Commissioner Martin Scott Medal

Fire Marshal
Bernard J. Santangelo
BFI, Joint Arson Task Force

1987-2003
Box 75-0331
Brooklyn

SFM Bernard Santangelo examines some evidence pertaining to a case. photo by SFM Ralph Bernard

Fire Marshal (FM) Bernard J. Santangelo made two arrests in an elaborate arson-for-profit scheme involving millions of dollars and seven fires during a six-year period in a single Brooklyn building with four different addresses.

FM Santangelo was assigned to the Joint Arson Task Force, a multi-agency assembled to focus on arson for profit, pattern arson, organized crime arson and asset forfeiture. He hit pay dirt when he meticulously examined past fire activity for 50 Wallabout Street, in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, a commercial area near the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The one-block structure was home then to Goodmark Industries, manufacturers of high-end women’s sportswear, sold to major retailers. Goodmark handled the entire process on the premises, from yarn to fabric, including dyeing, cutting and finishing.

His investigation disclosed that the building had three other addresses: 47-76 Wallabout Street, 750 Kent Avenue and One Classon Avenue and seven fires since 1979.

The building and business owner turned out to be Nat Schlesinger, who, with an associate, Herman Neiderman, allegedly obtained an inflated estimate from a third party to support a $706,000 claim for fire loss of raw material, while Mr. Schlesinger himself allegedly submitted a claim for $150,000 for repairs done by a company that did not exist.

Several years after the December 31, 1998, fire--which triggered the original investigation--a break came in the form of an informant related to Mr. Schlesinger, who allegedly told an insurance company that Mr. Schlesinger caused the fire. At that point, FM Santangelo began several months of delicate negotiations with the informant in several locations, including New York, Spring Valley and Monroe.

Allegedly, Mr. Schlesinger was overheard several hours before the December 1998 fire directing an employee to leave a door open to the area where the fire was set. After examining the fire damage, he allegedly asked, Do you know any other way to get money? Additionally, many documents allegedly were obtained from the informant, leading deeper into their family and business history.

On January 23, 2003, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District legally won a civil forfeiture, seizing approximately $4.5 million for the sale of 50 Wallabout Street, the fire building, charging that it was the instrumentality through which Schlesinger committed his criminal acts, including arson, insurance fraud and money laundering, thus subject to forfeiture.

On October 9, 2003, Mr. Schlesinger and Mr. Neiderman were arrested by FM Santangelo on federal warrants, charging them with eight counts, including arson, use of fire to commit felonies, insurance fraud, money laundering, mail and wire fraud conspiracy, bank fraud and civil and criminal forfeiture, all involving insurance claims for five fires from 1987 through 1999.

The Joint Arson Task Force team in the successful investigation included FM Santangelo and Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Fire Arms and Explosives, the Internal Revenue Service’s Investigation Division and Asst. U.S. Attorney Robert LaRusso of the Eastern District.

In the words of FDNY Assistant Chief Fire Marshal Richard F. McCahey, FM Santangelo is to be commended for his enduring enthusiasm and excellent investigative talents in bringing to a successful completion a long-term and complex case. His exploits reflect great credit on the Bureau of Fire Investigation and the FDNY and serve as a warning to arson-for-profiteers that we have meant business for 150 years.

Fire Marshal Bernard J. Santangelo is recognized today and presented with the Commissioner Martin Scott Medal.--JM

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