Queens Library boss Thomas Galante’s spending has triggered investigations.
Thomas Galante, embattled director of the Queens Library, is facing a criminal probe by the FBI, federal prosecutors and the city’s Department of Investigation, the Daily News has learned.
The first sign of the joint probe came Friday when agents for the FBI and DOI suddenly appeared at the Queens Central Library in Jamaica with subpoenas for both Galante and the library’s construction management consultant, Frank Marino, according to a library source.
Marino, owner of Advanced Consulting Corp. in Merrick, L.I., has received contracts to manage 15 Queens Library improvement projects since 2008.
The probe appears to center on how Galante — who received more than $ 390,000 in salary last year, plus a city-supplied $ 37,000 sports car — spent millions in taxpayer dollars on various library renovations, a second source said.
Representatives for both the FBI and DOI declined comment. And Queens library officials did not respond to repeated emails and phone calls from The News.
Marino also did not respond to a request for comment. His firm has received contracts for Queens Library improvement projects since 2008, all of which library officials say the firm received through competitive bidding.
The News reported last week that Marino and Galante have had ties for years to the same Long Island school district where Galante moonlights as a $ 150-per-hour business consultant.
Meanwhile, Queens Borough President Melinda Katz asked Mayor de Blasio to suspend the ability of the Queens Library, a nonprofit agency, to independently spend any city capital funds on renovations.
In a letter to de Blasio, Katz noted Tuesday that the city earmarked more than $ 144 million during the past three years for improvements to Queens libraries.
But “there is a troubling lack of oversight,” Katz wrote.
Veronique Louis
Construction manager Frank Marino has ties to same Elmont, L.I., school district that employs Galante.
She called for a suspension of “pass through” funding, through which the library is permitted to spend 5% of its city capital allocation as it sees fit. (The other 95% has historically been awarded directly by the city through a public competitive bidding process).
From that 5% “pass through,” Galante paid Marino’s company to manage renovations.
City Hall responded quickly.
“We take the borough president’s concerns seriously and agree that these issues merit close scrutiny,” de Blasio spokeswoman Marti Adams said.
Katz also demanded in a separate letter to the library’s board of trustees that they “immediately retain an independent third-party forensic auditor . . . to audit and examine the entire capital construction process.”
She and de Blasio both wield enormous influence over the library’s 17-member board, given that the borough president appoints half of the members and the mayor the other half.
All of this comes after The News reported how, despite repeated cuts to the library’s budget and reductions of its staff:
l Galante spent more than $ 140,000 on renovations to his executive offices, including $ 27,000 for a private smoking deck, during renovations to the central library that were overseen by contractor Marino.
l Galante has moonlighted for years as a business consultant for the Elmont Union Free School District, where he made up to $ 200,000 annually and billed for an average of up to 25 hours per week.
l Galante’s contract guarantees him nearly $ 2 million in severance if he is dismissed.
l Marino has worked for years as a full-time business consultant to the Elmont Memorial Library at a salary of up to $ 100,000 annually — and as the construction manager for the Elmont School District, while he also supervised millions of dollars in construction contracts for the Queens Library.
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