The investigation revealed that the Gambino and the Genovese families coordinated efforts to control selection of ILA bosses at the highest level. Between Apr. and Aug. 2000, "Captain” Ciccone plus "soldiers” Primo Cassarino and Jerome "Jerry" Brancato, worked with Local 1814 vice president Frank "Red” Scollo to allegedly intimidate ILA bosses into placing a Genovese associate on the ILA's Executive Council, then to elevate him to the ILA presidency during a year when the election would be closed to the union's general membership.
The investigation also revealed additional cooperation between the Gambino and Genovese clans in a kick-back scheme involving ILA's national health plan, which is called "MILA.” In 1998, Ciccone, Cassarino, Vincent Nasso, and Scollo, allegedly intimidated MILA trustees into awarding a prescription drug service contract to GPP/VIP, a firm owned in part by Nasso. The Gambino and Genovese families then split a kick-back of approximately $400,000 from Nasso in exchange for the contract. Further, when it appeared that GPP/VIP's contract was not going to be extended in Nov. 2001, Ciccone, through Cassarino, allegedly directed Scollo, who had also become a MILA trustee, to "look into what happened with Vinny Nasso, why he lost that thing" and to "do whatever you gotta do."
Additionally, between Apr. 2000 and Aug. 2001, Ciccone, Cassarino, and Scollo ousted a Local 1814 delegate and allegedly replaced him with a handpicked candidate of Ciccone and his crew. According to the indictment, Cassarino and Local 1814 president Scollo met surreptitiously on numerous occasions in Scollo's car to discuss the details of the scheme.
Further, between June 2000 and Aug. 2001, Ciccone, Cassarino, Scollo and others, allegedly coerced Local 1 officials into following Ciccone's directives regarding the management of the local, including the placement of members in particular jobs. Ciccone reportedly enforced his rule on the waterfront by sending warnings to the Local 1 officers through Scollo, Cassarino and others. On one occasion he sent Cassarino to a Local official's personal residence to deliver his message, according to prosecutors.
Finally, between Oct. 2000 and Jan. 2001, Ciccone, Cassarino and Scollo allegedly extorted thousands of dollars from a relative of an individual seeking employment on the waterfront, in exchange for a waterfront job. During the summer of 2001, using Cassarino and Scollo, Ciccone allegedly attempted to force an employee of Howland Hook Container Terminal to step down from his job so that a relative of Gambino family member Anthony Anastasio could be installed in his place. The indictment also alleges that Ciccone and Cassarino demanded that an injured longshoreman pay them a portion of the monetary settlement he received as a result of a work-related injury.
"By controlling the union, its locals, its national health plan and various businesses on the waterfront, the Gambino organized crime family and its associates victimized rank and file union members and the consuming public,” said FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Kevin P. Donovan. "Free enterprise was a rare commodity on the docks of New York. Eliminating the influence of organized crime will not be achieved by one investigation, one indictment or one successful prosecution but, rather, by maintaining law enforcement pressure on the mob's organization, it leadership and its sources of income."
DOL Inspector General Gordon Heddell added, "This investigation uncovered a well-disciplined, conspiratorial organization that had utilized a climate of fear and intimidation to exploit the ILA. The U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, has participated in this multi-agency investigation to ensure that union workplaces are free from the influence of organized crime and to ensure that worker health plans are protected.” [USAO E.D.N.Y. 6/4/02]
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