NEW YORK, Oct. 28 -- The Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's office said Friday a Long Island father and three sons have pleaded guilty to various charges in the largest gasoline excise tax case ever prosecuted. Joseph Macchia of Lattington, N.Y., and sons Lawrence and George entered guilty pleas in U.S. District Court in Hauppauge, N.Y., Thursday to conspiring to evade and to evade approximately $85 million in federal gasoline excise taxes.
A third son, Joseph, who was charged only with conspiracy also entered a guilty plea before Judge Leonard Wexler. The Justice Department in Washington called the case 'the largest gasoline excise tax prosecution to date.' Prosecutors said the family owns wholesale and retail gasoline companies in the New York metropolitan area, including several filing stations under the Citgo logo. The main firm is the New York Fuel Terminal Corp., which operated M & Q Terminal in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens Fuel, and M & Q Trucking Corp. They said the Macchias sold almost 1 billion gallons of gasoline to unregistered companies without paying tax. The government said many of the unregistered companies were owned by Marat Balagula, who pleaded guilty in the case Oct. 31. Prosecutors said the illegal sales were made by what they called a series of fictitious 'book transfers,' and the gasoline actually never moved, except on paper, until bought by an unlicensed purchaser. The defendants each face up to five years and $250,000 in fines on each count.
