Building Clean: The Control of Crime, Corruption, and Racketeering in the Public Construction Markets of New York City - A Preliminary Assessment of Efforts Made by the Office of the Inspector General, New York City School Construction Authority

• NCJ Number: 172233
• Author(s): M H Moore; R Z Tumin
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 145 pages
• Grant Number(s): 91-IJ-CX-0009
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Survey

Annotation

Efforts were initiated by the Office of the Inspector General of the New York City School Construction Authority (SCA) to secure the SCA and its building program from crime, corruption, and racketeering.

Abstract

The SCA recognized crime and corruption impacted the performance of the building industry and seemed to implicate government institutions in tolerating if not abetting waste, fraud, and abuse. In addition, the prevalence of crime and corruption in the building industry helped organized crime establish an extraordinary operating and financial base in New York and strengthened the hand of racketeers. In response, the SCA Inspector General adopted an approach through which it could influence procurement, contract administration, and inspection practices. Objectives were to keep the SCA's building program free of crime, corruption, and racketeering; to reform SCA practices and procedures that left the SCA open to attack; to identify and screen out individuals and firms the SCA had reason to believe were exploiting the SCA building program; and to deal with suspect building firms. To accomplish these objectives, it was necessary to harness the authorities, resources, and skills of law enforcement and other professions. The SCA focused on finding corruption-prone firms, employed a multijurisdictional approach to deal with crime and corruption impacting key public institutions, stimulated important innovations in racketeering control tactics and technologies, and implemented effective organized crime control measures. The overall strategy was based on procedural reforms and civil and criminal investigations. 152 footnotes