Metro

Feds digging into Sanit snow ‘conspiracy’

The feds have launched a criminal probe into allegations — first reported by The Post — that city sanitation workers conspired to paralyze the Big Apple during last week’s blizzard with a potentially deadly job slowdown, authorities confirmed yesterday.

The feds “want to get to the bottom of the matter,” said Steven Stites, spokesman for City Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Queens), who has met with whistleblowers from the Sanitation and Transportation departments and huddled with a federal prosecutor yesterday.

The explosive investigation, led by the Brooklyn US Attorney’s Office, is looking into whether Sanitation bosses plotted to thwart cleanup efforts in Brooklyn and Queens to protest budget and staff cuts by Mayor Bloomberg.

The probers also are looking at whether some workers defrauded taxpayers by padding their overtime pay, which could result in mail- or wire-fraud charges.

The Brooklyn and Queens district attorneys yesterday confirmed that they, too, are investigating the scandal.

Brooklyn prosecutors are specifically eyeing video posted on YouTube that appears to show sanitation crews relaxing for hours at a Dunkin’ Donuts on Monday night of last week when they were supposed to be clearing streets.

The authorities must first determine whether any laws were broken, sources said. If so, they’d forward the case to an appropriate agency, which could be the FBI, the federal Department of Labor or others, the sources said.

Meanwhile, the city Medical Examiner’s Office is investigating whether the blizzard was directly responsible for any deaths.

Late yesterday, a 3-month-old Queens boy was added to the list of possible snow-related victims.

Addison Reynoso, of Corona, was taken off life support after being stricken with a viral illness that left him brain-dead during the storm. Clogged streets hampered EMTs’ efforts to get the baby to Elmhurst Hospital.

“We are beside ourselves with grief,” the baby’s father, Luis, 26, said last night.

“All I ask is that next time, the city do a better job cleaning our streets. We waited a long time, and when help arrived, it was too late. Our son wasn’t responsive anymore.”

City officials also confirmed that a 66-year-old man died of hypothermia while waiting on a subway platform the Monday of the storm, when trains were severely delayed.

Meanwhile, the city’s blizzard response will be scrutinized at a special City Council session Monday.

Council leaders have specifically asked to hear from Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith, who handles the Sanitation Department and is overseeing the agency’s restructuring.

Bloomberg, who had steadfastly stood by Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty, yesterday finally appeared to take issue with Doherty’s glowing assessments of his team’s efforts.

“I would give our grade as unacceptable,” Bloomberg said after Doherty gave his crews an A-plus.

Additional reporting by Sally Goldenberg, Mitchel Maddux, Lorena Mongelli and Joe Mollica