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High-ranking NYC officials to testify in ex-buildings boss Eric Ulrich's corruption trial
By
David Brand
Published Oct 19, 2026 at 3:47 p.m. ET
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David Brand
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David Brand
Published Oct 19, 2026 at 3:47 p.m. ET
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New York City’s former buildings commissioner and other high-ranking officials will testify against her successor Eric Ulrich in a bribery case spanning the early months of the Adams administration, a Manhattan prosecutor said on the first day of the embattled politician's corruption trial Monday.
Assistant District Attorney Guy Tardanico told a judge that multiple former top officials will take the witness stand to build the case against Ulrich, including ex-Department of Buildings Commissioner Melanie La Rocca. Former Mayor Eric Adams, who hired Ulrich as a special adviser and later as his pick to lead the buildings department during his administration, will not be among them, a spokesperson said later.
Ulrich is facing various bribery charges for allegedly taking more than $150,000 in cash and gifts, including a pricey Mets season ticket package, in exchange for helping associates lift a vacate order, expedite a health safety inspection and secure a higher-paying city job for a family member. He was the first — but far from the last — member of the Adams administration arrested on corruption charges.
Ulrich was indicted in September 2023. He has pleaded not guilty and denied trading influence or favors for cash and gifts. The former three-term city councilmember and rising political star opted to forgo a jury trial and instead have Manhattan Judge Daniel Conviser decide his fate at a bench trial, which is expected to last at least a month.
With Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg looking on, prosecutors described a sprawling conspiracy case involving Ulrich and a group of South Queens business owners. The district attorney’s office collected evidence through more than a year of surveillance and recorded phone calls.
Tardanico said Ulrich, then serving as a special adviser to the mayor, pressed La Rocca by phone and during an in-person meeting to lift a vacate order at Fortunato Brothers bakery in Brooklyn at the behest of a friend. La Rocca, appointed by former Mayor Bill de Blasio, was still commissioner at the time. The friend, Joseph Livreri, promptly paid him $4,000 for the quid pro quo favor while acting as a liaison between other business owners and Ulrich, prosecutors said.
Livreri is the owner of Aldo’s Pizzeria in Ozone Park and pleaded guilty in his related bribery case last month. Livreri admitted to handing the money over to Ulrich — a claim Ulrich has denied.
The Department of Buildings issued the vacate order at the bakery after a fire damaged an upstairs apartment in March 2022. Ulrich called LaRocca from a Queens diner while with Livreri on March 10, 2022 and told her, “make sure they don't send the wrong inspector,” Tardanico said in his opening statement.
Ulrich then arranged a meeting with La Rocca and an architect for the bakery outside City Hall, Tardanico said.
The aggressive intervention apparently worked, according to prosecutors. Tardanico said La Rocca “elevated the issue within the DOB [Department of Buildings], and despite no inspection being scheduled or requested by the owner, had her staff take the necessary steps to reinspect the property the same day.”
He said La Rocca’s testimony will support the prosecution’s version of events
La Rocca did not respond to messages seeking comment about the intervention.
Tardanico said prosecutors will also call a former chief of staff at the Mayor’s Office of Community Affairs, Connor Martinez, to testify that Ulrich pressured him to fast-track a safety inspection at Aldo's after inspectors shut the pizzeria down over “hundreds of fresh mice droppings.”
Martinez declined to comment when reached by Gothamist.
‘Call him an addicted gambler’
The trial is the culmination of a sordid, years-long saga. Ulrich was the first member of the Adams administration to be charged with corruption. He resigned from his role as buildings commissioner in November 2022 amid an investigation into his illegal gambling.
Ulrich’s defense attorney, David Jason Cohen, admitted the veteran politician did take money from various friends and associates, including his co-defendants — but only to fuel a gambling addiction that led him to lose money at illegal betting parlors and during “hundreds” of visits to Resorts World casino in Queens in the span of a year.
Cohen told the judge that Ulrich did assist constituents, but not in exchange for cash.
“ Call him an addicted gambler, call him an alcoholic, call him a foul-mouthed, unpolitically correct politician, but he was never a bribe receiver,” he said.
Former Mayor Eric Adams
Benny Polatseck/Mayoral Photography
Cohen also detailed Ulrich’s role in Adams’ rise to an eventual mayoral election victory in 2021, arguing that he would not have thrown away a lofty political perch and burgeoning career for small-time bribes.
Starting in 2019, Cohen said, Ulrich advised Adams to adopt a strategy focused on building a base of moderate support outside Manhattan and introduced Adams to South Queens leaders, including the Livreris and another co-defendant Michael Mazzio, who owns a Brooklyn-based towing company.
Adams, Cohen said, went on to visit the Livreris’ pizzeria “50 times” before his election victory.
“ In many ways, Eric Ulrich was the architect of Eric Adams' mayoral bid,” Cohen said.
As Cohen described it, Adams repaid Ulrich by appointing him special adviser in January 2022, naming him Buildings commissioner in May of that year and a vital tip.
Adams had learned of an investigation into Ulrich’s gambling at an unlicensed casino in Ozone Park operated by the Liveris, Cohen told the court.
“Watch your phone, watch your back,” Cohen recounted Adams saying. “A little birdie told me about an unlicensed illegal gambling spot with one of your friends.”
The conversation, Cohen said, prompted Ulrich to cut ties with Livreri in May 2022. The Daily News first reported on the discussion between Adams and Ulrich in 2022.
Adams’ spokesperson Todd Shapiro declined to comment on the conversation.
In a written statement, Shapiro said “Ulrich was a valued member of the team that helped elect Eric Adams mayor.”
“His deep roots in Queens and strong community relationships were an asset to the campaign,” Shapiro said.
Ulrich is standing trial with Mazzio, who Cohen described as Ulrich’s best friend.
Mazzio is accused of giving Ulrich money and a Mets season ticket package worth nearly $10,000 in exchange for favors, like securing a higher-paying job at the Department of Corrections.
Mazzio denies bribing Ulrich and said the favors were all above-board.
“ That's how politics works, and it happens at every level of government,” said Mazzio’s attorney James Froccaro. “You help out your supporters in all lawful ways.”
Mazzio has said he and Ulrich shared the Mets tickets. But Tardanico, the Manhattan prosecutor, said that wasn’t true:
Ulrich never chipped in for the tickets and, he added, “ Mazzio wasn't even a Mets fan.”
Tagged
housing
new york city
public safety
David Brand
David is a reporter covering housing for Gothamist and WNYC. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 908-310-3960.
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