NYPD lieutenant charged with manipulating young detective’s investigation into vendetta against police union chief

A former senior NYPD Internal Affairs investigator could be fired for allegedly tampering with a young detective’s fight at a Long Island fire station to get to the detective’s father, a high-ranking police union official.

The NYPD has filed 13 heightened disciplinary charges against Lieutenant John Dandola for a series of misdemeanors during his two-year investigation of Detective Scott Munro Jr.’s alleged fight in 2018 with fellow firefighter Jonathan Kriklava at the Long Island Fire Department, Daily News reported. found out.

The allegations are a new twist in a long-running saga.

Kriklava filed a complaint with the Suffolk County police blaming Munroe Jr. for the incident at the Hauppaug fire station, and the NYPD and Dundol’s Department of the Interior conducted their own investigation into Munroe Jr.

Suffolk cops couldn’t find any video of the confrontation or any witnesses. The only security video they found showed Kriklava not feeling any discomfort. According to NYPD records, Kriklava withdrew his complaint.

After Dandola completed his investigation in 2019, the NYPD stripped Munro Jr. of his rank, transferred him from the Detective Bureau’s elite auto-crime unit, and placed him on duty. He was also deprived of 30 days of vacation.

But, on the contrary, in January 2022, the NYPD dropped the charges against Munro Jr. He was reinstated as a detective and his vacation days were returned to him.

Now, just over a year later, Dandola is accused of failing to properly investigate and remove documents favorable to Munro Jr., records obtained by The News show.

The 13 departmental indictments, filed January 26, also allege that Dandola failed to interview 10 witnesses in the case, failed to re-examine witnesses who contradicted themselves, failed to include key Suffolk County police and fire records in the case file, and failed to supervise subordinates. involved in the investigation, records show.

John Scola, Munroe Jr.’s lawyer, said that given the outcome of Munroe Jr.’s case, the Police Department should look into other cases that Dandola has handled. “All of his previous investigations must be independently reviewed,” Scola said.

Lou Turco, president of the Lieutenants’ Benevolent Association, defended Dandola’s approach to business.

“We look forward to the trial and are confident that when all the evidence is received, our lieutenant will be acquitted,” Turco said. “The evidence will show that he conducted a fair and balanced investigation.”

Dandola, a 25-year-old NYPD veteran, was quietly transferred from Internal Affairs to the Detective Bureau on Feb. 9, records show. A spokeswoman for the NYPD declined to comment. “The disciplinary process is currently ongoing,” she said.

Munro Jr.’s father is Scott Munro Sr., currently the No. 3 secretary or officer in the 5,000-member Detective Charities Association. Hank Scheinkopf, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration, declined to comment.

The father-son duo stated in a February 2022 letter to Mayor Adams that Dandola’s zeal was fueled by Munro Sr.’s dissatisfaction.

On March 8, 2019, after Munro Jr. was stripped of his rank by Dandola and three sergeants, the young detective stated in an earlier employment complaint that he heard Dandola say, “Next, his father’s fucking union.”

The sergeant with Dandola allegedly replied, “We’re going to crush him like a fucking cockroach.”

Meanwhile, Dandola’s immediate superior, Captain Thomas Camper, is taking unspent leave, sources say. Camper’s then-chief, Deputy Inspector Edward Armstrong, recently retired, sources said.

The Munroes accused Camper and Armstrong of obstructing the investigation, but they were never charged.