Authorities announced Thursday that a two-year police investigation led to a major mob takedown involving the Lucchese crime family.

The 29 suspects awaiting arraignment include six inspectors from the Department of Buildings.

Two of the indicted are alleged leaders of the Lucchese organization, while another three allegedly belonged to both the mob and the city agency.

The indicted DOB inspectors, including two who were part of the department since the mid-1980s, took bribes in exchange for granting building permits, expediting inspections and ignoring building violations.

Manhattan District Robert Morgenthau said the wire tap investigation started with a look into illegal gambling in September 2007 and it was a collaboration between his office, the New York Police Department and the Department of Investigation.

“They had important positions in the DOB. I mean, they were supervising other inspectors. They were conducting inspections themselves,” said Morgenthau. “They weren’t at the very top, but they had what should have been responsible positions, including the training of new inspectors.”

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the wave of indictments hit the Lucchese crime family on many levels.

“It started at the very top tier of the Lucchese organization and went right down to expediters, contractors, building developers, gambling agents,” said Kelly. “The amount of money that’s mentioned is only $12 million, but investigators believe this case really involves hundreds of millions of dollars.”

The DOB is re-inspecting the dozens of involved building sites for safety concerns.

Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri released a statement saying he was outraged and that all the inspectors charged are no longer working for the department and should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

He added, “As a precaution, the Department has visited all of the buildings associated with the investigation to ensure safety, and we expect to complete all re-inspection work soon.”

(Source: NY1)