Robert P. Stamey Catherine F. Camrike Corporation Counsel Joseph R. H. Doyle ° ‘Thomas R. Babilon Joseph W. Barry, I Meghan Price MeLees Craner First Assistant Corporation Counsel ‘Aimee M. Paquette Meghan B. Ryan John A. Sickinger ‘Todd M. Long Senior Assistant Corporation Counsel Lindsay A. Getman Christine M. Garvey Senior Assistant Corporation Counsel ae OFFICE OF THE CORPORATION COUNSEL ‘STEPHANIE A. MINER, MAYOR September 29, 2016 ‘Vis FACSIMILE & U.S. Matt. Hon, Preet Bharara United States Attorney Southern District of New York 1 St. Andrew's Plaza New York City, NY 10007 Re: United States v. Joseph Percoco, et al. United States District Court, Souther District of New York 16 MAG 6005 Dear Mr. Bharara: The City of Syracuse would like to bring to your attention what it believes to be a highly inappropriate communication sent to a high-ranking City employee pertaining to a recently- announced criminal proceeding that your office is prosecuting. We believe the communication borders on being a threat, but we leave that determination to your office, More specifically, this moming, the Chief of Staff to the Mayor of Syracuse received a voicemail from Thomas Ditullio, an employee of the New York State Department of State, Ostensibly, the call was for the purpose of discussing a building code variance that COR Development Company requested from New York State for a development project that is planned for property COR owns within the City of Syracuse. COR has sought this variance after being advised by the City of Syracuse that a building permit could not be issued by the City since COR’s development plans did not meet the New York State Fire Code. Thave listened to Mr. Ditullio’s voicemail of this morning, and in it he indicates that he wishes to speak with Mr. Ryan about the COR’s request, and that before he proceeds further with COR’s application, he wishes to understand why the City has not approved COR’s plans— despite their failure to meet the State Fire Code—and indicated that if he proceeded with further review of COR’s application the City would be negatively impacted. Discussing COR’s application to the variance board, he states that he does not believe that COR should even have to 233 E, WASHINGTON ST. + 300 CITY HALL + SYRACUSE, N.Y. 13202 (815) 448-8400 + FAX 448-8381 + Web Page: www.svrgov.net ‘SERVICE OF PAPERS OR PROCESS BY PACSIMILEIS NOT ACCEPTABLE,Hon, Preet Bharara September 29, 2016 Page 2 seek a variance, and “I don’t want the City to be in a very poor light because they won't suffer fools and it won’t look good in the newspapers.” In light of the allegations contained in the criminal complaint your office filed in the above-referenced case, a matter which directly involves COR, including its officers willingness to “call in favors” from the New York State Administration, and resort to other improper means to obtain favorable State action, we believe Mr. Ditullio’s communication to be highly improper. ‘The City sees no legitimate reason why a fire code variance application would be the subject of unfavorable media scrutiny of the City, unless the State or COR intended to “leak” false information to the media to attempt to injure the City. When considered against the background of the above-referenced criminal charges your office has recently fled, we believe it is even more evident that the telephone call made to the Mayor’s Chief of Staff was highly improper. Whether such action by this New York State employee constitutes anything further, we leave to your determination. The City felt compelled to bring this conduct to your attention, and has retained a digital copy of the voicemail that Mr. Ditullio left this morning. I am enclosing a CD-ROM with this, correspondence containing the recording, ‘Thank you in advance for your attention to this development. Should you or any of your staff have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Very truly yours, Tohn A. Sickinger, Esq. Senior Assistant Corporation Counsel JAS/ Ene,