Metro-North Railroad exec who took $70,000 in kickbacks in bid rigs gets prison time

By Molly Crane-Newman | New York Daily News

A Metro-North manager who padded his pockets with at least $70,000 in kickbacks from an MTA vendor was sentenced to 1-to-3 years in prison on Tuesday.

James Berlangero, 64, lined his wallet with under-the-table payments while contract manager of the commuter rail service’s procurement and material management department.

Berlangero’s job was to ensure the integrity of Metro-North’s lucrative railroad contracts, but instead of giving everyone a fair shot, he engaged in backdoor bid-rigging.

From his office in Midtown, Manhattan, Berlangero let his friend Michael Rodgers bypass the competition by securing his company, WRS Environmental Services, contracts for trash collection and asbestos removal at Grand Central Terminal.

The crooked contractor shared confidential information with Rodgers during the application process — like his competitors’ prices so he could submit lower bids — giving him an unfair advantage over other vendors vying for jobs.

Berlangero also let Rodgers submit applications after deadlines and helped him tailor interviews and paperwork with information from score sheets and evaluations by Metro-North selection committee members.

The millions of dollars WRS received in contracts between November 2015 and October 2019 included $1 million from sub-contract work for Hurricane Sandy damage repairs.

In addition to the kickbacks, WRS cleaned out the basement at Berlangero’s Glen Cove, L.I., home and performed other services like soil testing before he sold it. The company gave a job to his daughter, and he was trying to get one for his son.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Berlangero “railroaded a contracting process that should have been decided based on free competition.”

Berlangero misappropriated contracts valued at more than $10 million in public funds, the DA said. Bragg’s office worked with the MTA Inspector General to uncover the conspiracy.

“There is zero tolerance at Metro-North for the misuse of public funds,” said Catherine Rinaldi, Metro-North’s railroad president and the interim president of Long Island Rail Road.

“The actions of this former employee to defraud Metro-North and abuse the contracting process for kickbacks and bribes were unlawful, and I am grateful to see justice served.”

Berlangero pleaded guilty to corrupting the government, receiving bribes, and other related charges in May. His sentencing was pushed back multiple times, with an impatient judge telling him last month that she’d sentence him on Sept. 13 even if he were scheduled for open heart surgery.

His lawyer did not respond to a request seeking comment.

Rodgers pleaded guilty to corrupting the government and monopoly and restraint of trade in the case and will be sentenced on Dec. 6. As part of his plea agreement, he must sell WRS.

The company’s director of business development, Thomas Willis, was sentenced to probation in February for his role in the scam.

MTA officials told the Daily News it no longer does business with WRS.

With Clayton Guse

©2022 New York Daily News

Visit nydailynews.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Daily News Briefing