June 16, 2008
THE gal pal of a top NYPD Mounted Unit supervisor won a $2.5 million contract to care for retired police horses upstate - even though she had little experience and inadequate land and stables to board them, a Post investigation has found.
The two-month probe has uncovered alarming conflicts of interests and potentially more serious violations in the NYPD's award to Vicki Nanninga, the girlfriend of Detective Richard DePamphilis, the department's Mounted Unit quartermaster.
The contract was doled out last year after the NYPD was embarrassed by disclosures that its retired horses were receiving inadequate care at another upstate farm that was falling into bankruptcy.
Among the revelations unearthed about Nanninga's deal:
* DePamphilis served as a "point man" for the contract - reviewing applications, conducting property inspections and making critical recommendations about who deserved NYPD business.
* The 22-year veteran even took Nanninga to the inspection of another bidder's property, introducing her as "a photographer" while she snapped photos.
* Just three days before the contract was approved, Nanninga's company, Stone Horse Inn, in the upstate town of Dolgeville, "voluntarily" slashed its bid by more than $300,000, guaranteeing a low bid.
* Nanninga claimed she had 35 acres of land and two barns, when she had only 20 acres and one barn with insufficient space.
It's not clear whether she ever took any horses to Dolgeville because, within weeks of getting the contract, she sold off the property and began leasing a lush 257-acre spread in Pennsylvania, where she says she is "the manager."
The Post recently visited her new spread and found about 40 horses roaming happily on the land, including, she says, her growing stable of 30 NYPD horses.
Nanninga said she was acquainted with several NYPD mounted officers and named several, including DePamphilis.
She said she knew many of them dating back "12 to 15 years," when, she said, she worked for a feed company "trying to sell" to the city.
But she introduced DePamphilis as "my boyfriend," including when she bought, and later sold, her upstate home, sources said.
She bristled when asked if any cop played a role in her success, saying, "No one even knew I was bidding. "No one helped. They were never involved in the contract. It would be a conflict of interest. There is no reason for them to know."
And the 11th-hour bid cut?
A "mathematical" error, she said. "I made a mistake in my figures."
The NYPD said its Internal Affairs Bureau has begun a probe. DePamphilis did not respond to a request for comment.
The NYPD horse controversy started in late 2005, when the NYPD found 58 retired steeds malnourished at an Otisville farm.
The department quickly found adoptive homes for all but 28. It also needed to find homes for 15 more in each of the next two years.
