To Early To Say If All True Or Some Op Against Disgruntled First Responders...but FWIW..

[Peter Lemkin]

NY's fallen heroes: More than 100 retired 9/11 cops and firefighters busted for swindling hundreds of millions in disability benefits with fake illnesses and made-up psychological trauma arising from terror attack

• Retired NYPD officers, firefighters and corrections officers claimed they had PTSD and depression because of the Ground Zero clean up
  
• Received thousands in annual disability compensation from 9/11 disability fund as a result, promising that they retired
  
• Investigators found that they had second careers and did things that their supposed disabilities wouldn't have allowed them to do
  
• Cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars
  
• Lawyers coached fraudsters on how they should talk about leaving the TV on all day and constantly napping, having trouble grooming themselves
  
  

ByMeghan Keneally
PUBLISHED: 16:55 GMT, 7 January 2014 | UPDATED: 05:13 GMT, 8 January 2014

More than 100 first responders who claimed to have psychiatric conditions and medical disorders because of their work at Ground Zero are being arrested today for disability fraud.
The arrests come after the Manhattan District Attorney's office spent more than two years investigating the claims made by some NYPD officers and firemen who were part of the September 11 response and clean up efforts.
The officers submitted forms saying that they had varying disorders like PTSD, anxiety or depression- claims which were discovered to have falsified.





Tag team: John Minerva (left), a Detectives Endowment Association consultant, or Joseph Esposito (right), a retired member of the NYPD, would refer the fraudsters to one of two lawyers who were in on the scheme





Law on their side: Raymond Lavallee, 83, was one of those two lawyers who then helped process the legal papers which allowed the schemers to get on average between $30,000 and $50,000 per year- with a nice cut for each of the ringleaders


Responding to horror: More than a hundred first responders who helped at Ground Zero following the 2001 terrorist attack are being arrested over disability fraud after making false claims of PTSD and depression

ABC 7 reports that many of the retired officers that had said that they were being treated for stress retained their gun licences, which is not allowed if the holder has such a condition.
Another tip off was that in order to receive the benefits, the individuals had to be fully retired and while the majority of them had retired from the New York police and fire departments, many had taken up a second job.
Investigators used photos on Facebook as evidence that the men have taken up jobs ranging from martial arts instructors to helicopter pilots.
Some photos directly contradicted specific parts of the disorders that the responding officers claimed to have.


Sending a message: Glenn Lieberman is pictured on a jet ski, clearly not as incapacitated as he claimed to be in his benefit filing












Proud: Shannon Tumminello, 42, now lives in Lee, Florida but was claiming disability insurance from the fund





Not so afraid of crowds now: Jospeh Morrone, who said his post-9/11 fear of crowds kept him from working, collected $108,930 in payments and is seen here selling canollis at the packed San Gennaro festival

The individuals' claims- whether they be depression or assertions that they felt unable to spend time with family and friends in social settings- have not been revealed- but the District Attorney's office released a set of photos that depict some of the men in question having a great time on jet skis or marlin fishing as examples of their fraudulent claims.
One instance came from an officer, whose name has not been released, that told authorities that his work after the September 11th attacks left him witha debilitating fear of crowds. On Facebook, he was pictured selling canollis at the crowded San Gennaro festival in Little Italy.

The suspicion is that there were a handful of 'crooked' lawyers and doctors who worked with the responders in question and were fully aware of how to 'game the system'.

The four alleged 'ringleaders' were identified first, and it is clear that their positions within the NYPD and background in legal work helped them evade capture for years.
Moving up north: Unlike many of the fraudsters who retired to Florida, Rich Cosentino moved to New Hampshire, but that doesn't put him out of the scope of the Manhattan District Attorney



Active: Cosentino collected a total of $207639 since May 2008

Participants would start out by contacting John Minerva, 61, a Detectives Endowment Association consultant, or Joseph Esposito, 64, a retired member of the NYPD.
Minerva or Esposito would then refer the fraudsters to one of two lawyers who were in on the scheme- Thomas Hale, 89, and former FBI agent Raymond Lavallee, 83.

All four are charged with first and second degree grand larceny. The 9/11 disability claims are not the first that the four men have had a hand in, as ABC reports that they are believed to have been running disability scams since 1988.

'My client's involvement in this scheme was minimal at best... he maintains his innocence,' Minerva's lawyer Glenn Hardy told The New York Daily News.
The lawyers put the schemers in touch with two different doctors- but not after some coaching.
The district attorney laid out a series of different trigger phrases that would help justify an anxiety condition prescription.

They range from 'I nap on and off during the day' to 'my (family member) is always after me about my grooming'.
Not hurting too badly: John Famularo, 58, lives in Nassau, New York and his alleged disabilities- which have not been specifically disclosed- should have prevented him from motorcycling but he proudly posted this to Facebook


Throwback: Famularo had no qualms about posting this old picture of him in uniform online, and he was far from the only 'boy in blue' that was involved in the scheme

Other possible additions included the lamentation that they were 'healthy, active, productive' people but no longer.

'They're liable to say... spell the word "world," so you go "W-R-L-D." Then they're gonna say "Spell it backwards." You think about it, and you can't spell it backwards,"' court papers report that Esposito said in a recording.
All told, the fraudulent claims cost hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded benefits.

'For years, federal taxpayers have unwittingly financed the lifestyles of the defendants charged today,' district attorney Cy Vance said in a statement which listed all of the 106 accused.





Busted: Mike Scialabba collected $232,443 from the fund but also broke the rules by working as a helicopter pilot- a job which would be extremely difficult should he actually have the condition he claimed to suffer from



Not keeping a low profile: Part of the conditions for disability filings meant that the individuals did not have full time jobs like Louis Hurtado clearly does






Having his cake and eating it too: Hurtado also brought home $470,395 illegally from Social Security payouts


'Many participants cynically manufactured claims of mental illness as a result of September 11th, dishonoring the first responders who did serve their City at the expense of their own health and safety. This alleged scam further depleted the already limited resources available for battling the real and complex conditions of PTSD and depression.'
The case is the biggest bust that was announced since the new Mayor, Bill de Blasio, and his team has been in office, making this the first time in his recent tenure that new police commissioner William Bratton has weighed in on the work of the DA's office.

'The retired members of the NYPD indicted in this case have disgraced all first responders who perished during the search and rescue efforts on September 11, 2001, and those who subsequently died from 9/11 related illness, by exploiting their involvements that tragic day for personal gain,' Bratton said in the statement.





Read more:

• 9/11 disabilty fraud scheme crackdown nets dozens of arrests
  
• 4 connected to cop, firefighter Social Security scam surrender to face charges
  

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...z2pnejEqTg