Earlier DeCavalcante bust this year

[Wiseguy]

I had seen this case earlier but wasn't aware of the DeCavalcante connection until somebody (gangsterreport) on another forum posted the earlier article below, assuming it's the same guy. Castaldo is on the NJ charts.


Two New Jersey Men Charged in Scheme to Extort Thousands of Dollars from Hudson County Project

U.S. Attorney’s Office
February 11, 2015

District of New Jersey
(973) 645-2888

NEWARK, NJ—Two New Jersey men are in FBI custody today on charges arising from a scheme to extort thousands of dollars in corrupt payments in connection with arranging approvals to provide landfill materials for a Hudson County Improvement Authority project, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Gerard Pica, 65, of Middletown, New Jersey, and James Castaldo, 59, of Beachwood, New Jersey, were indicted by a federal grand jury Feb. 10, 2015, and each charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right affecting interstate commerce, two counts of extortion under color of official right affecting interstate commerce, and two counts of accepting and agreeing to accept corrupt payments. All the charges are related to Gerard Pica’s employment at the Hudson County Improvement Authority (HCIA). They are scheduled to appear this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Steven C. Mannion in Newark federal court.

According to the documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

The HCIA was overseeing the construction of a nine-hole public golf course located at Lincoln Park West in Jersey City, New Jersey (the “LPW project”). As part of its construction, the LPW project required several hundred thousand cubic yards of soil, fill material and crushed stone to be incorporated into the site, as well as to serve as road bedding during the construction of the golf course. As the overseer of the LPW project, one of the functions of the HCIA—either directly or through a designated contractor—was to serve as a gatekeeper for any material to be delivered to the LPW site. It was the HCIA’s responsibility to solicit, evaluate and decide which contractors’ proposals to accept for the provision of soil and fill material for the LPW project.

From at least August 2010 to November 2011, Pica and Castaldo and others schemed to obtain payments from certain contractors in exchange for Pica and another individual using their influence over the HCIA on two matters. Within the HCIA, an individual referred to in the indictment as “Employee 1” had authority and discretion over matters involving the selection of, and the administration of the conduct of, contractors seeking to deliver soil and fill material to the LPW project site. As a result of Pica’s employment with the HCIA and his association with Employee 1, Pica had the ability to influence the HCIA’s decisions regarding the selection of contractors to provide soil and fill material to the LPW project.

The first three counts of the indictment involve an alleged scheme by Pica and Castaldo to obtain corrupt payments from a person listed in the indictment as “Individual 1,” who was an associate of Pica and the owner of an environmental consulting firm. Pica and Castaldo agreed to obtain payments from Individual 1 to be shared among Pica, Castaldo and Employee 1 in exchange for Pica and Employee 1 using their authority and influence at the HCIA to ensure that Individual 1 and Individual 1’s company received approval to provide soil and fill material for the LPW project, at a certain per ton price to be paid by Individual 1 to the HCIA. It was part of the agreement that Individual 1 would pay Castaldo $3 per ton of fill and soil material delivered to the site for the benefit of Pica, Castaldo and Employee 1.

In Counts Four through Six of the indictment, Pica and Castaldo arranged to obtain corrupt payments from a person referred to in the indictment as Individual 3, the owner of a recycling business in Bayonne, New Jersey. Pica and Castaldo agreed to obtain payments from Individual 3 to be shared among Pica, Castaldo, and Employee 1 in exchange for Pica and Employee 1 again using their authority and influence at the HCIA to ensure that Individual 3 and Individual 3’s company received approval to provide fill materials, including crushed stone, for the LPW project, at a certain per cubic yard price to be paid by Individual 3 to the HCIA. It was part of the arrangement that Individual 3 would pay Castaldo $2 per cubic yard of fill and soil material delivered to the site for the benefit of Pica, Castaldo and Employee 1.

Counts One, Two, Four and Five of the indictment carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison; Counts Three and Six carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. The maximum fines for all of the violations are $250,000 or twice the gain or loss resulting from the offense.

