More than 100 people in New York, including 80 retired police officers and firefighters, have been charged in a suspected disability scam dating back over two decades. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance says the accused made false disability claims, bilking taxpayers out of some $400 million.

Cyrus Vance: “Since at least 1988, these men are charged with coaching hundreds and hundreds of individuals on how to convince the Social Security administration that those individuals are unable to work at any job because they suffer a psychiatric condition, and therefore are entitled to monthly disability payments. Now, it’s a particularly cynical part of the charge scheme that approximately half of the defendants falsely claimed that their psychiatric disabilities were caused by their association with the terrorist attacks of September 11.”