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FBI subpoenas Boston firefighters in disability abuse investigation

By Donovan Slack and Walter V. Robinson
The Boston Globe

BOSTON — Federal authorities issued a flurry of subpoenas across the city yesterday as they launched a grand jury investigation of disability abuse in the Boston Fire Department, including whether dozens of firefighters faked on-the-job injuries to significantly enhance their pensions, according to several officials briefed on the probe.

FBI agents served the subpoenas to more than a dozen current and former firefighters, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because grand jury proceedings are secret. Agents also delivered a grand jury subpoena yesterday to City Hall demanding what is likely to be tens of thousands of pages of disability records dating back to 2000.

City officials “will cooperate in the investigation of any alleged illegal activity,” said Dorothy Joyce, spokeswoman for Mayor Thomas M. Menino. “We have been informed that neither the mayor, the fire commissioner, nor any member of the administration are targets of this grand jury investigation.”

Full story: US probes firefighter disability abuse