Ulrich trial: ex-jails chief Molina says he hired co-defendant's daughter only because Ulrich asked

Update, Nov. 14: ex-jails commissioner Molina says Ulrich's referral got Mazzio's daughter the job

• Molina on the stand: former Correction Commissioner Louis Molina testified Friday, ending the trial's fourth week, that he interviewed and hired co-defendant Michael Mazzio's daughter only because Ulrich, then a senior adviser to Mayor Eric Adams, referred her, the Queens Daily Eagle and Gothamist reported. Asked whether he would have interviewed her without that referral, Molina said, "No."
• The calls: in recorded calls played in court, Ulrich told Molina in February 2022 that "Mazzio's the priority" and that her father was "very close with the mayor," and sent her résumé with the note "This one is from the boss," the Eagle reported. Molina set up a meeting that same week.
• The job: Molina said she was not qualified for the senior post Ulrich first suggested, which involved arranging Rikers Island visits, so he offered entry-level options. She took a $50,000 policy analyst job, which the Eagle said was a $20,000 raise over her Board of Elections salary. "She had the job if she wanted it," Molina said, according to Gothamist; he said he interviewed no one else for it.
• The defense: Mazzio's lawyer argued that agency heads routinely prioritized referrals from City Hall, and noted Ulrich did not push back when Molina turned her down for the senior role, the Eagle reported. Molina said he personally interviewed candidates referred by mayoral staff "six to 12" times during his tenure, Gothamist reported.
• Why it matters: prosecutors say Mazzio bribed Ulrich, including with premium Mets season tickets, in exchange for favors such as the job and help with licensing issues for his towing company. Both men have pleaded not guilty; the bench trial before Justice Daniel Conviser continues.

Eric Ulrich, Mayor Eric Adams' former buildings commissioner, went on trial Monday in Manhattan Supreme Court on bribery charges, the first Adams administration corruption case to reach trial. There is no jury: Justice Daniel Conviser alone will decide the case against Ulrich and co-defendant Michael Mazzio, owner of Mike's Heavy Duty Towing, THE CITY and the New York Post reported. A spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the trial should take about a month, according to City & State.

Day 1: what prosecutors told the judge

"Public power, private gain. It is a betrayal of the city's trust," Assistant District Attorney Guy Tardanico said in his opening, describing Ulrich as a politician who sold access to top officials for cash and gifts and reported none of it to the city's Conflicts of Interest Board, City & State reported. Bragg briefly watched from the courtroom.

Prosecutors said former Buildings Commissioner Melanie La Rocca, Ulrich's predecessor, will testify that Ulrich, then a special adviser to the mayor, pressed her by phone and in a meeting outside City Hall in March 2022 to lift a vacate order on the fire-damaged Fortunato Brothers bakery, Gothamist reported. Tardanico said La Rocca had staff reinspect the bakery the same day, and that pizzeria owner Joseph Livreri then paid Ulrich $4,000. Connor Martinez, a former chief of staff at the Mayor's Office of Community Affairs, is also expected to testify that Ulrich pushed him to speed up a Health Department reinspection of Livreri's Aldo's Pizzeria in Ozone Park after it was shut over mouse droppings, Gothamist said. QNS reported prosecutors said the pizzeria reopened within three days and Livreri sent Ulrich $300.

Prosecutors also said Mazzio bought a 20-game Mets season ticket package worth nearly $10,000 in Ulrich's name, though "Mazzio wasn't even a Mets fan," and that Ulrich helped Mazzio's daughter move to a higher-paying job at the Department of Correction, according to Gothamist and QNS. Former Mayor Adams will not be called as a witness, a spokesperson said, Gothamist reported.

The defense: a gambler, not a bribe-taker

Ulrich's lawyer, David Jason Cohen, acknowledged that Ulrich took money from friends, including his co-defendants, but said it was borrowed to feed a gambling habit, including "hundreds" of visits to Resorts World casino, and was never payment for official acts. "Call him an addicted gambler, call him an alcoholic, call him a foul-mouthed, unpolitically correct politician, but he was never a bribe receiver," Cohen said, according to Gothamist. "Eric's mistake was not corruption, it was trust," he added, City & State reported.

Cohen also told the court that Ulrich was central to Adams' 2021 campaign and that Adams once warned him about an investigation into an unlicensed gambling spot, saying "watch your phone, watch your back," Gothamist reported. An Adams spokesperson declined to comment on that conversation. Mazzio's lawyer, James Froccaro, said helping supporters lawfully "is how politics works."

At the opening, testimony was scheduled for Oct. 19-21 and Oct. 27-29, QNS reported; the trial has since run into November.

Background

Bragg's office charged Ulrich in September 2023 in five separate indictments, alleging he accepted or solicited more than $150,000 in bribes while holding government posts, City & State reported; one indictment has since been dismissed. The alleged perks included Mets season tickets, money to cover gambling debts, a discounted rental apartment in the Rockaways, artwork and a "bespoke suit," THE CITY said.

Brothers Anthony and Joseph Livreri pleaded guilty in September to felony conspiracy charges, admitting they paid Ulrich $4,000 to get a Buildings Department vacate order lifted. Their lawyer said they are not cooperating with prosecutors, THE CITY reported.

Ulrich, a former Republican City Council member from Queens, resigned as buildings commissioner in November 2022 amid reports of the investigation and has pleaded not guilty. The case was the first in a string of corruption cases against Adams aides; former chief adviser Ingrid Lewis-Martin and former chief of staff Frank Carone have pleaded not guilty in their separate cases, and the federal case against Adams himself was dismissed in 2025, THE CITY noted.