FDNY discrimination case continues

White firefighter candidates at the New York City Fire Department may have an easier path than minorities when background checks turn up a blemish on their record, according to testimony Monday as a new phase began in the FDNY discrimination case in Brooklyn federal court.

Attorneys for the Vulcan Society, a black firefighters group that wants U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis to exercise more oversight over hiring and anti-discrimination efforts at the FDNY, said an old boys network in the 90-percent-white department came to the aid of candidates with past arrest records and friends on the inside.

"You would have lieutenants and captains, whatever: 'This is the son of so and so, I lived next door to him for years, he's a good guy, he just had a fight in a disco, he got drunk, someone made a pass at his girlfriend,' " former FDNY personnel commissioner Sherry Kavaler said in a deposition read to the judge. " 'He beat his wife, but his wife took him back, so he shouldn't be considered a wife beater.' "

Garaufis ordered new FDNY hiring tests last year because of discrimination, but the plaintiffs say he needs to appoint a special monitor to improve minority recruitment, get the department to take internal race complaints seriously, and wipe out nepotism that favors whites.

"The blacks don't have friends in the department to say, 'I know this kid,' " said Richard Levy, a lawyer for the Vulcan Society.

Dean Tow, the FDNY's current director of background investigations, testified that there was no discrimination in evaluating the fitness of candidates who pass the test, but he was grilled over records indicating that a white candidate was recommended for hiring despite a domestic violence complaint, while a black candidate facing a similar complaint wasn't.

He was asked about the FDNY's decision to hire two white police officers who had been charged with -- and later acquitted of -- murder in the infamous 1999 police shooting of Amadou Diallo in the Bronx. "Did you have any concern that in shooting a civilian, his judgment might be faulty?" Levy asked.

"No," answered Tow.

The plaintiffs plan to call witnesses this week to testify about racist behavior in the department -- including displays of nooses and KKK outfits in firehouses, racial slurs and growing resentment since Garaufis ordered the new tests.

They say the FDNY has been slow and ineffective in responding to discrimination complaints, and want Garaufis to appoint an independent monitor.