By Michele Evans / NYweeklyRecord.com / Date: 10/20/2026
Category: Criminal Courts / Public Corruption / Government Accountability
NEW YORK CITY, NY –
Former New York City Buildings Commissioner Eric Ulrich is on trial on charges that he sold access to city government for cash, gifts and political favors, putting a judge in charge of deciding whether routine constituent work crossed into bribery.
Prosecutors opened the Manhattan Supreme Court bench trial Monday by alleging that Ulrich accepted more than $150,000 in money and benefits from friends and business owners while serving first as a mayoral adviser and later as head of the Department of Buildings. Ulrich has pleaded not guilty. The accusations remain unproven.
Assistant District Attorney Guy Tardanico told Justice Daniel Conviser that former senior city officials will testify, including former Buildings Commissioner Melanie La Rocca. Prosecutors say the witnesses will describe pressure from Ulrich to lift a vacate order, accelerate a restaurant health inspection and help an associate’s relative obtain a better-paid job at the Department of Correction.
One alleged episode centers on Fortunato Brothers bakery in Brooklyn. Prosecutors say a fire had prompted a vacate order, and Ulrich intervened with La Rocca at the request of Joseph Livreri. The prosecution says Livreri then paid Ulrich $4,000. Livreri pleaded guilty last month in a related case. Ulrich denies that he traded official action for money.
Another allegation involves Aldo’s Pizzeria in Ozone Park. Prosecutors say Ulrich pressed a mayoral community-affairs official to speed up an inspection after the restaurant was closed over health conditions. That former official is expected to testify.
Ulrich is being tried with towing-company owner Michael Mazzio. Prosecutors allege Mazzio provided money and a Mets season-ticket package worth nearly $10,000 while seeking help securing a higher-paying city job for a relative. Mazzio denies bribing Ulrich and says the help was lawful.
Defense attorney David Jason Cohen acknowledged that Ulrich accepted money from friends and associates but told the court it was tied to a gambling addiction, not an agreement to misuse public office. The defense says Ulrich helped constituents because that was part of his political role.
That distinction is central. Public officials routinely make calls, request meetings and press agencies for answers. Prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the money and gifts were connected to official acts, not friendship, political support or ordinary constituent service.
The case reaches beyond one former commissioner. Building vacate orders, restaurant inspections and correction jobs carry direct consequences for public safety and public trust. If access to those decisions can be bought, New Yorkers without money or connections are pushed to the back of the line.
Ulrich chose a bench trial, so Conviser, not a jury, will decide the facts and the law. The proceeding is expected to last at least a month. Former Mayor Eric Adams, who hired Ulrich, is not expected to testify, according to a spokesperson cited by Gothamist.
The trial will test the government’s evidence after years of surveillance, recorded calls and guilty pleas by people charged in related schemes. It will also test the defense claim that prosecutors converted personal loans and political favors into crimes.
For now, Ulrich and Mazzio remain presumed innocent. The public question is sharper than the courtroom charge: who had influence inside city agencies, what did that influence cost, and whether the normal safeguards stopped working when politically connected people called.
Sources
Gothamist: High-ranking NYC officials to testify in ex-buildings boss Eric Ulrich’s corruption trial
Manhattan District Attorney: Bribery conspiracy indictments involving Eric Ulrich and associates
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