Ex-Correction Commissioner Louis Molina took the stand at Eric Ulrich’s public corruption trial Friday, with Molina telling the court he prioritized hiring an Ulrich crony’s daughter after being advised her dad was a “very close and very helpful guy” to then-Mayor Eric Adams.
Testifying for roughly an hour in Manhattan Supreme Court, Molina said Ulrich, then a senior adviser to Mayor Adams, strongly advised that he hire Brooklyn tow truck company operator Michael Mazzio’s daughter fresh out of college for a job with the Department of Correction in February 2022, promptly resulting in her one-on-one interview with the city jails chief and her hiring as a policy analyst that spring.
“Would you have (interviewed) Kristina Mazzio but for the referral from Eric Ulrich?” Assistant District Attorney Guy Tardanico asked Molina.
“No,” the former DOC commissioner said.
Within days of Molina confirming he would hire Kristina Mazzio in February 2022, her father sent $500 to Ulrich’s Venmo account. Weeks later, he sent another $100 from Kristina’s Venmo, according to trial evidence.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office alleges the payments were part of an ongoing arrangement between Ulrich and Mazzio, and that the job hookup was one of several official acts that Ulrich — a city councilman before becoming Adams’ Department of Buildings commissioner — performed in exchange for more than $10,000 in bribes in 2021 and 2022.
Ulrich, who was the first in a slew of Adams administration officials to face corruption charges, is accused of conspiracy and bribery counts, plus defrauding the city Conflicts of Interest Board.
AP Photo/Mary Altaffer
Eric Ulrich, seated left, at Supreme Court in Manhattan in September 2023. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Mazzio has been on trial alongside the ex-Buildings boss for a month. Mazzio is charged with conspiracy and doling out bribes to Ulrich in exchange for getting his daughter hired and for his help resolving licensing issues for his tow truck company — which allegedly scored Ulrich $8,000 in premium Mets season tickets. Both men have pleaded not guilty.
Molina, who is not charged in the case, spent just under two years at the helm of DOC under Adams and was later transferred to a City Hall position amid controversy over his leadership of the city’s jails. He served as an assistant to former scandal-plagued Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Philip Banks and was later appointed commissioner of the Department of Citywide Administrative Services.
In a wiretapped call played in court Friday, Ulrich told Molina on Feb. 2, 2022, that Kristina Mazzio’s dad was “very close with the mayor,” and that she was “definitely the priority” in terms of hiring. He forwarded the DOC leader her résumé and noted, “This one is from the boss.”
Walking into the job interview two days later, Molina said he had been looking to hire a director of special projects — a mid-level position that he quickly determined she didn’t have the experience for.
After Kristina expressed “an interest in pastry” and baking to the head of New York City’s jails, Molina said he told her about food service opportunities at the agency. He said Kristina, who was working for the Queens Board of Elections for $15 an hour, expressed more interest in an administrative role.
“She leaned more favorably to policy analyst,” Molina said, testifying that Kristina soon afterward applied for the position.
The day after the interview, in another wiretapped call played in court, Molina told Ulrich he’d interviewed Kristina and that she “seemed like a nice young lady.” Ulrich was effusive over hearing it and that she would be making $20,000 more than her meager salary at the Queens BOE. He told Molina that Adams knew she was angling for a job and had given Ulrich the “thumbs up.”
“I told the mayor the other day on Signal …. Her father is a very very close and very helpful guy to the mayor. Has been since day one,” Ulrich reiterated on the call. “The point is, he gave me the thumbs up.”
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Daniel Conviser, who is presiding over the bench trial, also saw emails Friday between Molina and City Hall’s human resources team, including a directive from the DOC commissioner to HR to begin the process of vetting and hiring Kristina.
Asked on direct examination whether he knew Ulrich stood to profit from Kristina Mazzio’s hiring, Molina said no. He acknowledged that he typically would not have handled an interview for an entry-level position.
On cross-examination, Mazzio’s lawyer, James Froccaro, asked Molina if Ulrich’s and the mayor’s backing of Kristina Mazzio meant her hiring was a “done deal,” or whether it was conditional on her experience.
“No, it was conditional,” Molina said.
Molina also told Froccaro that he’d heard Kristina Mazzio got good performance reviews from her superiors. He said he didn’t know her father.
Prosecutors have alleged the 41-year-old Ulrich monetized every elected and appointed role he held in city government, blowing his bribe money and his paychecks to feed a nasty gambling habit.
Before Conviser heard from Molina on Friday, a witness for Resorts World Casino, Richard Glisson, testified that the casino near Kennedy Airport profited more than $465,000 from Ulrich’s losses between 2013 and 2023, most of them on the slot machines.
The trial continues Monday.