Acquittal for Union Execs and Mafia Capo

Friends of ours: Larry Ricci, Genovese Crime Family
Friends of mine: Harold Daggett, Arthur Coffey

Two longshoremen's union executives and a Mafia capo were acquitted Tuesday of charges that they tried to help the mob keep its grip on the New York waterfront. The verdict may be little consolation for defendant Larry Ricci, a Genovese family captain who remains missing after disappearing in the middle of the trial _ the possible target of a mob hit.

"I hope it brings some solace to the family. You know, at least that a jury saw innocence here," said Ricci attorney Martin Schmukler, who finished the trial with his client absent. "He's either been abducted _ that is unlikely because he'd be far too difficult a person to keep hostage _ or killed."

Either way, defense attorneys said, the acquittals of International Longshoremen's Association officials Harold Daggett and Arthur Coffey could cripple a federal lawsuit seeking to shake the mob's grasp on the ILA by taking control of the powerful union. Supporters and relatives gasped and burst into tears as Coffey and Daggett were declared not guilty of extortion and mail fraud conspiracy charges. Daggett, 59, and Coffey, 62, were charged with conspiring with the Genovese family to install Daggett as the mob-controlled puppet president of the ILA. They had faced 20-year maximum sentences if convicted.

Brooklyn prosecutors have moved for a trustee to oversee the New York-based union, which inspired the 1954 film "On the Waterfront." The union represents 45,000 dockworkers and other employees at three dozen ports from Maine to Texas. "Today is a wonderful day for the ILA," president John Bowers said in a statement. "We rejoice in the happy outcome."

A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Roslynn Mauskopf did not comment on the civil lawsuit but said her office would continue to prosecute union corruption. "We respect the jury's verdict in this case and will continue our vigorous efforts," the spokesman said.

A law-enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity said authorities remain unconvinced that Ricci disappeared because he was murdered. A failure to show up now that he has been acquitted would be more convincing, the official said.

Ricci, 60, who had faced a maximum five-year sentence if convicted, had been free on $500,000 bond on a mail and wire fraud conspiracy charge for allegedly trying to steer a lucrative union health care contract to a mob-linked firm. He was last seen in Carteret, N.J., on Oct. 7, three weeks into the trial. He switched from one borrowed car to another as if he thought he was being followed, but he was not being tracked by police or federal agents, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

If he reappears he could face a possible five-year sentence for skipping bail mid-trial. If Ricci was killed by the mob, it could have been for a reason unrelated to the trial, the official said. A hit would be evidence that a decades-long effort to uproot the mob has not completely robbed it of the power and money derived from gambling, loan-sharking and labor corruption.

"When people disappear like that from the Mafia they usually don't turn up alive," said Selwyn Raab, author of "Five Families," a history of organized crime in New York. "There's always somebody circulating who knows how to do these things. ... They've been doing it for a long time and they think they can get away with it."

Daggett, who had been suspended as the ILA International's assistant general organizer, alternated between relief and anger as he left the courthouse a free man. "The truth'll set you free," he said. "Where do I go to get my reputation back now?"

Thanks to Michael Weissenstein

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FBI went high-tech to nail mobster

Friends of ours: Frank Calabrese Sr., James Marcello

Frank Calabrese Jr. looked like any other prisoner in the yard at the federal detention center in Milan, Mich.: Large headphones covered his ears as he listened to a portable radio hitched to his belt. That's what prisoners did in the yard, so Frank Calabrese Jr. didn't stand out. And that was precisely the point for FBI agents.

No one would suspect that the ordinary-looking headphones and radio had cost the FBI about $25,000 to create. In the headphones was a listening device. In the radio was a computer chip to record whatever voices were picked up.

Calabrese Jr. agreed to wear the high-tech device -- details of which have been previously undisclosed -- to secretly record his father, Frank Calabrese Sr., a brutal loan shark and suspected hit man, as he talked about the Chicago Outfit. The FBI says Frank Calabrese Sr. was involved in 13 murders and one attempted murder, charges Calabrese Sr. has denied.

The conversations are among key parts of the evidence against Calabrese Sr. in his trial next year. Twelve other men, including the reputed head of the Chicago Outfit, James Marcello, are charged in the case, which pins 18 murders on the Outfit in the most significant indictment ever against organized crime in Chicago. The U.S. attorney's office had no comment on the listening device or any aspect of the case.

FBI agents went to the prison several years ago because Calabrese Jr. had written to them, saying he wanted to cooperate against his father, law enforcement sources said. The younger Calabrese wasn't looking for any favors. Nor did the FBI have anything to hang over his head.

Calabrese Jr. simply wanted to ensure that his father stayed in prison for the rest of his life, law enforcement sources said. Both men were convicted in a loan-sharking case, but the son had much less involvement than his father. Calabrese Jr. was released from prison in 2000 and is believed to be living out of state.

