FBI collars bribe-taking school bus supervisor
A city Department of Education bus supervisor was arrested at his Riverdale home on Dec. 11 on corruption charges as part of a federal investigation into mafia influence in Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, the United States attorney's office said.
Geoffrey Berger, 57, of Riverdale, was charged in Manhattan federal court on Dec. 12 with accepting bribes in his role as Department of Education Bronx borough supervisor of school buses. The federal complaint alleges Mr. Berger, who arranged bus runs for the Bronx and Westchester, took bribes from bus companies in exchange for offering them phony "extended runs" - bus routes that begin earlier or end later than the contract specifies, which earned the bus companies more money.
Starting in the early 1980s, the school bus inspection unit allegedly cooked the books by making it appear bus companies' runs were longer. Taxpayers took the hit as the Department of Education was charged an additional $100 to $190 per day for each bus run. The Education Department had no official comment, said spokeswoman Debra Wexler.
The FBI was tipped off to Mr. Berger's alleged scheme as part of a larger probe of the union, Local 1181, which is the primary union for drivers of school bus companies in New York City. An independent counsel report in January said organized crime families like the Genovese family had "infiltrated and controlled ATU Local Union 1181." The FBI investigation also uncovered organized crime influence in the contracting bus companies for the DOE.
Following an expansion of the probe, at least two individuals from the Department of Education are now cooperating with the FBI and more arrests are expected, according to Mr. Berger's criminal complaint. Mr. Berger, who did not return calls to his home, was the only one named in court papers.
Two unnamed bus company owners admitted to the FBI they made cash payments to Mr. Berger and other Department of Education employees. Mr. Berger allegedly received unspecified payments for doling out 40 additional Department of Education bus runs in 2005, a bus owner told the grand jury. One witness alleged Mr. Berger received cash payments from at least four bus companies; another said five companies.
In order to keep the money coming in, the FBI alleges Mr. Berger penalized those who stopped paying, even if they were under grand jury subpoena. The bus owner was concerned about a federal probe, but Mr. Berger said not to worry, the investigation was of Local 1181 not the Department of Education, according to FBI agent Michael Gaeta. Mr. Berger tried to coerce the owner because he "'put the ball in motion' to provide owner one with additional bus runs," according to Mr. Berger's complaint. The bus owner lost 37 bus runs in a Department of Education allocation in 2007, a year after he stopped payment to Mr. Berger.
Another bus owner allegedly paid Mr. Berger $500 to $1,000 per year for five or six years to influence Mr. Berger in his bus routing decisions up until this August, according to Mr. Gaeta.
The FBI alleges the corruption in the Department of Education spread beyond extended runs. A cooperating bus owner also told the grand jury the Department of Education chief inspector took bribes from bus companies for advance notice of inspections. The two Department of Education employees agreed to cooperate in exchange for leniency. They will plead guilty to their own crimes. The scam was lucrative for one turncoat, the chief inspector, who the Daily News identified as Dino Winkler. The FBI said he took in $90,000 in cash in 2007 alone.
Mr. Berger faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of more than $250,000, or twice the gain or loss from the crime, if convicted of conspiracy to commit bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds.
He appeared before Judge Theodore Katz on Dec. 12, and was released on $1 million bond. Mr. Berger was reassigned from his supervisory role.
