A top security chief for the MTA’s subways and buses was forced out by agency bosses amid an investigation into allegations he hired and promoted double-dipping retired cops and many of his pals, sources said Tuesday.
Vincent DeMarino quit Friday after a meeting with New York City Transit head Carmen Bianco over alleged nepotism and cronyism that are violations of agency policy.
Deputy Chief Ralph Misiti, who works in the same security department, is also being probed by the inspector general for similar acts of favoritism, according to transit sources said.
A spokesman from the Office of the Inspector General declined to comment, while the MTA said only that DeMarino had resigned.
DeMarino was asked to hand in his phone, work ID and the keys to his MTA car — and was then given a $4 MetroCard to go home, law-enforcement sources said.
Staffers in his security department were told in a memo that he wouldn’t be permitted to access transit facilities.
Al Putre, a senior vice-president at the MTA and chief revenue officer, is taking over DeMarino’s responsibilities, sources said.
Whistleblowers in the division had filed complaints with the inspector general eight months ago, and filed equal-employment-opportunity complaints with the MTA as early as 2011.
One woman who complained worked as a property guard in a bus terminal, and was angered after she was passed over for a job on the Eagle Team, a unit run by DeMarino that focused on fare-beating on buses, law-enforcement sources said.
Workers also said they faced retaliation from their bosses after speaking out against the cronyism, and lost overtime.
Investigators believe that under DeMarino, a former NYPD transit boss, his department had hired about 145 cops and 35 other cronies since he was hired by the MTA about seven years ago.
Sources said DeMarino relied on Misiti to help former cops be promoted, getting around state waivers so they could double-dip with their pensions.
“He knew the contracts in and out, how to circumvent the waivers,” one source said.
Misiti hired his own son as a special inspector early last year, and his nephew as an analyst three years ago, according to sources said.
The MTA’s inspector general is investigating whether Misiti worked in the electrical department at a Lowe’s hardware store while working for the MTA — and if he sold Lowe’s merchandise on the side, a transit source said.
The IG is also looking into claims he brought into the MTA a co-worker from Lowe’s who wasn’t qualified, the source claimed.
Also under investigation is whether two supervisors in the department got their sons jobs protecting transit property, sources added.
Reached at his Valley Stream, LI, home, DeMarino — who made $172,637 in base salary last year — said the allegations of nepotism were not true.
“It’s just not the case,” he told The Post. “I’m retiring to take care of my father. I’ve always tried to hire the most qualified person for each position.”
He added that there are so many checks and balances in the hiring process that he “couldn’t have pulled that off if I wanted to.”
It’s not the first time he has been in trouble. The Post reported in 1998 that when DeMarino was an NYPD transit inspector, he was accused of failing to report the undercounting of subway crime.
Misiti, who made $119,431 as his salary in 2013, declined to comment through his wife when reached at his home.