 Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Inspector General John Gay, District Attorney Melinda Katz, and everyone for being here today. I'd also like to thank all the folks at the NYPD, the Queens DA's office, the Port Authority Inspector General's office, and the BIC enforcement team who made this happen. This is government inter-agency work at its finest. Companies that want to work in the waste hauling industry in New York City need to have the required BIC license or registration in order to do that work. And as this case shows, we will take action when illegal hauling activity takes place. Companies that attempt to circumvent BIC's regulations present both a corruption and a public safety risk to the city. It is also an injustice to the many companies who do the right thing and secure the required registration as well as any other permits needed to do their work. BIC will deny the application of a company when they lack good character, honesty, and integrity. Over the past 20 years, BIC has made great progress in removing the influence of organized crime, corruption, and other forms of criminality from the industries we regulate. LMC trucking was denied a registration in 2020 and continued to operate construction and demolition debris hauling business in defiance of that denial, resulting in this criminal action. The company, the other companies involved also did not have a current BIC registration necessary to operate and that is unacceptable. It is our continual regulation that acts as a check on these industries. In the absence of proper regulation and enforcement, bad actors would once again flourish in the waste hauling industry running companies that did not meet the required standards for safety and integrity. Companies that do not comply with the proper regulations cannot be allowed to operate unchecked, especially on projects that involve public funds like this modernization project underway here at JFK Airport. Additionally, with a reported estimate of 25 billion dollars being invested at JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark over the next 10 years, it is imperative for all unlicensed, unregistered companies to understand they must comply with all local laws and regulations. Thank you again to everyone at the Port Authority, IG's office, Queens DA, and the BIC enforcement team for their work. At BIC, our success comes from our ability to work with other city and state agencies that allow us to get stuff done for New York City. Ensuring public safety and public trust is key to BIC's regulation and enforcement. The work goes right to the heart of the mayor's agenda and the priorities of the Adams administration, and we welcome Mayor Adams. Thank you so much. Thank you, Liz, and it's just really good to be here with District Attorney Katz. We serve together as our president, and as we have our assembly members join the company, you can join us on the stage. And the DA, even as our president, was clear and focused on how do we do to write things with taxpayers' dollars, and oftentimes when we talk about public safety and unlawful behavior, we think about those who are committing predatory crimes. But we're going further than that, and that's why the role of Commissioner Karate and her team is so important. The Business Integrity Commission, it has a responsibility to look at these large projects. People often think when you're spending $25 billion that you're going to take your eye off the ball, and it is able to have improper and unethical, in many cases, illegal activities, and no one is going to watch that. That is not why we presented a Business Integrity Unit. We're going to ensure the integrity of our business community, particularly when it comes down to taxpayers' dollars. And so we had JFK International Airport to announce this crackdown in illegal business practice in the trade waste industry. Three companies have been charged with unlawful waste, hand hauling, and construction work as we modernized Terminal 4. And here, JFK and LaGuardia, we should really be proud of seeing our airports turn into first-rate airports, but every dollar we save and identify that is not removed from the system due to corruption, allow us to carry out this job accordingly. And so as Commissioner Karate acknowledged, I, too, want to acknowledge the Police Department, the District Attorney's Office, the ACATS, the Business Integrity Unit, and as well as the Office of the Inspector General and for the Port Authority. Coming together, this is what happened when we come together, when we work together, we can stop the abuse of those who want to take taxpayers' dollars. This is the A-Team, a municipal government, a collaboration of all who are involved to bring justice to the people of this city. And what is key to point out, there's a reason that commercial waste haulers must have a BIC registration in order to operate. That is why it is there. For too long, commercial waste removal has been linked to corruption and organized crime. And in this case, LMC trucking, that registration was denied, and it was denied for a reason, but they thought they could circumvent that denial, they were wrong. LMC trucking forcefully represented who ran the business. It conducted trade waste-related businesses with members of organized crime, defrauded a trade waste union by paying employees in cash and not paying union benefits. The trucking company decision to continue to operate, despite having been denied BIC registration, led to the arrests and charges. We can allow commercial waste hauling to become a dirty business. We were there before, and we're not going back there again. New Yorkers deserve a clean business practice in every industry, and my watch on under my watch, and under the watch of this amazing District Attorney, we're going to be sure that we get just that. If you break the laws, you'll be caught, you'll be prosecuted, and it's just that simple. And that is what happened in this case. And I'm proud to turn it over to our District Attorney of Queens County, DA Katz. