NEWARK, N.J. -- A former trucking company owner was charged Monday with paying thousands of dollars to officers of a corrupt Teamsters union local and members of the Genovese organized crime family in return for a sweetheart union contract.
Thecase 'illustrates how certain seemingly legitimate businesses are able to get a jump on their competitors by entering into an agreement with organized crime,' U.S. Attorney Samuel A. Alito Jr. said. 'And it illustrates how organized crime is able to get enormous profits by entering into an agreement with seemingly legitimate businesses.'
Francis J. Walsh Jr. was arrested at his home in Saddle River after an indictment handed up March 31 was unsealed Monday. A U.S. magistrate released him on a $100,000 personal recognizance bond. He faces up to 40 years in prison if he is convicted.
Walsh is now a real estate developer worth $60 million to $100 million, said his lawyer, William Robertson. His network of other companies, including Walsh Trucking Co., has been forced into Chapter 11 by an antitrust suit and sold off much of its assets.
The two-count indictment charges Walsh and four others with violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations statute.
Also charged were Vincent Cafaro, a reputed member of the Genovese family now imprisoned in New York, reputed Genovese bagman James Ida of Staten Island, former Teamsters Local 560 business agent Stephen Andretta of Paramus and Carmine R. Zeccardi of Englewood Cliffs, an official of one of Walsh's companies. Ida and Zeccardi were arrested, while authorities were seeking Andretta.
Anthony 'Fat Tony' Salerno, recently convicted of being the head of the Genovese family, and Matthew 'Matty the Horse' Ianiello, convicted Genovese caporegime, were named as unindicted co-conspirators along with Anthony, Nunzio and Salvatore Provenzano, the brothers who ran Local 560 between 1958 and 1984.
Local 560 has been in a court-ordered trusteeship since 1986 following a judge's ruling that Anthony Provenzano ran the union for the benefit of the Genovese family, controlling the executive board even after he was jailed in 1978. The trusteeship is scheduled to end late this year.
Alito charged that Walsh made 79 monthly payoffs of $1,500 to $3,000 between 1978 and 1986, disguised as legitimate payments to various companies. The money was actually paid to Ianiello, Salerno and the Provenzano brothers, he said.
