70 arrests highlight corruption in nation’s largest public housing authority, US attorney says

By LARRY NEUMEISTER
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal prosecutor says 70 corrupt employees of the nation’s largest public housing authority accepted over $2 million in bribes to dispense small repair-job contracts to contractors doing work on nearly a third of the city’s public housing buildings. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said the Tuesday arrests of the housing superintendents, some of whom no longer work at the agency, and other employees represents the largest single-day bribery takedown in the history of the U.S. Justice Department. The housing authority provides housing to one in 17 New Yorkers in 335 developments citywide.