What is it about day care centers that seems to bring out the worst in New Yorkers? 54-year-old supervising FDNY safety inspector Carlos Montoya was arrested on Friday for accepting tens of thousands of dollars worth of bribes from day care centers. According to Manhattan's U.S. attorney Preet Bharara [pdf], Montoya, who has been a safety inspector since 1993, "was responsible for certifying that day care centers throughout the city complied with fire safety standards," but "allegedly solicited bribes to look the other way, potentially compromising the safety of the children who attended these centers.” According to the Times, Montoya has been released on $100,000 bond. more ›

An FDNY EMT who's been on the job since 2004 was arrested yesterday after getting caught in a NYC Department of Investigation sting. Officials say Donald Vasquez of Brooklyn was caught on surveillance camera stealing $280 from a man whom he believed was injured. But the "patient" was actually an undercover investigator participating in an "integrity test," which was arranged after someone made a theft complaint against Vasquez. SPOILER: He scored a big fat F on this test (allegedly!). more ›

If a city data entry clerk ever promises to wipe away your overdue parking tickets for half of what you owe, don't do it! 20 drivers were fooled by just such an offer from Karen Frazier, 43, who earned thousands on the side "fixing" tickets. Her trick was to write bad checks to the city so it appeared as if the fines were paid—as long as customers looked before the checks bounced. The scam left Frazier's clients owing the city even more money. Frazier was eventually caught by the Department of Investigation and pled guilty to fraud, official misconduct and tampering with public record. She's getting a year in jail for her trouble. more ›

Well, we guess this is good news. Remember how the city seems to have had $80 million stolen from its bloated $722 million dollar CityTime budget? While the theft continues to be one of the bigger scandals to hit the Bloomberg administration (snow or no) at least all of that cash doesn't appear to be gone for good. The city's Department of Investigation and the feds have already seized $26 million from bank accounts connected to the six defendants in the scheme. more ›

Over the weekend, the Department of Investigation began a probe into allegations that Sanitation Workers not only staged a slowdown, but that some were drinking on the job when they should have been plowing the streets. Witnesses say a few workers bought beer at a Brooklyn bodega, and according to the Post, "DOI investigators immediately responded." However, once they went to retrieve a surveillance video of the incident, they found it had been mysteriously "overridden." more ›

In this week's New Yorker, the Department of Investigation (D.O.I.), the city's "secret police," gets the patented sprawling New Yorker treatment. And it turns out that secret police, like Rodney Dangerfield, have a hard time getting any respect. more ›

With one retired Corrections official calling Rabbi Levi Glanz's use of detention facility the Tombs as a lavish social club for Orthodox Jewish prisoners as being "systematic" and something "going on for years that everyone knows about," even more accusations are flying about just how over-the-top the atmosphere could get. The Post talks to Corrections officials who tell them about "a TV satellite truck (coming) to the lockup so that a Jewish inmate could watch a relative's wedding on a live feed." The tabloid deems the live two-way hookup to the wedding in Israel "Jew Tube." One official adds, "The rabbi had brought in wine and food and everything ... and they sat in the visiting area for hours. The rank-and-file [guards] were like, 'You gotta be shittiing me.'" Glanz is currently serving a two-week suspension from his chaplain as the Department of Investigation continues to look into the many allegations that have come out in the days since. more ›

After two firefighters died in a building with multiple code violations, the city has become more aggressive in making sure the fire code is being obeyed. The Department of Investigation announced it arrested 104 people in the past week for violations like "faulty sprinklers, blocked exits and no fire extinguishers." more ›

The Uniformed Firefighters Association is sounding the alarm over "integrity" tests from the city's Department of Investigation. And the firefighters believe some of the tests include a man leaving a bag of what looked like cocaine and a woman giving cash to firefighters to thank them for freeing her car. more ›