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Commissioner Crotty, and of course, the IG Gay, who is here today in the Port Authority and all the individuals responsible for getting us here. You know, the mayor is correct in so many things that he has said today, but one of them is the partnership. Partnership requires all the agencies of the City of New York to work together to make sure that we share information, to make sure that there is a leader like the mayor at the head of it that makes it very clear that we will root out corruption, that we will make sure that on huge projects like a $25 billion project is going to be done without corruption, and that we are watching them, and that we are making sure that every step of the way satisfies the requirements of the City of New York and the State of New York. So I want to thank you, Mr. Mayor, for today and for leading that charge. I will point out, too, as the former Borough President of Queens County, I care deeply about the safety of these trucks coming in and out of these airports. I was on the redesign commission for these airports. I was part of the redesign that's happening and the development that is happening now. I care deeply that those that are hauling waste through my borough are doing it in safety, doing it with regulations, making sure that they are registered for the job and making sure that organizations and the agencies responsible for watching them have the ability to do that. That means they have to be registered. And so I appreciate the work that BIC has put into this. We are the home of two major airports that are getting redeveloped. They have to know that we are watching every step of the way. Our welfare depends upon it. I do want to acknowledge everybody I just mentioned because the partnership is crucial. I also want to acknowledge my Bureau Chief of Major Economic Crimes, Mary Lohenberg, who's here, our Executive, Jerry Brave, my Deputy Chief, Danny O'Brien, and Anzalone, who work at the airports every single day. As the District Attorney of this case, clearly I am precluded from discussing the specifics of the pending criminal case. However, all I can say is that we are here to send a very clear message to unscrupulous company owners and contractors who choose to do business in New York. We will not stand for dishonest and unlicensed work and unsafe conditions that that creates. The regulations of our city's commercial waste hauling industry prevents corruption and criminality from organized crime, from seeping into vital services of the market. Those who attempt to skirt the law by not registering and by not having the agencies be able to follow up on them will be held accountable. I thank all of you for the partnerships that we have had, and I now want to introduce IG John Day. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor Adams, Commissioner Crotty, District Attorney Katz, for attending today. The Port Authority appreciates the business integrity commission's diligence and collaboration on this investigation of unlicensed waste haulers here at John F. Kennedy International Airport. We also appreciate DA Katz's exceptional efforts in prosecuting these cases. Partnerships are essential to effective law enforcement. The arrests today, or the arrests announced today are the fruit of a strong partnership among the respective institutions here at this podium. I'd like to also thank the hardworking employees at the Port Authority Office of Inspector General for their role in this investigation. Integrity is essential to the work of the Port Authority. We maintain the highest standards not only for ourselves, but also for the vendors who do business with us. And that includes making sure that everyone is properly licensed. The arrests today send a message to those contractors and subcontractors who may be thinking about violating the law on Port Authority projects. We are watching, we are investigating, and we will hold you accountable. Thank you. Questions on topic before we do a few. I know you said you couldn't explain any details to District Attorney or the mayor or whoever has details. What exactly happened? Did these waste haulers just show up and start taking trash away? I'm kind of confused about what happened here. It's a construction and demolition companies. So they were on a project here at JFK with a with an airport, with an airline, and it's a quasi private public works fund. And what we had had is we had realized that LMC, which is a denied company, was operating without a license. When we did our investigation, it led us to JFK, and when the investigation then unearthed two other companies that were also operating without a license and a registration. The airlines that were contracting? It's the contractor. It's a little bit of both. It's it's it's a sub cut. Well, Port Authority and I think Inspector General Gay can go more into the intricacies of the