logan' Patronage Machine To

The Port Chester Ethics Board......

For a year Bart Didden was filing Freedom of Information requests against Port

Chester Trustee Bob Sorensen.

Bart Didden went so far as to threaten Robert Soresen, by saying that he would release

the information unless Mr. Sorensen did not immediately resign. Then Bart Didden went

on cable TV attacking and threatening Mr. Sorensen.

Worse yet, Bart Didden was taking the information about Bob Sorensen to the Westmore

News in "anattempt to get bad articles written about Trustee Bob Sorensen. Further, Bart

. Didden contacted Liz Sadler of the Journal News in order to get even more articles

printed about Mr. Sorensen and his family.

Bart Didden was the driving force behind organizing the "Letter To The Editor" writing

campaign agaipst Mr. Sorensen's family.

But that was not enough. Bart continued the attacks for about two and a half months calling for Mr. Sorrensen to be sent to the Port Chester Ethic's Board.

When all was said and done the Bart Didden's information about the Trustee Sorensen's parking tickets was not very good and was in fact a hyped up attack against Mr. Sorensen.

For the record Trustee Robert Sorensen was never ever

referred to the Port Chester Ethics Board.

The Port Chester Official That Should Be

Dragged Before The Port Chester Ethics

Board Is The Lawbreaker Bart Didden.

Bart Didden has sat on the Port Chester Planning

Commission, while having

No Certificate Of Occupancy

For one year Port Chester Building Inspector Lenny

Cusamano has been afraid to inspect Bart Didden's

Main Street Business even though G&S testified at a

public hearing that Bart'Didden's building is not in

compliance with Port Chester Buildin Code Laws.

Over one year ago Port Chester Building Inspector

Lenny Cusamano was asked to produce a copy of

Bart Didden's Certificate Of Occupancy and could

not produce a copy.

Bart Didden Is A Lawbreaker And A Criminal.

It Is Landlords Like Him Who Have

Ruined Downtown Port Chester

The True Blue Conservative Has Always Said

That When Planning Board Member Bart Didden Says Jump.

Building Inspector Lenny Cusumano

Says,"How High?"

Perhaps we should now start saying...

"When Bart Didden says jump fetch beg or

bark and Cusumano does it."

The single-family homeowners of Port Chester Hate The Fact That

Planning Board Member Bart Didden Has The Very Corrupt Port Chester Building Inspector Lenny Cusumano Wrapped Around His Little Finger.

First Bart Didden sues the single-family homeowners of Port

Chester for 10 Million Dollars and then he uses his cash to become

a big shot in the Republican Party that he repeatedly called corrupt.

BART DIDDEN IS NOT A PART OF THE SOLUTION

BART DIDDEN IS A PART OF THE PROBLEM

Port Chester Taxpayers Suffer, Because Of

Downtown Building Code Violators Like Bart Didden

==========================

Please send your comments, news tips and press releases to PortChesterRoundup@gmail.com

02/20/11 What Kind Of LSD Are They Putting In Bart Didden's Tea?

Port Chester Mayoral Wanna Be And Extremist TEA Party Lunatic Bart "The Bigot" Didden has sent out a press release saying he had "uncovered" the latest disciplinary case against a village employee, who payed another person to do his job.

Bart "The Bigot" Didden's release says, "Recently, in his role as a Village Trustee, Didden uncovered even more bad business practices and possible corruption in Village operations" with the case against a maintenance worker who is accused of paying another person to do his job.

Earth To Bart "The Bigot" Didden

Port Chester Village Manager Christopher Russo says that the latest case came to light when Public Works Foreman Rocky Morabito reported that a cleaning woman complained she had not been paid. It turned out that the woman was not on the village payroll, but had been paid by employee Daniel DeLisa, who claimed he'd been authorized by former Building Inspector Lenny Cusumano to outsource his own village job.

The Truth Is That Glory Hound Bart "The Bigot" Didden Didn't Do Jack

Port Chester Village Manager Christopher Russo Fired Daniel DeLisa on Feb. 11 after investigating the situation.

Then Port Chester Village Manager Christopher Russo followed through and reported Daniel DeLisa to the Port Chester Police Department, the Westchester County District Attorney, the New York State Comptroller's Office and the New York State Retirement System.

Extremist TEA Party Lunatic Bart "The Bigot' Didden has only looked on as the Port Chester Village Manager Christopher Russo has filed more than two dozen disciplinary actions since August 2008, leading to the resignation of Public Works Foreman Gary Racaniello, a 20-year employee; the retirement of Acting Building Inspector Frank Ruccolo, a village employee for about 10 years, and various other penalties. A sanitation worker was fired for abuse of sick leave, for example, and a highway worker was fired for stealing gasoline.

Maybe someone should tell Bart "The Bigot" Didden that, except in cases involving police and fire personnel, the village board of trustees are not involved in disciplinary investigations other than to approve funding for a hearing officer.

The investigations are conducted by Robert Lombardi, assistant to the village manager, and pursued according to civil service procedures.

Can anyone one name a trustee more clueless than Bart "The Bigot" Didden?

Bart "The Bigot" Didden Just Can't Stop Hallucinating .....

Extremist TEA Party Lunatic Bart "The Bigot' Didden Claims he sent an e-mail to Port Chester Village Manager Christopher Russo the same day the board was notified of the Daniel DeLisa case, but Mr. Russo has said he knows of no such e-mail.

02/10/11 More Of The Building Department's Coruuption Exposed: Port Chester Maintenance Worker Fired Over 'Outsourcing' Cleaning Duties

The Building Department's Chicken's Are Coming Home To Roost

Port Chester Village Manager Christopher Russo fired Daniel DeLisa, a cleaning and maintenance employee, after learning that he had been collecting a check and having someone else do the work.

