Staten Island businessman is found not guilty and denies being Genovese soldier

Staten Island businessman is found not guilty and denies being Genovese soldier

  January 26, 2019    Dapper_Don

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A Staten Island businessman says he had his world turned upside down after he was accused of being a Genovese mobster who rigged construction deals.

“The smearing of my name — it destroyed my family and clients stayed away,” said Chris Chierchio, 50, of Annadale, in an interview with the Advance.

“I’m 100 percent innocent,” said the father of three. “I just needed God on my side.”

Chierchio, who owns Rci Plbg, Inc. in Midland Beach, was acquitted Tuesday of bid-rigging after a week-long bench trial in Manhattan state Supreme Court.

The Islander pounded the table and kissed his lawyer, Gerald McMahon, after Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus found him not guilty in the alleged construction scheme.

Chierchio and his co-defendant, Long Island resident Anthony Milohnic, were accused of colluding to fix construction bids for a luxury apartment building in Brooklyn, authorities said. Milohnic was also acquitted.

“There was a roar in the courtroom -- I had 25 friends in the room,” Chierchio said.

“Justice triumphed,” McMahon said. “It was a very nice win.”

Last year, the defendants were charged with felony agreement, arrangement, or combination in restraint of trade or competition. Authorities allege the defendants schemed to ensure there was a lack of competition for the plumbing, sprinkler and HVAC bids for a new luxury residential building at 613 Baltic St. in Brooklyn.

The investigation included information from court-authorized wiretaps, the execution of search warrants and the review of financial records.

The South Shore resident said he first heard of the probe after dozens of officers and FBI agents approached him near a church in 2016. They told him he was being investigated for bid-rigging and asked him to cooperate in the case. He was arrested last March.

“I was in deep shock,” he said.

In the press release announcing his arrest, authorities alleged Chierchio was a “reputed soldier” in the Genovese organized crime family. The accusation stemmed from a previous investigation, “Operation Shark Bait,” which led to more than a dozen arrests for enterprise corruption in Brooklyn, authorities said.

“It’s complete nonsense,” he said about his alleged mob ties, adding he did plead guilty to bribing a labor official in 2004 and served 18 months in state prison.

Chierchio said he had hooked up a friend and a client for the Brooklyn project, and the $1.8 million plumbing and sprinkler job was already his. He also invested millions into the project, he said.

“We didn’t bid rig,” he said. “The owner testified that it was my job to lose.”

During the trial, McMahon said the state only played seven wiretap calls, and his client was heard for about four minutes on the recordings.

“The case was always thin," said the lawyer.

Chierchio was also charged with criminal tax fraud for allegedly evading $94,094 in personal income tax, officials said. That case is still pending, he said.

The Attorney General’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

https://www.silive.com/news/2019/01/im-100-percent-innocent-si-man-acquitted-of-bid-rigging-denies-mob-allegation.html

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Aging Genovese gangster pleads guilty to tax evasion

Aging Genovese gangster pleads guilty to tax evasion

  May 21, 2018    Dapper_Don

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An aged mobster pleaded guilty to attempted tax evasion in Brooklyn federal court on Monday for avoiding taxes on $2 million profits from the sale of properties in 2014.
Old-fella Salvatore “Sallie” DeMeo – a reputed Genovese crime family soldier – pleaded guilty for failing to pay the IRS $367,000 he owed on the sale of two Brooklyn properties that he inherited from his father in 1991.
“I attempted to evade capital gain taxes…I was aware I was responsible for paying taxes on these capital gains and I never filed the appropriate returns or made those payments,” the 78-year-old admitted in court as his daughter and two cousins looked on in support.
“I avoided depositing the checks I received from the proceeds of the sale of the property into accounts that were not readily traceable to me as a means to avoid detection,” DeMeo added.
Prosecutors alleged that DeMeo funneled $1 million of the profits through another wiseguy’s plumbing company.
DeMeo’s lawyer, John Meringolo, confirmed the payments were made to Christopher Chierchio’s Staten Island company, RCI Plumbing.
“There was nothing unlawful with that transaction,” Meringolo – who also reps Chierchio – said.
Chierchio is also an alleged Genovese crime family soldier.
Outside of court DeMeo’s lawyer, Gary Farrel, said “we are hoping for a lenient sentence for a man in the golden years of his life.”
The Brooklyn wiseguy could face two-and-a-half years in prison at his Oct. 11 sentencing. He will also be expected to pay $367,673 in restitution to the IRS.
DeMeo’s lawyers said he plans to pay back the money before his sentencing by selling another Brooklyn property he owns.
This is not DeMeo’s first encounter with the law.
He was convicted for stealing nearly $400,000 from a Manalapan, N.J. bank in 1996 and was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison on racketeering charges after spending a year on the lam.
And in another case, the septuagenarian was sentenced in Brooklyn state court to probation last September for running an illegal off-shore gambling ring in Costa Rica.

https://nypost.com/2018/05/21/elderly-mobster-pleads-guilty-to-attempted-tax-evasion/

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Genovese family soldier charged in bid rigging scheme

Genovese family soldier charged in bid rigging scheme

  March 29, 2018    Dapper_Don

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An alleged Staten Island mobster and another man are accused of colluding to fix construction bids for a luxury apartment building in Brooklyn, authorities said.

Christopher Chierchio, 49, a reputed soldier in the Genovese organized crime family, and Anthony Milohnic, 43, of Long Island, have been charged with felony agreement, arrangement, or combination in restraint of trade or competition, the attorney general announced Thursday.

Chierchio also is charged with criminal tax fraud for allegedly evading $94,094 in personal income tax, officials said.

"We have zero tolerance for crooks who try to game the system to line their pockets," said Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman. "We'll continue to work with our partners in law enforcement to crack down on bid-rigging, tax fraud, and all other forms of corruption."

Authorities allege the defendants schemed to ensure there was a lack of competition for the plumbing, sprinkler and HVAC bids for a new luxury residential building at 613 Baltic St. in Brooklyn.

The investigation included information from court-authorized wiretaps, the execution of search warrants and the review of financial records.

The indictments filed in Manhattan Supreme Court were part of a previous joint investigation, "Operation Shark Bait," which led to the indictment and arrest of 13 defendants for enterprise corruption in Brooklyn, authorities said.

The probe was conducted by the Organized Crime Task Force, in collaboration with the New York City Police Department's Criminal Enterprise Investigations Section, the New York City Department of Investigations, the United States Department of Labor - Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations, and the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.

"Bid-rigging undercuts fairness and equality in the contracting process," DOI Commissioner Mark Peters said. "DOI will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to expose and stop this type of pernicious corruption."

http://www.silive.com/news/2018/03/alleged_staten_island_mobster.html

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