By Frankie Pressman and Richard Luthmann with Dick LaFontaine
Out on “the Rock,” where NYU Langone Medical Center EMS Director Mitchell Powell lives, there is a saying: “City buses don’t get old. They go to Staten Island.”
NYU Langone Medical Center EMS Director Mitchell Powell
It looks like Mitch Powell took an old page from the MTA playbook and used it to execute a deceptive scheme. He misled billionaire Home Depot founder and major donor Ken Langone with an "ambulance switcheroo," raising serious ethical questions.
Ken Langone, an American Treasure.
According to sources, Langone, while previously visiting the Manhattan hospital that proudly bears his name, encountered a disturbing sight: a lineup of diesel-fueled ambulances emitting thick exhaust along the East Side streets. Langone confronted Powell because the sight contradicted the hospital's top-notch reputation in quality, safety, and emerging technologies.
Langone demanded the immediate replacement of the diesel fleet with eco-friendly "green buses," emphasizing that diesel exhaust had no place in a leading hospital environment. “You have a ‘blank check.’ Get them out of here,” sources say Langone told Powell.
This is For Real? is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Powell responded promptly, moving the diesel vehicles out by the next day and replacing them with eco-friendly ambulances. However, Powell simply relocated the GREEN fleet from Brooklyn to Manhattan, leaving Brooklyn with the older, polluting diesel ambulances.
After that, when Ken Langone and other NYU Hospital bigwigs would walk by, everything was on the up and up—and it was—for everyone - except everyone in Brooklyn. After all, what's a little more diesel exhaust in Sunset Park? That's where the scourge of the NYU Medical EMS fleet resides, and it’s been there for several years. Top-of-the-line, eco-friendly ambulances are listed in the Brooklyn inventory, maybe for a few days, until they are moved from the outer boroughs. After all, what would a blue-collar plumber married to a cafeteria worker need with the best modern medicine has to offer?
This incident is just the tip of the iceberg in what appears to be a pattern of unethical behavior by Powell. He is suspected of misusing NYU Langone Hospital's funds, evidenced by his personal vehicle. Powell appears to have dipped into the pockets of NYU Langone Hospital's procurement partners. His personal vehicle is THE SAME as the hospital fleet and has EMS plates.
A vehicle parked on the 300 block of Lyndale Avenue in the Eltingville Section of Staten Island, New York.
Is this where Ken Langone's "blank check" for the EMS fleet went? Knowing Ken Langone's history, one would think he intended it to go elsewhere.
Langone, whose philanthropic efforts include a $300 million donation to the NYU School of Medicine and a pledge to provide tuition-free medical education, is a figure of integrity and generosity. His contributions reflect a deep commitment to improving healthcare and education, values seemingly undermined by Powell's maneuvers.
Get more from Richard Luthmann in the Substack app
Available for iOS and Android
Powell double-dips as the NYU Medical EMS director and the "CEO" of the NYU Medical EMS program, teaching first responders.
Mitch Powell is the EMS Director and teaches EMT Training at NYU Langone. Do both his paychecks come out of Ken Langone’s “Blank Check”?
However, no one thinks Ken Langone intended to teach EMS workers to forget about the hard-working men and women in the NYC suburbs. Evidently, only Mitch Powell would do that. After all, Langone was born in Roslyn Heights, New York, to Italian-American parents. His father was a plumber and his mother a cafeteria worker.
Mitch Powell’s maneuvering of ambulances from Brooklyn to Manhattan, prioritizing appearances over genuine service and sustainability, indicates a troubling prioritization of image over substance. He is accused of corrupt practices.
Through questionable means, he reportedly secured lucrative contracts for emergency vehicle dealers such as North Eastern Rescue Vehicles and C & M Truck Repair. These allegations suggest that Powell received illegal kickbacks, including paid vacations and free services, undermining fair procurement processes and diverting funds from essential medical services.
We asked Mitch Powell about it but received no response as of press time.
Via Email
NYU Hospital EMS Director Powell,
We are investigative reporters running a story about allegations you misled Ken Langone about the replacement of diesel ambulances at the Manhattan NYU Langone Medical Center site. Sources say Mr. Langone gave you a "blank check" to replace the high-pollution diesel vehicles because they reflected poorly upon the world-class hospital, which is Number 1 in Quality and Safety and tops in Cardiac Care and Emerging Technologies?
