An MTA bus bigwig allegedly turned a Bronx maintenance garage into his own corrupt cottage industry that steered $1.8 million in parts contracts to companies controlled by his relatives, The Post has learned.
The alleged scheme masterminded by Dean Carbonaro, 44, of upstate Mohegan Lake, spanned four years and 64 different types of bus parts, according to the MTA Inspector General’s Office, which concluded a two-year probe this month.
A bus bumper bought by Carbonaro for $549 was nearly five times more expensive than on the open market, investigators found.
“Obviously, this kind of behavior cannot be tolerated. Employees can’t seek to benefit family or friends from any of their work activities,” MTA Inspector General Barry Kluger told The Post.
Carbonaro, who is known to chomp on cigars and watch “Jerry Springer” at work, raked in $113,000 in salary in 2009. His large suburban house at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac includes a huge pool, and he owns three rental properties in The Bronx, records show.
MTA spokeswoman Deirdre Parker said only that Carbonaro had been served with disciplinary charges. Carbonaro declined to comment.
Seeing a business opportunity ripe for the taking, Carbonaro allegedly got a manufacturing company controlled by his nephew, Michael O’Connor, to start making exterior panels for city buses. In 2007 he brought Centec Metals into one of the city’s main bus-repair depots to start slapping up the bus panels.
With Carbonaro’s approval, the MTA’s procurement department simply rubber-stamped the deal, investigators found.
Mechanics said they were told to install the bus panels even if the vehicles in the Bronx’s Zarega Maintenance Facility didn’t need fixing. The good panels were simply thrown away, they said.
“Shop foremen would say they didn’t need the panels, but Carbonaro told them to put them on. They couldn’t believe it,” one bus mechanic said.
A bus manager overseeing parts noticed that he suddenly got “a lot of requests” for Centec goods for no reason, the IG found.