contract, but it's a contract with an airline, but that the IG's office does oversee that contract implicated. Port Authority is approving the contract because I, you know, listening to this, I would think, Oh, did the Port Authority just decide to work with these waste haulers? I'm going to leave that out. So this Terminal four is privately developed by Delta Airlines. It's on Port Authority property. So the Port Authority has a role in ensuring certain practices and procedures are met. But this is a private development by Delta. So I'm not suggesting it's anybody's fault here, except the persons who are charged. But I'm explaining that is that's who is in charge. Now, obviously, Port Authority does have some oversight of things that are happening, but the contractual relationship is not does not involve the Port Authority. A little bit more detail about the mob connection. You can LMC is a denied company. And on the BIC website, you can read the entire denial on the website, which delineates all of the factors of why they were denied for not having good character, honesty and integrity. When it comes to commercial waste hauling, the city was supposed to be implementing these reforms to do, you know, the waste zones and everything. I know there was a delay of a few months, but it was extended to July 15. So where does that stand now? Did it take effect? Or I believe this is construction demolition, which is separate and apart from commercial waste zones. So that actually has nothing to do with this case. Commercial waste zones are different entity which go into private patricial waste that is removed. And I believe that the city is still working at that out and that the RFP process was gone through on July 15th. I guess it's more of a question for the city than the Port Authority. Yes, and we'll give you an update on exactly where it is. I know the RFPs were out, and we'll give you an update later today on exactly where it is, right? Yeah, you haven't off topic off. Okay. All right. Let me get these off topic. I don't want to be around. I'm going to point one thing out and my bureau chief can correct me when I'm wrong. There's a reason companies need to register. They need to register so that their standards and their integrity and everything that comes with that to have the privilege of working with the city of New York can be investigated and have a stamp of approval. These companies fail to register in order to have this job. That is the issue that we are dealing with right here. So three companies were held to have violated that. They were held not to have registered. And at the end of the day, why they decided not to register is really not the issue. They didn't and they will be held accountable for those actions. So let's keep our eye on the ball as to what's happening right here today. And the registration in all aspects of government work has to be key to uphold the integrity that this mayor and the city of New York requires of the companies that we hire. That's okay. We're going to do some off topic so y'all can be spared. It's off topic. And you have one in reference to your request for state lawmakers to go into a special session. Why do you think is this needed now? Why do I think this is needed now? Well, you know, yeah, Albany is going to do what Albany does. And it's up to them to determine I don't control Albany. I give my request as we deal with bail reform. We have to deal with the catch, release, repeat. And I think it is imperative that we look at where the violence is coming from or the victims and what we can do in the current laws that includes bail reform to make sure that the criminal justice system is keeping violent offenders off our streets. And I will continue to say when I was in Albany, we attempted to address that. And I think we have to get it right. And we're seeing the results of not getting it right. Hi, Mr. Mayor. How are you? Good. How are you? Hot day out there to say, you know, to follow up to that question, have you talked to the governor? Have you talked to officials leadership at the state level about what you're looking for in the bail reforms? What you're looking to change? Have you had any communication with them since yesterday? What is that looking like? Yes. And, you know, oftentimes we think of the what I think our criminal justice system is off the rails. We specifically talk about just bail reform. It's more than that. It includes other aspects of it. It includes what the prosecutors are doing, what our judges are doing, what the corporation councils are doing, what ACS is doing. It's the entire criminal justice system that we must look at. If we try to piecemeal and put a band-aid on a cancerous sore, we're not going to heal the problem. I had a long conversation with the speaker of the assembly, and we agreed to look over some of the data that the New York City Police Department is going to present on how we're having too many repeated offenders on bail, non-bail eligible crime. And it was a great conversation. We're going to continue to be vociferous on this topic, because New Yorkers, I believe, deserve better. Is that conversation that happened today? Yes, sir. It happened yesterday. Oh, you. Good, box five. The union representing NYPD detectives saying that the detectives are being assigned to work the streets and not having the time to go over some of the cases. Can you respond to that? We're going to deploy personnel to deal with the street crimes, the violence, and I believe