Nine taxi dispatchers at JFK Airport were arraigned in Queens Monday on bribery charges for accepting cash in exchange for allowing drivers to cut chronically-long lines to pick up passengers, according to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.
All nine dispatchers worked for a subcontractor retained by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to regulate the movement of yellow cabs from a central holding area to the various terminal pick-up locations where drivers connect with passengers. Typically, taxis depart the holding area in the order in which they arrived, but Katz said the dispatchers allegedly allowed drivers to skip the wait if they sent cash, often between $5 and $10 through Zelle or CashApp.
“As if the challenges of making a living as a yellow cab driver were not already enough, the cabbies at JFK had to overcome greed and corruption in their effort to put food on the table for themselves and their families,” Katz said in a statement. “We will not allow that to stand.”
After receiving complaints, a joint investigation by the Port Authority’s Office of the Inspector General and the Queens District Attorney’s Airport Investigations Unit discovered that between January 2022 and February 2024, the nine dispatchers accepted more than $12,000 in bribes.
The dispatchers, who range in age from 21 to 67, were charged Monday in Queens Criminal Court with second-degree commercial bribe receiving, official misconduct and receiving unlawful gratuities, according to the Queens district attorney.
Four of the dispatchers were accused of accepting more than $1,000 in bribes and were additionally charged with first-degree commercial bribe receiving — a felony. If convicted the nine dispatchers face between a year and four years in prison.
An arrest warrant has been issued for a tenth dispatcher, who authorities say they are pursuing.
JFK Airport is a critical revenue generator for the city’s yellow cab drivers. In January, more than 132,000 taxis were dispatched at the airport, according to a Port Authority traffic report. The airport trips account for roughly one out of every 25 throughout the city.
If caught bribing a dispatcher, Taxi and Limousine Commissioner David Do said in a statement that cab drivers will be held accountable.
“Public safety and playing by the rules are precursors for prosperity, and that goes for drivers, too,” Do said. “Any time we learn of drivers bribing dispatchers or operating illegally, we will move to revoke their licenses.”
This is not the first time dispatchers and others have allegedly rigged the system at JFK Airport.
In 2009, six JFK dispatchers were busted for taking bribes to allow cabbies to cut the line. A few years later in 2014 more than a dozen dispatchers were also caught in a bribery scheme. More recently, in February, a pair of Queens cab drivers were hit with prison time after they admitted to working with Russian hackers to breach the JFK Airport taxi dispatch system to help cabbies skip to the front of pick up lines.
Caroline Spivack , 2024-04-02 16:33:04
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