A former New York Giants employee filed a lawsuit alleging a coach once tackled and threatened to kill him

• The New York Giants' former video director has filed a lawsuit against the organization.
• The suit alleges that the team fired him in retaliation for speaking up about a violent workplace culture.
• It also alleges that a former coach once tackled and threatened to kill the video director.

A former New York Giants employee has filed a lawsuit against the organization alleging that it had a violent workplace culture and that he was fired in retaliation for reporting incidents of abuse to the organization's management.

David Maltese, who served as the Giants' video director for nearly 30 years, was fired in March. He thinks the move was retaliatory, a response to his efforts to call out supervisors for violent behavior.

Maltese's suit suggests that his firing violates CEPA, New Jersey's whistleblower statute, according to court documents obtained by Darryl Slater of NJ.com.

A Giants spokesperson called the lawsuit 'meritless.'

"We are aware of the civil filing by a former employee and are prepared to aggressively defend the organization and its employees against the meritless claims. Beyond that, we do not intend to make further comment on this matter," the spokesperson told Insider.

The lawsuit describes a series of verbal and physical abuses that Maltese faced and witnessed while working for the team.

In one instance, it alleges, former Giants' offensive line coach Dave DeGuglielmo "ragefully tackled" Maltese onto a table, while screaming "I am going to kill you!" in front of coaches, players, and executive Chris Mara.

Former general manager Ernie Accorsi did not take disciplinary action against DeGuglielmo after the alleged incident, the lawsuit says. DeGuglielmo worked for the Giants from 2004 through 2008, then again in 2020.

Maltese also alleges that he filed complaints to the organization about his supervisor, Tyseer Siam, the team's director of football data and innovation. Maltese says Siam physically attacked and assaulted an assistant video director on the team, Steven Venditti, in September 2020.

The Giants removed Siam from the his role after the incident was reported, but he is still employed by the team.

The Giants did not immediately respond to a request for comment on any of the allegations in the lawsuit.

Maltese's lawsuit also includes allegations against the Giants' senior vice president, William J. Heller. Maltese says he emailed Heller to flag that Siam and Venditti were scheduled to sit next to each other on a flight to Chicago two weeks after their September altercation. The lawsuit alleges that Heller scolded Maltese for putting his concerns "on the record" in writing.

The suit also accuses Heller of threatening Maltese during a meeting with the team's vice president of human resources. According to the suit, Heller said that if details of that meeting got leaked, "I will personally go into your office and strangle you until you can no longer breathe, ok?"

Maltese is seeking compensation for lost income, pain and suffering, medical expenses, damage to his reputation, and attorney and court fees, per the lawsuit.

"After 30 years of dedication to the Giants organization, it was devastating to lose my job for doing the right thing and trying to protect my coworker from violence and abuse," Maltese said in a statement released by his lawyer.