Three people were arrested Tuesday in a three-year federal probe that exposed a scam that placed counterfeit auto parts on thousands of city taxi cabs, the New York Post reports.

The auto parts, including brake pads and suspension rings, were packaged to look like they were made by Ford and other manufacturers. They were sold by a multi-state counterfeit ring at higher prices and installed on potentially “thousands” of taxis.

Federal agents raided E&Y Distributors in Long Island City where the fake parts were found. No one from E&Y were arrested.

Officials said the public should not be worried as taxis undergo regular inspections, and any bad parts would show up in those inspections.

Shashi Malhortra, 67, of Norwood, N.J., Fadi Kilanie, 28, of Englewood, N.J. and Richard Dininni, 57, of Easton, Penn. carried out the fraud since October 2011 by operating separate sham companies that repackaged the knockoff parts.

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The mayor preferred Nissan, but it was not the people’s choice. In a “Taxi of Tomorrow” competition led by the Taxi and Limousine Commission, Turkish carmaker Karsan’s model was voted the most popular out of 23,000 votes.

Last month, the carmaker even promised to built its fleet in Brooklyn, bringing much-needed jobs and industry to the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal.

Politicians have railed against the mayor’s decision, saying Bloomberg missed an opportunity to create jobs. That’s a huge oversight in a city where there is 8.9 percent unemployment, said Public Advocate Bill de Blasio.

The Nissan NV200 will be built in Mexico, and the “taxification” of the vehicle will be done in New York, such as adding the partitions and installing the cab light on top.

The mayor defended his choice, saying he doubted Karsan’s ability to deliver the vehicles.

“The Karsan plan was just not practical,” said Bloomberg.

Bloomberg touted NV200’s low cost and energy technology as major factors. Each model costs approximately $29,000 — and by 2017, there could be an entire fleet of electric-powered vehicles.

Follow Emily Anne Epstein on Twitter at @EmilyatMetro.

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When approached by undercover TLC employees, cabbies used every excuse in the book for why they couldn’t go to Brooklyn or Queens. TLC videos, now on YouTube, show cabbies complaining they don’t have GPS or a map — or they just don’t feel like driving over the Brooklyn Bridge.

Except all taxis are legally required to have maps in their car.

“It’s geographic discrimination,” said Bloomberg. “Everyone who puts a hand in the air deserves to be treated the same.”

A request to go to Park Slope was refused, as was a request to Richmond Hill in Queens.

“New Yorkers have the right to take a cab anywhere in this city,” said Commissioner David Yassky.

The TLC  currently has over 100 secret agents monitoring the city’s taxis.  Squads of two are deployed weekly to investigate taxi service.

The TLC wants to allow livery cars to pick up street hails in the outer boroughs, which is currently against the law.

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Anthony Loreto, 22, is in critical but stable condition at New York-Presbyterian Hospital; taxi driver Mohammed Azam, 27, plowed into him and his three friends early Sunday, according to police.

The fight began after Loreto and his friends demanded a ride home to the Bronx, and Azam refused.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently proposed harsher fines for drivers avoiding outer boroughs. Yesterday City Councilman James Vacca called it a "systemic problem.”

But some cabbies say they’re getting a bad rap.

Driver Ruslan Ivanov, 34, said he’s happy to go to the Bronx — on the weekend. “There’s no traffic,” he said. Otherwise, congestion’s so bad, “You lose money.”

Lesly Pierre, a taxi dispatcher at Penn Station, said cabs turn down customers around rush hour — when they’re almost done with a shift. “They can’t go far.”

Azam was arraigned yesterday on assault charges.

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Mayor Michael Bloom­berg proposed steeper penalties yesterday for hacks who won’t go to the outer boroughs.

More and more drivers are refusing to take passengers to Brooklyn or Queens, the Taxi and Limousine Commission announced yesterday. Last year, outer borough refusals spiked 38 percent.

The new penalties would increase the first offense fine from $200 to $500, and a second offense would bring a $750 fine and 30-day suspension. Third offenses would remain a 36-month suspension.

Bhairavi Desai of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance said the penalties only “scapegoat, punish and give the public a false satisfaction.”

Bloomie’s also trying to bring more cabs to the outer boroughs.

Cabbies are legally required to take passengers anywhere in the five boroughs, but riders say too often that’s not the case.

“At least half refuse to go,” said Brooklynite and professional poker player Colin Clancey, 23.
Brooklyn grad student Sarah Ramsen agreed. “I get in before telling them where I’m going, and then they’ll get lost or try to rip me off.”

By the numbers

Number of refusals by cab drivers to go to outer boroughs:

July-Dec. 2010: 2,341
July-Dec. 2009: 1,693

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Mohammed, 26, was one of more than 22,000 people who filled out the Taxi and Limousine Commission’s online survey asking them to choose a new taxi design, and what they like — and dislike — about yellow cabs. The convenience store manager said he filled out the survey on a whim, and never expected to win $5,000 worth of free rides.

“Hell yeah! If my friends want to go out, I’ll go out every night, now,” said Mohammed.  

So what do New Yorkers like and dislike in their cabs? The majority of riders said their favorite part of the taxicab experience is that they can pay with credit cards, and their least favorite part is how expensive it is.

Nearly 70 percent of survey respondents preferred Turkish company Karsan’s model over Nissan and Ford, when it comes to the TLC picking a new taxi to replace its aging Ford Crown Victoria fleet.

TLC Commissioner David Yassky said he would take the public’s No. 1 choice into consideration, and will announce the new cab model soon.

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The survey, available at www.nyc.gov/taxi, asks such questions as, “How often do you illegally flag down livery cars in the street?” and “Which do you feel safer in, taxis or livery cars?”

The plan to legalize street hails in the outer boroughs is moving full-steam ahead, said a TLC spokesperson, despite strong opposition from taxi medallion owners who say it gives an unfair advantage to their competition.

The TLC needs the City Council’s approval before rewriting the law.

The survey is available in both English and Spanish

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“Whether you’re standing on 42nd Street in Manhattan or 42nd Street in Sunnyside, Queens, you ought to be able to hail a cab,” said Bloomberg during his State of City address yesterday.

Picking up passengers off the streets is something many livery drivers already do, illegally — which means the city would be playing into the hands of lawbreakers, critics say.

“The city is basically giving in to the illegal model,” said Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade spokesman Michael Woloz. And don’t expect the livery cars to stay in Brooklyn or Queens, he added.

“They may pick up a fare in Queens, go into Manhattan and stay in Manhattan,” said Woloz. “They are going to abandon the boroughs.”

Woloz also wants to know why yellow-cab drivers should bother to fork out a small fortune to buy a medallion from the city, which allows them to pick up street hails and costs up to $650,000, if livery car drivers don’t have to.

“It’s a slap in the face to anyone who invested in the medallion,” he said. 

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