the detective division, it has done an amazing job of solving cases. You look at some of the most prominent cases, and you're seeing that they're bringing the offenders to justice. And no matter what assignment we have in the police department, we are always one day away from being back in uniform, being back on the streets. Properly deploying our police officers at the right place, the right locations, is important. And I'm sure they're deployed to one or two days on the street. I am sure it's in a high crime area. It's an area where you're dealing with some serious violence. And I think having a detective out there at the appropriate time, with their keen sense of understanding crime patterns, I think is a real win-winnable solution. I spoke with the DEA president earlier today, and I'm going to see what the officers have deployed in my conversation with the police commissioner. But it's all hands on deck moment. Every able body must be on the streets to identify those who are bringing violence to our city. Going back to the special session, so I mean, I'm sure you heard the governor's comment yesterday, and when she essentially rejected this idea and said that they have already made changes regarding repeat offenders in the changes that were made in the budget. So, I mean, what is your reactions and facts to her, you know, knocking down this idea that you brought up, first of all? You know, first of all, Governor Hockel has been a real partner. I don't believe we would have had any inroads in some of the reforms we pushed for and we were successful in getting without Governor Hockel. But again, I don't control Albany. I don't control the call of a special session. I can only share what I believe needs to be done, and I'm going to continue to do that. And if they make a decision, the decision is going to come from the governor, who has been a great partner in this. Okay, and so what exactly, I know that you want this dangerousness standards, but with regards to repeat offenders specifically, which is what you've been talking about here, what is the specific change you want them to make that goes beyond what was in the budget? The dangerousness standard is a real standard of to allow the judges to make the determination is important. And I want us to zero in on juveniles who are in possession of firearms. I want us to look at the loophole that if someone is carrying a loaded firearms and the bullets are inoperable, that they're not treated with the same level. I want us to look at keeping violent juveniles in criminal court should not be turned over to to family court. I want us to look at if a person is arrested and they are in juvenile court, we should be able to look at the family court if it's a violent offender. So there are a list of things that we turned over throughout our pursuit to use a scalpel at looking at the existing laws so we can get it right. Okay, let's try to follow up you said yesterday you didn't think it was ironic you were on the same side as Leah Zeldin that you thought you were on the same side as Kathy Hockel. She's made clear that that is in the case she's disagreeing with you on this and Zeldin and the other Republicans are kind of using it the fact that you and they are in agreement on this special session issue to go after her. So do you have any concerns about sort of how that's being used in the governor's election? No, not at all. Everyone knows I endorse Governor Hockel. I think Governor Hockel is a great leader, a great partnership, far cry from what we'd witnessed in the past and Lee Zeldin and I who served together in the Senate. We're on different sides on many issues such as his cold campaign manager did not see the need of charging the person who attempted to assault him with a serious enough incidence. And so if anyone believes they're going to agree 100% of the time on everything that's not realistic, I don't agree with myself 100% of the time. So the reality is I overwhelmingly support and agree with Governor Hockel and I think she has been a great partner. If you don't get Courtney, you can. That's not fair. I want to piggy back on what Erin was talking about, which is some people are saying that you appear to be siding with Republicans over Democrats over this. You're talking points on bill reform are much in line with Rob Orte for say or Senate Republicans. In addition, generis released a statement yesterday that said it's sad Mayor Adams has joined the ranks of right wingers who are so grossly demagoguing this issue. He should focus less on deflecting from his own responsibility for higher crime and more on taking steps that would actually make New York safer. 8.8 million people, 30 million opinions. There's only one mayor that's going to make the decision on how we deploy police and we have been doing a great job. All of our criminal justice system must help us in doing so. And so I think that I'm not caught up in the going back and forth. I'm caught up in protecting the city. Our city must be safe. And everyone must play a role in doing that. Removing close to 4000 guns off the street. Removing violent offenders that are repeatedly being released of decreasing shootings, decreasing homicides, zeroed in on quality of life issues. I think we're doing a great job and we want support and that support must come on all levels and we stated that over and over again. But even while we wait for that support, we're not going to stop doing our job and we're doing that job. Well, thank you.