Everybody knows the details of one recent scandal out of the New York City area. But another scandal from the same part of the country has not gotten the attention it deserves.

The so-called “bridgegate” story involves New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and charges that in September one of his top staffers ordered a lane closure of entry ramps to the George Washington bridge to cause traffic headaches as retribution for the mayor of Fort Lee, N.J., not endorsing Christie’s successful re-election bid.

The Christie story gets daily updates on cable TV and in newspapers. But just before the Christie-bridge story broke, there was a report of charges filed by the Manhatten district attorney against 80 retired New York City police officers and firefighters for falsely claiming Social Security disability benefits in a scam that involved about 1,000 people and cost taxpayers $400 million.

Because the Christie story has political implications, it’s getting lots of attention. But the brazen cheating of the Social Security disability program deserves equal or greater coverage.

The former officers are charged with faking disabilities, claiming that the trauma associated with the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks made it impossible for them to work or, in some cases, even leave their homes. But the evidence presented by investigators included Facebook postings of one “disabled” officer riding a jet ski on vacation and another posing with a swordfish he caught on a deep-sea fishing boat. One former officer receiving disability payments reportedly was working as a helicopter pilot while another was running a martial arts studio.

Prosecuters say the former officers were coached by four men in how best to appear disabled or mentally damaged. A retired officer, known as the “disability consultant,” told them to look discheveled for their evaluation interview and to claim panic attacks or symptoms of depression. Prosecutors’ evididence suggests the disability scam had been going on since 1988.

This latest scam story is similar to a $1 billion disability fraud scheme involving dozens of employees of the Long Island Rail Road exposed in 2008 by a New York Times investigation that found 97 percent of the railroad workers in one year applied for and received disability payments.

As with the current case against police and firefighters, there were photographs of the “disabled” LIRR workers shoveling snow, golfing and biking.

Disability payments serve a legitimate purpose — providing income to those who are injured and unable to work. But these reports, plus others from across the country of cheating the Social Security Disability program, should bring changes. And those found guilty clearly deserve serious prison sentences.

An administrative law judge who hears cases for Social Security disability claims wrote a column in the New York Times last week suggesting ways to combat this sort of fraud. The judge noted that while a disability claimant usually brings a lawyer to a hearing, there is no lawyer representing the other side, meaning taxpayers, to present questions or challenge the claims. The judge also noted it is illegal for him to look at social media sites to determine if there is evidence of fraud — pictures of jet ski trips, fishing, biking on Facebook — when someone is applying for disability benefits.

Today, some 8.9 million Americans receive Social Security disability payments, up from 4.9 million in 1999. The office of U.S. Sen. Tom Cobern, R-Okla., recently conducted an investigation and found 25 percent of the randomly selected disability claimants were receiving benefits based on false, questionable or incomplete information. A near doubling of disability benefits suggests something is wrong.

More thorough disability evaulations, letting judges challenge evidence, more active anti-fraud investigations as well as congressional reforms are necessary to fight the widespread abuse of disability programs.