Mr. DeLisa said he was authorized to "outsource" the job 10 years ago by a supervisor in the Building Department, Leonard "Let's Make A Deal" Cusumano, who is now dead.

Port Chester Village Manager Christopher Russo is handling the situation, because Port Chester is a village manager form of government and the manager is responsible for monitoring, directing, managing and firing village employees.

It is reported that Mr. DeLisa was hired in 2000 to clean what was then a village office on Willett Avenue and outsourced his job in 2001,

Mr. DeLisa was paid $5,400 a year for the three day per week cleaning of the Department of Works office. That worked out to $34.81 per visit, before insurance and tax deductions.

It's not clear what amount of money the woman was receiving, but it was common knowledge in the Department of Public Works that she was working for Mr. DeLisa. There was some speculation that she got about half of the $34.81 for each cleaning visit.

The arrangement came to light when a public works foreman reported that the woman hadn't been paid.

Port Chester Village Manager Christopher Russo said he will do the right thing and to report the situation to law enforcement. Let's see if Port Chester Police Chief Joseph "I Had No Clue All Of This Corruption Was Going On" Krzeminski

When asked about the case Mr.Russo said it was just one more thing to clean up.

Port Chester Mayor Dennis Pilla said,"I brought in a professional management team that is uncovering patterns of corruption and rooting them out. These are things that have been going on for many years. They started before I got into office and are ending now. The buck stops here.”

The firing is the latest in a rash of disciplinary cases in the Port Chester Department and Public Works and Building Department.

• Public Works General Foreman Gary Racaniello, who was in charge of the stolen parking meter funds collection, was served with 36 disciplinary charges and suspended without pay last year. He resigned.
• Disciplinary charges concerning the village’s parking meter revenue, were also leveled four months later against William Oxer who was suspended without pay. A disciplinary hearing is currently being scheduled for Mr Oxer.
• Last May, Port Chester Assistant Building Inspector Frank Ruccolo was suspended without pay pending disciplinary charges and eventually opted for retirement.
• A slew of disciplinary charges have also been leveled against many other DPW workers for various infractions, and one was fi red for stealing gasoline.

Why isn't Port Chester Chief of Police Joesph Krezminski arresting these guy's.

Mayorial Wanna Be And Extremist TEA Party Lunatic Bart "The Bigot" Didden has repeatedly complained that Port Chester Village Manager Christopher Russo should have asked for an updated W-4 form.

Village Manager Christopher Russo said he didn’t see how this fraud would have been discovered even if DeLisa had been required to update a W-4 form to change his deductions every year.

Mayorial Wanna Be And Extremist TEA Party Lunatic Bart "The Bigot" Didden seems not to understand that Mr. Delissa could have come in and updated his deductions on a W-4 and still have subcontracted it out,

Does Extremist TEA Party Lunatic Bart "The Bigot" Didden think that Mr. DeLissa Would have just walked into the village manager's office and filled a W-4 form in a manner that would have said that he was defrauding the state retirement system.

Sometimes, it is just shocking how clueless Extremist TEA Party Lunatic Bart "The Bigot" Didden is.

All hell is going to break loose if they really ever start investigating all of the coruption surrounding Leonard Cusumano's tenure at the Port Chester Building Department. Many in Port Chester speculate of Mr. Cusumano would lead to Fritz Falanka and to former Department Of Public Works Head Billy "Ka Ching Ka Ching Ka Ching" Suma who went down south.

Maybe, they should independently look into how Lenny "Let's Make A Deal" Cusumano shook down and covered up the wrong doings with the building of the BMW Service Center that recently was able to emerge out of Bankruptcy.

But We All Know That Former Mayor Gerald "I Drive A Buick - Not A BMW" Logan and Gary "Forget About That Expensive Fire Exit" Gianfrancesco will never let that happen.

UPDATE:

Better Late Than Never

The Westmore Snooze Finally Reports

On The Story

Village custodian got paid while another did the work

BY JANANNE ABEL

Village Manager Christopher Russo has uncovered another skeleton in Port Chester’s closet. A custodian who was employed by the village and whose hours were being reported to the New York State Retirement System for the last 11 years was actually subcontracting the work to another for the last 10 of those years.

Daniel DeLisa was hired as a part-time cleaner in March 2000. When he was fi rst hired, he was responsible for cleaning 110 Willett Avenue as well as the Department of Public Works yard offi ces on Fox Island Road. His business got busier, so he asked and received permission from then Building Inspector Lenny Cusumano, now deceased, for another person to do it.....

Abel's Fables

Once again, The Newspaper Founded By Bernie "My Family Is Doing Okay, Because I Forgot To Pay Over 100 Property Tax Bills" Abel Fails To Tell Its Readers Just How Bad The Decades Of Village Corruption Really Is.

The Westmore News Is Not Going To Push The Story To Far, Because They Are Afraid That Department Of Public Works Employees Will Start Talking About How Bernie Transfered Multi-Tenant Apartment Building Over To Family Members For As Little As A Hundred Bucks When The Village Started To Foreclose on Them.

God Forbid, That The Department Of Public Works Employees Started To Talk About How Some Of The Buildings That Port Chester Took From Bernie On Willow Street Mysteriously Went Up In Flames.

Maybe One Day Port Chester Roundup Will Have To Release A Few Of The Documents On Bernnie "I Forgot To Pay Over 100 Property Tax Bills" Abel

Now You Know Why Westmore News Publisher Richard "My Daddy Saved So Much Money On Property Taxes He Gave Me This Newspaper" Abel Has Failed For Decades To Uncover Corruption At The DPW.

For Decades The Westmore Snooze Has Been A Sleep At The Switch When It Cames To Uncover Port Chester Corruption.

===========================

Please send your comments, news tips and press releases to PortChesterRoundup@gmail.com