Glenn Lieberman, who is accused of participating in a Social Security disability scam to the tune of $ 175,000, is expected to turn himself in to authorities on Thursday.
The bird-flipping poster boy for New York’s 9/11 disability disgrace claimed to be too wigged out to work as a city cop.
But Glenn Lieberman apparently has marbles enough to pound a beat as a private eye in sunny Florida.
Lieberman, who became infamous after prosecutors released a photo of him astride a Jet Ski and showing his contempt with two extended middle fingers, is expected to face the music Thursday when he turns himself in to the Manhattan District Attorney.
He is one of 82 former cops, firefighters and corrections officers accused being part of a crooked crew that soaked taxpayers for $ 21.3 million by falsely claiming to have stress-related injuries.
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Some of them, prosecutors said, used claims of being traumatized by the 2001 terror attacks to land the disability payments that are now funding their carefree lifestyles.
Another claimant, NYPD retiree Richard Cosentino, felt good enough for marlin fishing in Costa Rica.
A 44-year-old former Brooklyn South Gangs officer who spent 19 years on the job, Lieberman has collected more than $ 175,000 in disability payments since 2009, prosecutors said.
Lieberman was given permission to drive himself to New York and could not be reached for comment. A woman who lives in the Dix Hills, L.I., home of a relative insisted the accused gumshoe was not camping out there ahead of his appointment with the law.
Records show Lieberman hung up a shingle after moving to Florida and started Madison Associates Investigations in 2006, the same year he retired from the force.
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His business address at the time was his swanky home – a five-bedroom, three-bath McMansion west of Palm Beach with an in-ground pool and an oasis in the backyard.
Now, Lieberman lives in an upscale gated community in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
Jefferson Siegel/New York Daily News
Peter Martin, who also participated in the scam, leaves his arraignment on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the shock waves from the mass arrests of so many uniformed officers was being felt across New York City.
In the Oakwood Beach section of Staten Island, the next-door neighbor of ex-cop Vincent Lamantia was stunned after learning he was accused of illegally collecting more than $ 148,000 in disability since quitting the NYPD.
RELATED: CITY COPS, FIREFIGHTERS SUSPECTED OF SCAMMING SOCIAL SECURITY
“He’s a good neighbor, he’s a good guy, he has four young boys,” said 72-year-old Lorraine Kendell. “All I ever see him do is walk his dogs and walk around with his kids. I knew he had a bad back and had back surgery. His wife did everything for a while.”
Lamantia, 43, was apparently well enough to shoot hoops in the backyard of his modest home in a recent photo prosecutors released after charging him Tuesday.
The former cop who got the most money from the scheme was identified in court papers as 53-year-old Francis “Frank” Palmeri of Wantagh, L.I.
Jefferson Siegel/New York Daily News
Michael Scialabba (right), a former NYPD undercover officer, leaves Manhattan Supreme Court after his arraignment on Wednesday with his lawyer. He is one of dozens accused in the Social Security scam.
From March 1997 through June 2013, he collected a whopping $ 451,684.70, the papers show.
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Palmeri and the others were coached to act dysfunctional and steered to shady doctors who helped green light disability payments of anywhere from $ 30,000 to $ 50,000 a year, the 205-count indictment charges.
Then four ringleaders — Raymond Lavallee, Thomas Hale, Joseph Esposito and John Minerva, all of whom are ex-law enforcement or have police ties — got a cut of that action.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. suggested there might be additional indictments beyond those already announced by the time they wrap up the probe.
The scammers operated from January 1988 until last month, and some 1,000 people filed fraudulent claims for as much as $ 400 million, Vance said.
With John McDonald in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
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