Personnel and disciplinary records, subjects: DelGaudio, et al.

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the New York Freedom of Information Law, I hereby request the following records:

All disciplinary records deemed "substantiated" for the following list of persons, self-professed associates of convicted felon Joseph Guagliardo:

• Lieutenant John DelGaudio, month/year of birth July 1956, service years unknown
• Transit Policeman Patrick A. De Luca, with month/year of birth June 1941. Service years 1965 to 1978 (pre-merger into NYPD).
• Sergeant Edward E. Ranieri with month/year of birth May 1952, service years unknown
• Salvatore Taormina, with month/year of birth August 1961, service years unknown
• Sergeant Steven R. Cataneo, month/year of birth May 1962 , years of service 1985 to unknown date
• Sergeant (Special Assignment) Anna Tortorici, birth date unknown, service years unknown

Divisions that may hold responsive records include Internal Affairs, Employment Management and Department Advocate; however, any record should be considered responsive if it was used to evaluate the subjects' performance of duties for purposes of continued employment or promotion.

Per legislation signed by the Governor on June 12, 2020 as Chapter 96 of the New York State Laws of 2020, these records may no longer be withheld citing New York State Civil Rights Law 50-a (which was repealed in its entirety). Under this same law, they are now subject to release upon request through the state's Freedom of Information Law.

Explicitly releasable under the amended FOIL are records including:
* complaints, allegations, and charges against an employee;
* the name of the employee complained of or charged;
* the transcript of any disciplinary trial or hearing, including any exhibits introduced at such trial or hearing;
* the disposition of any disciplinary proceeding;
* the final written opinion or memorandum supporting the disposition and discipline imposed including the agency's complete factual findings and its analysis of the conduct and appropriate discipline of the covered employee.

Under the standard set by multiple court rulings, Freedom of Information Law uses a "balancing test" method of weighing privacy interests favoring redaction/denial vs. the public interest in disclosure. This matter is of clear public interest for the following reasons: the individuals named submitted character references on behalf of Joseph Guagliardo, the convicted embezzler of the Municipal Credit Union, prior to his sentencing.

For these reasons, I pray the requested records be released forthwith.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

T. McElwee

To whom it may concern:

I hereby APPEAL the Records Access Officer's decision in the matter of FOIL # 2020-056-10886, in full. The stated grounds for the rejection of this FOIL are that it "would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."

These grounds are simply invalid. The individuals whose disciplinary records I request are public supporters of Joseph Guagliardo, a fellow police officer who stands convicted of a scheme to embezzle funds from the Municipal Credit Union (MCU). In the course of this case, Guagliardo is known to have corrupted the CEO of MCU, Kam Wong, and to have worked in concert with a fellow board member of the MCU (Kings County Supreme Court Justice Sylvia Ash). Examination of this matter, in full, is a matter of public interest.

Further, the individuals stated this support on a public court docket. Please see, United States v. Guagliardo (1:20-cr-00023-DLC)
District Court, S.D. New York, Document # 38. which may be viewed at these URL's:

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.529844/gov.uscourts.nysd.529844.38.0.pdf
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.529844/gov.uscourts.nysd.529844.38.1.pdf

In each case, the named individuals state that they are police officers, and that as police officers they are suited to vouch for the good character of Guagliardo. In doing so they have opened the door to the public to request under the Freedom of Information Law to examine these claims in full, including the examination of their disciplinary records.

Finally, the legislature repealed CRL 50-A, and its replacement law explicitly states that police disciplinary records are generally subject to FOIL. There are a few exceptions; however, these exceptions are generally to be enforced through redaction of disciplinary records --not rejection of the FOIL request.

My prayer for relief to the Appeals Officer is the remand of this request to the Records Access Officer with instruction to make the necessary arrangements to locate and provide the records requested, and to use redaction of the documents (not rejection) within the scope of the Freedom of Information Law.

Sincerely,
T. McElwee