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Midtown Fire Fighter Accepted 52 Free Tickets To Super Bowl XLVIII
By
Emma Whitford
Published Jan 15, 2016
Modified Jan 15, 2016
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By
Emma Whitford
Published Jan 15, 2016
Modified Jan 15, 2016
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A Midtown firefighter accepted 52 free tickets to Super Bowl XLVIII in February 2014 from an NFL employee, after overseeing street-closures for a pre-game event on Broadway.
John Curatolo of Engine 8 in Midtown, an FDNY firefighter since 1991, has also served as the NFL's point person at his firehouse since 2001, and is the Logistics Coordinator of Manhattan Borough Command. NYC Conflicts of Interest Board documents show that Curatolo's firehouse is the closest in the city to the NFL's midtown headquarters.
Curatolo admitted to developing a "friendly relationship" with Anna Isaacson, the NFL Vice President of Community Relations, according to his COIB testimony. On February 1st of 2014, the day before the Super Bowl in New Jersey, Isaacson told Curatolo that she had last-minute tickets to the game, and needed to give them to someone she could "trust to not sell them or allow others to sell them." Instead, she said, Curatolo could give the tickets away to friends and family.
Agreeing to Isaacson's terms, Curatolo gave away at least 21 tickets to other firefighters and attended the Super Bowl himself, violating the "Valuable Gift Rule" under which City employees are barred from accepting gifts valued over $50 from anyone who does business with the City.
Some of the firefighters who went to the Super Bowl for free thanks to Curatolo were high ranking in the department—a Deputy Chief, three Battalion Chiefs, a Captain, and a Lieutenant.
In a separate incident, Curatolo pulled strings to help one of his kids get an NFL internship, according to COIB. Curatolo has since confessed that he met an NFL Films executive at his firehouse during the summer of 2013, when the NFL came in to film a Bon Jovi performance. Curatolo sent the executive his kid's resume, and the younger Curatolo was subsequently hired to work with Isaacson.
Curatolo paid a $4,000 fine for accepting the Super Bowl tickets as part of a joint settlement between the COIB and the FDNY. The six high-ranking officers were fined $500 for each ticket they accepted from their subordinate, with total fines per officer ranging from $500 to $3,000.
The NFL did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Update: A previous version of this story indicated that the tickets were accepted in 2015. In fact the transaction took place in 2014.
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