Orthodox Jewish leader allegedly bribed NYPD cops for pistol permits

A leader of the Boro Park Shomrim private safety patrol paid NYPD cops nearly $1 million in bribes to score pistol permits for 150 members of the Orthodox Jewish community — including one with a history of domestic violence who once threatened to kill someone, the feds c-harged Monday.

The stunning allegations against Alex “Shaya” Lichtenstein came as the NYPD announced it was cleaning house at its License Division, whe-re a cop allegedly admitted that Lichtenstein gave him and a supervisor “lunch money” to process applications for him.

The division’s commanding officer, Deputy Inspector Michael Endall, “is being re-assigned to an administrative position pending further review,” Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said in a statement.

Sgt. David Villanueva and Officer Ric-hard Ochetal were stripped of their badges and guns and also re-assigned, Bratton said.

The arrest of Lichtenstein and the internal NYPD moves mark the latest developments in a widening corruption scandal that Bratton last week described as the worst he’s seen since the Knapp Commission revelations of widespread NYPD graft during the early 1970s.

“This case was developed as part of a long-term joint investigation by the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the United States Attorney’s Office,” Bratton said in a statement Monday.

“As we have previously stated, this investigation will continue to go whe-re the leads take us.”

Lichtenstein, 44, was c-harged with bribery and conspiracy for allegedly running a three-year scam in which he c-harged unnamed “various individuals” $18,000 a pop to arrange expedited approval of pistol permits that otherwise could take more than a year to review.

As part of the scheme, he passed along $6,000 per application to the cops who greased the wheels on the process, court papers allege.

Lichtenstein, who was arrested at his Pomona, N.Y., home on Sunday, was scheduled to appear in Manhattan federal court Monday afternoon.