Oct 25, 2016 2 min read Bensonhurst

66th Precinct Lt. Stripped Of Badge & Gun Amidst Corruption Probe

66th Precinct Community Council meeting. In white: Lt. Michael Andreano (R) and Capt. Kenneth Quick (L) and members of Brooklyn Asian Civilian Observation Patrol. (Photo by Jole Carliner / Kensington BK)

Lieutenant Michael Andreano of the 66th Precinct has been stripped of his badge and gun over links to an alleged wide-reaching corruption scandal, the Post reports.

Lieutenant Michael Andreano served as a community affairs sergeant in the 66th Precinct before getting promoted to lieutenant.

Andreano has been accused of associating with Borough Park Shomrim member Alex “Shaya” Lichtenstein, who was arrested on bribery and conspiracy charges in April for his efforts to “expedite” gun permit requests with bribes to NYPD officers.

The federal corruption probe that led to Lichtenstein’s arrest also uncovered additional allegations that NYPD officers accepted bribes from businessmen Jona Rechnitz and Jeremy Reichberg.

Kensington-born Officer Mike Millici, a 27-year veteran of the 66th Precinct, was named in the probe. In April, he was stripped of his badge after refusing to testify during a federal grand jury hearing regarding “gifts” from Reichberg. Later that month he was suspended without pay for trying to retire. Millici was later fired after he failed to show up for an internal NYPD hearing, but he will still collect his full pension, according to DNAInfo, because he has not been arrested or convicted of a crime.

Several other NYPD officers from Patrol Borough Brooklyn South have already faced disciplinary action for their involvement in the wide-reaching corruption scandal. Former Brooklyn South Deputy Chief Eric Rodriguez, who was also the former commanding officer of the 70th Precinct, was transferred from his post for undisclosed reasons.

In June, three high-ranking NYPD officers were arrested on two different corruption charges. Deputy Chief Michael J. Harrington and Deputy Inspector James M. Grant were charged with taking bribes from Reichberg, and Sgt. David Villanueva was charged with accepting “lunch money” bribes for expediting gun licenses from Lichtenstein.

From left to right: Shomrim NYPD Liaison Jacob Daskal; 66th Precinct Community Affairs Sgt. Michael Andreano; and detective Mike Milici. (Photo by Jole Carliner)

After Andreano was promoted to Lieutenant in 2015, he was briefly transferred to West Brighton. 66th Precinct Captain Kenneth Quick called Andreano’s NYPD-mandated transfer to the 60 Precinct “bittersweet.”

“It was three of the longest months,” said Quick, noting that in his seven years as Sergeant, Andreano began to wear more and more hats — including mentoring three young women in the NYPD Explorers Program.

For now, Andreano has been reassigned to ‘desk duty’, a blanket term for a variety of drudgery-type jobs like watching surveillance video, overseeing police vehicles, filing court paperwork, moving prisoners, and driving delivery vehicles, reports the New York Times. Officers who are under investigation are often relegated to desk duty.

The 66th Precinct had no comment at this time regarding Lt. Michael Andreano.