Putting a body wire on Calabrese Jr. each time father and son roamed the prison yard simply wasn't going to work. So the son came up with the idea of where to plant the listening device, law enforcement sources said. Even with the recording device so cleverly disguised, Calabrese Jr. was putting his life on the line every time he recorded his father.

His father is a brutal, cagey, street-smart mobster, always paranoid about his conversations, sources said. So Calabrese Jr. had to devise clever ways to get his father to discuss matters that mob code forbids ever talking about.

FBI agents were at the prison while the conversations were being digitally recorded. But the listening device only recorded. It did not broadcast, so there was no way FBI agents could listen in while the two men were talking. So if Frank Calabrese Jr. got into trouble -- if his father got suspicious or threatened him -- there was no way for FBI agents to hear what was happening.

Still, the younger Calabrese succeeded beyond agents' expectations. His father talked and talked and talked. The man known for his ability to negotiate and argue brilliantly with other Outfit members was hanging himself with his own words in the prison yard, sources said.

Calabrese Sr. allegedly described murders he and other mobsters were allegedly involved in, as well as mob rituals and who was and was not a member of the Outfit. Calabrese Sr.'s attorney, Joseph Lopez, has disparaged the tapes, saying they prove nothing.

Thanks to Steve Warmbir

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Lawyer: Cleared mobster may be dead

Friends of ours: Lawrence Ricci, Genovese Crime Family
Friends of mine: Harold Daggett, Arthur Coffey

Two executives of the International Longshoremen's Association and a reputed mobster who went missing mid-trial were acquitted Tuesday of charges that they helped the Mafia keep its grip on the New York waterfront. Supporters gasped and burst into tears as a federal jury in Brooklyn found union officials Harold Daggett and Arthur Coffey not guilty of extortion and fraud charges.

The jury also acquitted Lawrence Ricci, an alleged Genovese crime family associate who had been accused of wire and mail fraud. But the victory may turn out to be empty for Ricci, who vanished in the middle of the trial and is suspected to have been slain by the mob. His attorney said after the verdict that he believed Ricci had been killed, but he hoped the verdict gave his family solace. This reminds me of a scene in the movie Casino. All the mob bosses are sitting around discussing the big trial that is coming up and talking about who they can trust. They get to one guy in particular and as they go around the table, everyone agrees that this guy is a good man and can be trusted. Finally one of them goes: "Eh, why take the chance?" Bam, the guy is whacked. Same thing here with Ricci. The guy gets acquitted, but the mob thought, Eh, why take the chance?

Prosecutors had accused Ricci of working to award a lucrative union contract to a mob-tied pharmaceutical company. Daggett and Coffey were charged with conspiring with the Genovese crime family to install Daggett as the mob-controlled puppet president of the ILA.

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Chicago Mob Invades Vegas

Pretty cool, in a TV kind of way, show on Las Vegas last night that involved as part of the plot, the Chicago Mob in 1962, taking over a casino in Las Vegas. More details are reported at the Vegas Syndicate

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Fulton fishmongers start move in anticipation of deal

The Fulton Fish Market was being packed and carted to the Bronx on Monday in anticipation of a deal settling a court fight over allegations of Mafia infiltration, lawyers for both sides said.

The deal would allow a contractor installed by former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani to keep unloading fish for three years at the new home of one of the nation's largest and oldest fish markets. After three years the wholesalers who run the market could ask the city for permission to take over unloading.

"The parties have resolved their differences," said William Kuntz, a lawyer for the wholesalers. "It basically puts the war behind us."

Unloading fish from arriving trucks was a chokepoint for Mafia control of the lower Manhattan market, where mob associates would extort payoffs from sellers seeking faster delivery.

Giuliani put contractor Laro Service Systems Inc. in place in 1995 to help break the mob's grip. But the city decided to let the fish sellers take over unloading in the new refrigerated Bronx market. Laro sued the wholesalers and the city in September to block the change. Laro alleged that the wholesalers still had organized crime ties and the move would let the mob retake the market. The sellers said they simply wanted to unload fish more cheaply and quickly than Laro.

A judge agreed with Laro and blocked the wholesalers from taking over unloading. The wholesalers have agreed to drop their appeal of the September decision under the impending deal. Former Giuliani chief of staff Randy Mastro, who represents Laro, said the deal was not complete but would likely be signed within the next two days.

"There are still substantive issues that are being discussed," he said. "I think there's substantial progress toward settlement."

The market has hundreds of employees and more than $1 billion a year in sales. Its move is considered key to the city's plans to revitalize both the Hunts Point section of the Bronx and the lackluster area around the South Street Seaport.

Thanks to Michael Weissenstein - Newday

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