Ulrich pulled strings to score DOC job for co-defendant’s daughter, calls show

Former Queens City Councilmember and Department of Buildings Commissioner Eric Ulrich’s bribery trial continued in Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026. AP file photo by Mary Altaffer

By Noah Powelson

Former Queens City Councilmember Eric Ulrich used his influence in Mayor Eric Adams’ administration to score his co-defendant’s daughter a high-paying job in the Department of Correction, recorded phone calls played in court on Tuesday showed.

A Manhattan judge overseeing Ulrich’s bribery trial on Tuesday continued to hear wiretapped phone conversations between Ulrich and various Queens business owners in January and February 2022, when he was serving as a special adviser to Adams.

Phone calls played in court appeared to show that Ulrich took an active role in getting the daughter of his co-defendant, Michael Mazzio, a job working directly for then-DOC Commissioner Louis Molina.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office claimed that Ulrich scoring Mazzio’s daughter a city job that doubled her previous salary wasn’t just a friendly favor, but a service Ulrich provided in exchange for multiple payments he received from Mazzio.

In a phone call to Mazzio played in court, Ulrich gave his co-defendant instructions on everything his daughter needed to do to get the job, stating he could get her working with the agency fairly quickly.

Ulrich also told Mazzio that, if his daughter decided not to take the DOC job, he would still work to find her another gig within city government.

“I just want you to tell her, I won't be upset if she goes and says, ‘It's not for me,’” Ulrich said on the call. “Maybe it takes me another two or three weeks or a month to find something for her, but this one stood out because of the fact it's in Queens.”

In court on Thursday, Oct. 22, Ulrich said he would personally send Mazzio’s daughter’s resume to Molina, who had just been named DOC commissioner early that year.

A phone call between Ulrich and Mazzio’s daughter that took place after she was interviewed by Molina on Feb. 4, 2022, was also played in court. Mazzio’s daughter was heard telling Ulrich how the interview went, and that she was offered three potential positions within DOC.

In the recording, Ulrich told her that Molina was a personal friend of his, and that she would be looked after if she took the job. Ulrich also said she could easily move up into an executive position within the agency in a few years.

“I'm not a person that's greedy or overly ambitious, but I also know where I stand with people,” Ulrich is heard saying on the call. “If you go to that agency, the commissioner's going to look out for you.”

In another phone call with Mazzio recorded the day after the interview, Ulrich said Molina was waiting for a text from Mazzio’s daughter regarding her application. Ulrich said that her name and phone number were going to be flagged in DOC’s system so she would get priority in the hiring process.

Molina served as the DOC’s commissioner for just under two years under the Adams administration. His tenure was defined by record-breaking deaths on Rikers Island, a rollback of transparency efforts and the beginnings of what was to become a multiyear unraveling of the city’s authority over its jails.

Molina was removed as the DOC head in November 2023 and was appointed the assistant deputy mayor of public safety before Adams again moved him to run the Department of Citywide Administrative Services.

Mazzio’s daughter, who was previously working with the Board of Elections, ultimately took the job at the DOC, which offered her a roughly $30,000 salary increase.

Prosecutors said Ulrich, who is accused of taking more than $150,000 in bribes during his time in office, regularly took cash and gifts from his co-defendants in exchange for government favors.

Mazzio, who owns Mike's Heavy-Duty Towing, is also accused of bribing Ulrich with $10,000 in Mets season tickets in exchange for resolving licensing issues with his company.

The DOC did not respond to an Eagle inquiry for this story by time of publication.

The judge on Tuesday also heard phone calls Ulrich made to Anthony and Joseph Livreri, who both pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy and bribery charges for paying the former city councilmember $4,000 in 2022.

The Livreri brothers owned the 89th Street Café, which also doubled as an illegal gambling den, and Aldo’s Pizzeria, a restaurant in Ozone Park Ulrich frequented.

In one phone call that took place on Feb. 14, 2022, Anthony Livreri asked Ulrich for help after the Health Department shut down Aldo’s.

In a phone call the following day, Joseph Livreri thanked Ulrich for getting the city to “expedite” the inspection. In the same phone call, Ulrich asked Livreri for $300 for a gift for an associate.

Ulrich’s trial is expected to continue throughout the week.