Taxpayers could be the ones on the hook for a huge haul.
A towing company says their lucrative city contracts and operating license were eliminated because of the “bribery and corruption” of a city official and a towing-industry rival, according to a newly filed $150 million lawsuit naming the city.
Runway Towing claims that disgraced Department of Buildings commissioner Eric Ulrich took cash and gifts from rival tow baron Michael Mazzio — and then pressured another agency to put the tow company out of business, the suit filed Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court says.
The payoffs were part of a larger $150,000 bribery scheme for which Ulrich has already been indicted criminally. He allegedly accepted bribes from Mazzio, the owner of Mike’s Heavy Duty Towing, Inc, including cash and Mets season tickets, the indictment claimed.
“Eric Ulrich took bribes from Michael Mazzio in exchange for helping Mazzio’s tow truck company . . . injure Runway Towing Corp., by ensuring that it would be investigated and its license revoked by the DCWP, so that Michael Mazzio could regain control of the New York City highways,” the suit claims.
The lawsuit alleges that when Runway went to renew their towing license in 2021, the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection issued subpoenas for extensive financial records.
The agency discovered the hauler had overcharged 237 customers a total of less than $6,000 — or roughly $25 each.
Typically, a minor discrepancy like that would be handled by a simple fine, Runway’s lawyer claims in the complaint.
But as a result of bribes given to Ulrich by Mazzio, the agency denied their renewal.
Despite a Manhattan judge ruling in a challenge that the decision was “too harsh or disproportionate to the offenses as to be ‘shocking’ to one’s sense of fairness,” the agency appealed, making the denial final.
Runway, which maintained a fleet of 40 trucks and a long list of contracts to provide towing for the NYPD and other public agencies, ultimately “lost a 10 million dollar a year business, and has ceased to operate,” according to the court filing.
“An agency’s determination cannot be the product of corruption,” the suit reads.
DCWP maintains that their decision was not a result of corruption, and that an unanimous appeal court ruling upheld their decision for good reason.
“DCWP is committed to holding businesses, like Runway Towing and Mike’s Heavy-Duty Towing, accountable for preying on New Yorkers and we’ve taken action to prevent both companies from violating the law,” said spokesperson Michael Lanza.
Many of the claims in Runway’s lawsuit mirror those made by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office in their 2023 indictment of Ulrich, Mazzio and five others who gave Ulrich money, gifts and other bribes to purchase special favor from the rising politician.
“Rather than serve the public, he used his roles to benefit himself and his friends,” Bragg said at the time.
Earlier this month, Ulrich — who has pled not guilty to a total of 16 felonies stemming from five indictments which stretch all the way back to his days as a Queens council member — told the court that he could no longer afford his attorney and asked a judge for a taxpayer funded advocate.
The gambler and former politician resigned in November 2022.
Attorneys for the two rival towing companies did not respond to a request for comment. Ulrich could not be reached by time of publication and the city’s law department declined to discuss the new suit.
