They’ll
stand as shining symbols of affluence next to The High Line: two towers
known as The XI, housing a hotel and 234 condos going for up to $25
million, rising to take their place in the city skyline.
The Chelsea buildings, according to the developer’s website,
will be “unmatched in Manhattan and unparalleled in the world.” They’ll
feature “groundbreaking amenities” and “mesmerizing views of the Hudson
River and New York City skyline on all sides.”
The
XI, a recipient of nearly $1.5 million in tax breaks, also may already
have achieved another sort of distinction: serving as a kind of ATM for
the Gambino crime family, according to federal prosecutors.
The
Mafia family once controlled by the late John Gotti skimmed hundreds of
thousands of dollars from The XI and other Manhattan projects by buying
off a top executive of the firm behind the condo complex, prosecutors
charged.
That
executive, identified by prosecutors as John Simonlacaj, 50, is a
managing director of the HFZ Capital Group, a Manhattan real estate
developer that’s built multiple luxury residential and hotels across the
city. Simonlacaj oversaw construction of The XI for HFZ, which
purchased the Chelsea property in 2015, according to court papers.
On
Friday, Simonlacaj surrendered and entered a not guilty plea in
Brooklyn Federal Court to federal charges of wire fraud conspiracy and
tax fraud. He was released after posting $250,000 bail.
Simonlacaj
is the cousin of Mark “Chippy” Kocaj, 49, one of 10 alleged mobsters
busted Thursday in Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue’s major
crackdown on the Gambino clan, once notorious for its control of New
York’s construction industry.
Prosecutors
say that Kocaj, reputed Gambino capo Andrew Campos and alleged crime
family soldier Vincent Fiore operated a Mount Vernon carpentry firm, CWC
Contracting, which was hired to work on multiple city projects,
including The XI.
To
get the inside track with HFZ Capital, between June 2018 and June of
this year, CWC allegedly paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes
and kickbacks to “multiple employees” of HFZ Capital, prosecutors
charged. Sometimes it was in cash, but sometimes it was “in-kind
benefits” to the employees, according to court papers.
With
Simonlacaj, CWC provided free labor and materials to perform
“extensive” renovations on his home in upscale Scarsdale, according to
court papers. The cost of the work was covered by inflated invoices to
HFZ, the indictment alleges.
In
court papers, prosecutors charged that the Gambino family “is thriving,
earning millions of dollars through various forms of fraud, bribery,
money laundering and extortion, particularly in the construction
industry.”
CWC
got jobs by bribing employees of numerous construction companies and
real estate developers, prosecutors alleged. One of those outfits is
listed in the indictment as Construction Company 1, identified by other
public records as HFZ Capital.
To
get their hooks into HFZ, prosecutors say, the mob bribed Simonlacaj,
who handled several projects for HFZ and is listed as the owner’s
representative on The XI in city Building Department records.
The
XI, which is still under construction, abuts The High Line, the popular
park built on an abandoned railway that runs through Chelsea up to the
recently opened Hudson Yards. It’s considered one of the hottest real
estate locations in the city, with luxury residences adjoining the park
selling for hefty sums.
The
XI is one of these high-end properties, a pair of leaning towers that
will include a Six Senses Hotel and condos ranging from $2.8 million for
one-bedrooms to $25 million for a half-floor penthouse. The developer
benefited from $1.49 million in tax credits for cleaning up a toxic
brownfield at the site, according to state records.
Prosecutors
say that Fiore is heard talking about how CWC would get work with HFZ,
noting that Kocaj is Simonlacaj’s cousin — “but keep it to yourself,”
he states.
“There’s
things we can do with Chippy there,” Fiore allegedly said. “He whispers
what he needs to whisper and we get things done.”
Both Kocaj and Fiore were recorded by the FBI boasting about their violent escapades, according to prosecutors.
In
one recorded conversation, Kocaj went off about a fight he had in a
diner where he “stabbed the kid, I don’t know, 1,000 times with a fork,”
according to prosecutors. Fiore allegedly threatened to send members of
the Latin Kings gang to assault individuals who had hit his son.
Discussing
eight days of work owed to a laborer for his work at Simonlacaj’s home,
Fiore — who refers to Simonlacaj as John Si — was heard on the feds’
wire stating, “Put that against 76 11,” listing the address of The XI at
76 11th Ave, near 18th Street.
“Chippy knows about that as well. That’s John Si’s house.”
Through
CWC, the Gambino family allegedly siphoned hundreds of thousands of
dollars from HFZ by getting Simonlacaj and other unnamed HFZ employees
to approve inflated “change orders” that jacked up the cost from the
original proposed scope of work on several projects, prosecutors say.
On
Friday, Christophe Lagrange, an executive at HFZ, said he was not aware
of the charges filed against Simonlacaj and said he hadn’t seen him at
work all day. He declined further comment.
At
the time of THE CITY’s call to Lagrange, Simonlacaj was entering his
not-guilty plea. On his way out of Brooklyn Federal Court, he declined
to speak to a reporter for THE CITY.
https://thecity.nyc/2019/12/gambino-mob-looted-towers-rising-along-the-high-line-feds-allege.html
