FBI, NYPD bribery probe leads to Island Park business

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FBI agents entered the No Limits Auto Body on Austin Boulevard in Island Park Oct. 1.

A person with direct knowledge of the case said the agents were at the shop in connection with the arrest that day of former NYPD officer Michael Perri, 32, of East Islip, on bribery charges. Peri retired from the NYPD in 2020. The FBI and New York Police Department jointly conducted an investigation into the case.

It was unclear at press time what, if any, Perri’s relationship to No Limits Auto Body might be. Asked by phone on Monday about the FBI’s presence at the shop, a man there said, “Yeah, we have no comment on that.”

In the alleged bribery scheme, which began in May 2020, 107th Precinct officers James Davneiro, 42, of Bayside, and Giancarlo Osma, 39, of Deer Park, directed damaged vehicles to an unnamed towing and auto body shop operated by Perri, instead of using the NYPD’s Directed Accident Response Program, according to a federal Department of Justice news release. The program requires officers to identify appropriate licensed towing and repair businesses to respond to automobile accident scenes and remove damaged vehicles.

Perri is alleged to have paid Davneiro and Osma thousands of dollars in cash bribes to steer the removal and repair of damaged vehicles to the business in question, the DOJ said.

An indictment of Perri, Davneiro and Osma was unselaed Oct. 1. If convicted, they would face up to five years in prison.

“As alleged in the indictment, these defendants disgraced their badges and betrayed the public trust and their oaths as police officers by lining their pockets with cash bribes,” Acting U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn Kasulis said in a statement, referring to the two NYPD officers.

“The NYPD cleans its own house,” Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said in a statement. “Corruption is a crime and a violation of a police officer’s sworn oath.”

According to the commissioner, the arrests are part of the third phase of an ongoing investigation by the department’s Internal Affairs unit, in partnership with the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.

Perri, Davneiro and Osma are not the first to be arrested on such charges. In May, two other NYPD officers were also allegedly involved in a similar tow truck scheme.

At press time, no information was available on the three defendants’ attorneys to seek comment.