An assistant commissioner for the New York City Department of
Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and six others were
arrested on racketeering conspiracy and other charges in
connection with schemes that netted them between $1 million and
$2 million in kickbacks and bribes over a decade, announced
federal and city law enforcement officials.  He received
payments that were hidden in golf ball boxes and coffee cups,
according to officials.  The Federal Bureau of Investigation
said the schemes cost HPD hundreds of thousands of dollars in
overpayments  to developers on HPD projects in Brooklyn, Queens,
and the Bronx.  Wendell Walters, HPD’s assistant commissioner
for new construction, was arrested along with developers
Stevenson Dunn, Lee Hymowitz, Michael Freeman, Sergio Benitez,
Robert Morales, and Angel Villalona, the FBI said.  “New Yorkers
relied on these defendants for the safe haven of affordable
housing,” said Loretta Lynch, U.S. attorney for the Eastern
District of New York. “Instead, the defendan