NEW YORK (AP) — A former New York City Fire Department chief was sentenced to three years in prison Wednesday for accepting tens of thousands of dollars in bribes to fast-track fire safety inspections at restaurants, hotels and other city businesses.
Anthony Saccavino, 61, pleaded guilty in January to running the scheme while heading the department’s Bureau of Fire Prevention, which regulates the installation of fire safety and suppression systems in New York City.
With the help of another chief, Brian Cordasco, Saccavino solicited and received $190,000 in bribe payments between 2021 and 2023, prosecutors said.
“Chief Saccavino led a pay-to-play bribery scheme that would offend the sensibilities of every hard-working New Yorker,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said in a statement.
A retired firefighter who ran an unsanctioned “expediting” business acted as the intermediary for the more than 30 projects that benefited from the accelerated reviews.
Saccavino was arrested in September alongside Cordasco, who also pleaded guilty and was sentenced in March to 20 months in prison.
Their arrests came days before the criminal indictment of Mayor Eric Adams on bribery charges that included allegations he sped up fire safety inspections at the Turkish consulate in exchange for illegal contributions. Adams has denied wrongdoing.
The case against the mayor, which was later ordered dropped by the Trump administration, was unrelated to the fire chiefs’ bribery scandal.
On top of his prison term, Saccavino was ordered to pay a $150,000 fine and to return $57,000 that he personally pocketed in bribes, prosecutors said.
His attorney did not respond to phone call requesting comment.
FILE - This Feb. 7, 2023 image provided by the Fire Department of the City of New York shows Anthony Saccavino. (Fire Department of the City of New York via AP, file)
A Ukrainian drone strike killed one person and wounded three others in the Russian city of Voronezh, local officials said Sunday.
A young woman died overnight in a hospital intensive care unit after debris from a drone fell on a house during the attack on Saturday, regional Gov. Alexander Gusev said on Telegram.
Three other people were wounded and more than 10 apartment buildings, private houses and a high school were damaged, he said, adding that air defenses shot down 17 drones over Voronezh. The city is home to just over 1 million people and lies some 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the Ukrainian border.
The attack came the day after Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight into Friday, killing at least four people in the capital Kyiv, according to Ukrainian officials.
For only the second time in the nearly four-year war, Russia used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in a clear warning to Kyiv and NATO.
The intense barrage and the launch of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile followed reports of major progress in talks between Ukraine and its allies on how to defend the country from further aggression by Moscow if a U.S.-led peace deal is struck.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly address that Ukrainian negotiators “continue to communicate with the American side.”
Chief negotiator Rustem Umerov was in contact with U.S. partners Saturday, he said.
Separately, Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia targeted Ukraine with 154 drones overnight into Sunday and 125 were shot down.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
This photo provided by the Ukrainian Security Service on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, shows a fragment believed to be a part of a Russian Oreshnik intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missile that hit the Lviv region. (Ukrainian Security Service via AP)
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second left, listens to British Defense Secretary John Healey during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)
