January 4, 2004 -- The NYPD is looking to bring criminal charges against FDNY personnel who tried to cover up the brutal firefighter-on-firefighter attack in a Staten Island station, sources told The Post. Charges could include altering official documents and obstructing justice, the sources said.
The probe was sparked by a New Year's Eve brawl between firefighters Michael Silvestri and Robert Walsh in the Tottenville firehouse.
Walsh remains in a medically induced coma after he was smashed in the head with a chair - allegedly by Silvestri.
The fight had been brewing for more than a month after a dispute about overtime pay, according to a news segment on WNBC/Channel 4 last night.
The station reported Silvestri had been teased and criticized by fellow firefighters since Thanksgiving, when he allegedly took advantage of firehouse rules to get some extra overtime pay, which others didn't think he deserved.
The tension apparently escalated on New Year's Eve when harsh words and insults were traded between Silvestri and Walsh, prompting the chair attack, according to the report.
Sources said investigators were now focusing on Capt. Terrence Sweeney, the firehouse supervisor alleged to have engineered a cover-up that included a cleanup of the scene and an eight-hour delay in reporting the assault to cops.
Sweeney is one of up to 20 FDNY employees who have gotten departmental subpoenas in the probe.
Firefighters could face FDNY probers as early as tomorrow, officials said, and a grand jury could begin looking at evidence later this week, prosecutors said.
Firefighters face dismissal if they refuse to cooperate with investigators.
But insiders told The Post they doubted Walsh would provide evidence against his accused assailant Silvestri unless he was forced to do so.
FDNY brass said most firefighters would be loath to testify against each other.
Silence "keeps the brotherhood together," said one. "You may be doing in a guy's pension, and nobody wants to take that step."
At least four agencies are looking into the firehouse battle and subsequent cover-up: NYPD, FDNY, Department of Investigation, and the Staten Island district attorney.
As many as 50 firefighters spent Friday night at a vigil at Staten Island University Hospital, where Walsh was recovering from his injuries.
While alcohol was said to have played a part in the brawl, law-enforcement sources said yesterday that Walsh's blood-alcohol level was 0.05 - below the legal limit for intoxication.
His brother Jerry, 39, said Walsh's condition had improved slightly.
"He's a little responsive, but he's not talking yet," he said.
Walsh said reports of boozing at the firehouse were untrue.
"Never happened," he said, adding that he had no beef with his brother's alleged assailant.
Additional reporting by Lorena Mongelli, Murray Weiss and Philip Messing