Instead of replacing them, sources say you sent them to Brooklyn to service (and pollute) Sunset Park, and the working class denizens in that neighborhood. But that was not Mr. Langone's intention or directive. Is this true?
How does this decision jive with the recent and generous grant from Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand and Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis' for six (6) eco-friendly, state of the art, GREEN ambulances to serve the residents of Brooklyn and Staten Island? Have ALL of those new vehicles given by our federal elected officials been delivered and placed into active service to help New Yorkers?
Also, sources say that your personal vehicle with EMS plates was given to you "on the arm" by the NYU Hospital contract supplier. Is this true?
Is this your vehicle, parked on the 300 block of Lyndale Avenue, in the Eltingville section of Staten Island?
The vehicle is the same year, make, and model as those used by NYU Langone Medical Center. Is it true you received the vehicle for less than full market value from the dealer? Was that part of the money that Mr. Langone told you to use from the "Blank Check" for state of the art NYU Medical Center Equipment?
Do you have any comment, as we go to press shortly at <<This Is For Real?>>?
Regards,
Dick LaFontaine
Investigative Journalist
We previously heard from NYU Langone Medical Center Senior Media Relations Director Steve Ritea.
NYU Langone Medical Center Senior Media Relations Director Steve Ritea
Mr. Ritea said:
Dear Mr. Luthmann and Mr. Pressman,
Your recent posting, “NYU Langone EMS Workers Cry Foul Over Squalid Conditions, Kickback Allegations,” does not accurately reflect the facts of this matter. Please know that NYU Langone has fully investigated these claims and found nothing to substantiate the allegations.
We asked for clarification about the facts. Mr. Ritea responded, “We cannot share a confidential investigation.”
We continue to investigate and find more and more questionable activities by Mitch Powell.
Maybe Chuck Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Nicole Malliotakis can help. After all, it’s public money. Maybe Mitch will answer if the FBI comes by. We’re worried he might just lie to Ken Langone (again).
Via Email
Mr. Ritea,
With all due respect, NYU Langone Hospital is the only one labelling anything "confidential." All of this information would be subject to discovery in a whistleblower lawsuit or an FBI investigation for malfeasance related to federal funds.
What about my other dozen or so questions?
The money for the ambulances is public money. The public has a right to know. If NYU Langone Hospital doesn't want to talk, please give us the courtesy of letting us know. It looks like we'll have to get our answers from Senators Schumer and Gillibrand and Representative Malliotakis. Their offices are copied. They not only have a right to know, but they have the obligation to get answers.
Will NYU Langone have the same response when the elected officials ask these same questions about squalid working conditions for first responders or giving MILLIONS IN PUBLIC MONEY for SIX ambulances when there are only THREE?
On Thursday, March 28th, 2024 at 8:51 AM, Ritea, Steve wrote:
We cannot share a confidential investigation.
From: Richard Luthmann “richard.luthmann@protonmail.com” Date: Wednesday, March 27, 2024 at 5:59 PM To: "Ritea, Steve" Cc: "frankiepressman@protonmail.com”
Subject: Re: Your recent posting
[EXTERNAL]
Mr. Ritea,
Thank you for your response.
Can you release details of your investigation? Our sources claim facts that they believe point to serious malfeasance. Was this investigation begun in response to our reporting 48 hours ago? Did anyone with a forensic accounting background look at the financial allegations?
Our sources also say nothing has changed at the EMS room at Langone Manhattan.
An additional source contacted us and said that in addition to North East Rescue, Proliner is involved in questionable transactions. Can you speak to that or to the claims involving procurement transactions?
Also, the Press Release on your website says the Federal Funding from US Senators Gillibrand and Schumer and Rep. Malliotakis went to 6 new EMS vehicles: “These additional ambulances will help provide lifesaving care to our patients across Brooklyn as well as Staten Island.”:
Are the MX164s the "additional ambulances" referred to in the federal grant?
If so, why only 3? Have you ordered 6 ambulances? Have you received them all? When?
If not, what are the 6 vehicles covered under the grant? Are they currently in service to "help provide lifesaving care to [y]our patients across Brooklyn as well as Staten Island?"
How many are in Brooklyn and how many are in Staten Island?
Has NYU Langone updated Senators Gillibrand and Schumer and Rep. Malliotakis about the use of the funds they so generously procured for the hospital and New York residents?
