Retired Long Island NYPD Cop Who Ran Tow Truck Scheme Gets 33 Months In Prison: Feds

CENTRAL ISLIP, NY — A retired New York Police Department officer from East Islip was sentenced to 33 months of imprisonment and a $25,000 fine for conspiring to use interstate facilities to commit bribery as part of a tow truck scheme where vehicles in crashes were steered to his company, the U.S. Attorney's office said Thursday.

Thirty-four-year-old Michael Perri, a recently retired NYPD police officer formerly assigned to the 107th Precinct in Queens, pleaded guilty in November 2022.

He has already paid the government over $158,000 in forfeiture funds.

Patch has reached out to this attorney, James Pascarella or Mineola, for comment.

Perri orchestrated a scheme to pay thousands of dollars in bribes to fellow officers working in the same precinct, James Davneiro, 44, of Bayside, and Giancarlo Osma, 40, of Deer Park, for their agreement to help an automobile repair and tow truck business Perri began operating after his retirement, according to prosecutors.

The scheme was given the monicker "the Business," prosecutors said.

Beginning in May 2020, Davneiro and Osma responded to automobile accidents and directed the damaged vehicles to "the Business" instead of using the NYPD’s Directed Accident Response Program, requiring officers identify an appropriate licensed tow trucking business to respond to the scene of a car crash and take the damaged vehicles, according to prosecutors.

To ensure no particular business receives favored treatment, NYPD officers are required to use a computer system that randomly selects a licensed tow trucking business, but Davneiro and Osma bypassed the NYPD's directive and steered damaged vehicles directly to Perri in exchange for thousands of dollars in bribes paid by Perri, prosecutors said.

The trio continued to take part in the scheme until May 2021, when they were nabbed, according to prosecutors.

In total, Davneiro and Osma steered at least 73 vehicles damaged in crashes to Perri, resulting in profits of over $150,000 and in exchange, Perri paid Davneiro and Osma over $50,000 in bribes, prosecutors said.

Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said that Perri, after retiring from the NYPD, "conspired with two police officers to betray their oaths and the public with promises of easy money, and as a result, they have all been sentenced to prison for their corruption."

“This office will vigorously investigate and prosecute public servants and their associates who exploit their positions of power for private gain," he said.

NYPD Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said that by "uncovering and eradicating corruption in all its forms," Internal Affairs Bureau investigators have "worked tirelessly since the outset of this case."

“There must always be zero tolerance for such betrayals of public trust," she said, adding that she thanked "our partners with the FBI’s Public Corruption Unit and everyone from the U.S. Attorney’s office for the eastern district who helped to guide this case through to its conclusion.”

Davniero was sentenced in March to one year of imprisonment after pleading guilty to the same offense.

Osma was sentenced in April to 14 months’ imprisonment, after pleading guilty to the same offense.