8 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • JULY 2019
SCPD SCRUTINY
NEPOTISM ALLEGATION PROBED
BY TIMOTHY BOLGER
A Suffolk County police sergeant’s
promotion that allegedly violated
nepotism laws has sparked renewed
questions about the department’s
ethics just as a new police commissioner
works to repair the agency’s
scandal-scarred reputation.
Sgt. Salvatore Gigante, the nephew
of Chief of Detectives Gerard Gigante,
was transferred January 2
to the district attorney’s detective
squad, where he applied to be promoted
to detective sergeant. But
because the county legislature has
yet to approve a nepotism resolution
in light of his high-ranking uncle as
required by law, the move sparked a
federal investigation, whistleblower
probe, a union grievance, proposed
legislative reforms — and some testy
exchanges among county officials.
“These guys are running around
like cowboys and this is something
I can’t stand for,” says Suffolk County
Legislature Presiding Officer
DuWayne Gregory (D-Amityville),
who’s sounding the alarm on the
issue. During a hearing last month,
Suffolk Police Commissioner Geraldine
Hart told the legislature:
“When someone in a position of public
power makes unsubstantiated
claims about the police department,
our community’s confidence in this
department is damaged and public
safety suffers."
Like neighboring Nassau County
police, Suffolk police is among 13
departments in the nation under
a consent decree with the U.S. Department
of Justice. The agreements
with Long Island’s two largest police
forces mandate ongoing federal
reviews of their hiring practices
— specifically, ensuring that local
police hire enough minorities.
Gigante’s transfer triggered a DOJ
probe because he is white and other
candidates passed up for the DA
squad job are black and Hispanic.
Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone’s
aides withdrew the nepotism
resolution from consideration in
Suffolk Legislature Presiding Officer DuWayne Gregory and Suffolk Police Commssioner Geraldine Hart are
butting heads over a recent transfer.
March, but resubmitted the measure
last month. The status of the DOJ
inquiry was not immediately clear.
"I went for an interview and was told
that, 'You know the way it is, Jeff. You
know, politics. You're not getting the
job,'" Det. Sgt. Jeffrey Walker — who
is black, has 25 years on the job, and
has been a detective sergeant for
eight years — told the legislature’s
government operations committee
on June 12.
Before the meeting, Walker went
to Gregory with his allegation,
triggering the whistleblower probe
that the presiding officer delegated
to the legislature’s counsel, who
hired an independent investigator,
Joel Weiss, to handle the inquiry.
David Kelley, Suffolk District Attorney
Timothy Sini’s former campaign
manager who had been Sini’s
colleague in the office of the U.S.
Attorney for the Southern District
of New York, was hired as outside
counsel to handle the matter for the
administration.
In a letter obtained by the Press,
Kelley wrote Weiss urging him to
“refrain from any further investigation
of this matter” to avoid
“any possible impediments or obstruction
to” the DOJ’s probe. But
in an email obtained by the Press,
Carolyn Weiss of the DOJ’s Civil
Rights Division wrote Joel Weiss
in May to say, “We do not see your
investigation as an impediment to
our review.” The two Weisses are
unrelated.
And the Superior Officers Association
filed a grievance because
Gigante is supervising detectives
while only a sergeant, not a detective
sergeant, as the title requires.
During the legislative meeting,
Hart said that police personnel
transfers can’t wait for local
lawmakers.
"We cannot leave vacancies for
important positions within units
unfulfilled while we wait for a
resolution to make its way through
the legislative calendar," she said,
arguing that since Gigante hasn’t
yet been promoted to detective, the
nepotism law wasn’t violated. "He
was not the most senior sergeant,
but he was undoubtedly the best fit
for the job."
The dust-up comes after Sini recently
had a judge vacate a 1976 murder
conviction of a man who authorities
determined was wrongfully convicted
and launched a Conviction
Integrity Bureau. It also comes as
his predecessor, Thomas Spota, is
fighting federal corruption charges
and Spota’s former protege, ex-chief
of department James Burke, was recently
released from prison after
pleading guilty to beating a handcuffed
inmate and covering it up.
In response to the transfer situation,
Gregory proposed legislation
to reassign Gigante, clarify the
county nepotism law, and strengthening
the law to penalize anyone
who intimidates whistleblowers, as
Gregory says happened to Walker.
The proposals are expected to come
up for a possible vote at the legislature’s
July meeting.
“An individual that triggers a nepotism
waiver has to recuse themselves
from lobbying on the issue,”
Gregory says.
IN THE NEWS
“This is something I can’t stand for,”
says Suffolk County Presiding Officer DuWayne Gregory.
/LONGISLANDPRESS.COM