The indictment also seeks forfeiture of $53,861 in connection with the commission of the offenses charge in the indictment.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents from the FBI, under direction of Special Agent in Charge Richard M. Frankel in Newark and special agents with the N.J. State Commission of Investigation, under the direction of Executive Director Philip J. Degnan, for the investigation leading to the charges.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys David L. Foster and Mark McCarren of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Special Prosecutions Division in Newark.

https://m.fbi.gov/#https://www.fbi.gov/ ... ty-project


http://m.nydailynews.com/archives/news/ ... e-1.788799

[TommyGambino]

Has Castaldo been sentenced?

[Pogo The Clown]

Thanks for finding this Wiseguy. Castaldo is a made member. I wonder if Gerard Pica is as well.


Pogo

[Rocco]

I think his father was James B Castaldo see below.:
Defendant JAMES B. CASTALDO was, from the time of its being granted a charter in 1987 to in or about September, 1992, the business manager of LIUNA Local 1030, Elizabeth, New Jersey. At the time Local 1030 was chartered in 1987, James B. Castaldo was installed in his position as business manager of LIUNA Local 1030 at the behest of the Defendant JOHN RIGGI. On May 26, 1993, in the case of United States v James Gallo et al , No. CR 92-508-1, in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, James B. Castaldo pled guilty to two counts of demanding bribes from employers of members of Local 1030, of which Castaldo was the business manager, in exchange for labor peace and the use of non-union labor, as alleged in Racketeering Acts Nos. 62 and 63 below.

On September 21, 1993, Castaldo was sentenced to serve eighteen months in prison. (See attached Exhibit 20) Castaldo is an associate of the DeCavalcante LCN family and was controlled by JOHN RIGGI, even after the time JOHN RIGGI entered prison in 1990. Castaldo was replaced as business manager of Local 1230 by Giuseppe Schifilliti, who, in August 1992, was seen associating with a leader of the DeCavalcante LCN family. Castaldo is currently serving his sentence.

[Jimmy_the_gent]

James Castaldo

[SonnyBlackstein]

This guy looks more likely to fly a plane into a building than Sunday Gravy eye tai.
Spell check to see if 'Castaldo' doesn't trf to 'Mohammed'.


Little thurs night levity for the Blankhanders

Thanks for the post. Interesting.

[Rocco]

Thanks for finding this Wiseguy. Castaldo is a made member. I wonder if Gerard Pica is as well.


Pogo

James B Castaldo and this James Castaldo the same guy..? I'm thinking he would be a little young to hold those position of top Business Manager for the local in 1987..? I am thinking its his father...no?

[Pogo The Clown]

This is James B (unless there are two of them).


http://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/file/791886/download


Pogo

[Pogo The Clown]

Interesting that Castaldo was busted back in 1998 for trying to hire Russian mobsters to whack his secretary.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MAFIOSO TRIED TO HIRE RUSSIAN FOR HIT - FEDS

BY Greg B. Smith / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS / Thursday, June 18, 1998


In an unusual meeting of the mobs, a member of the Mafia tried to hire a Russian gangster to assassinate his personal secretary at her Staten Island home, prosecutors alleged yesterday. James Castaldo, a reputed member of the New Jersey-based DeCavalcante crime family, allegedly set up the hit with an unnamed member of Russian organized crime, unaware that the man was cooperating with the FBI. During a June 1 meeting in Manhattan, Castaldo asked the Russian gangster to murder his secretary, who was threatening to expose his illegal business dealings, Manhattan U.

S. Attorney Mary Jo White said yesterday. Two weeks ago, they met in Staten Island, with the Russian who already faced federal fraud and counterfeiting charges wearing a hidden recording device. "The . . . broad's gotta go," Castaldo was recorded saying. "If she goes to the FBI on me, I'm f----d. 'Cause I ain't got the money to fight the case.

" Castaldo implied that Italian and Russian mobsters had worked together in the past, doing "favors" for one another. When the Russian said he had a friend who would do the job for $20,000, Castaldo asked if the friend could do the job as a "favor.

" "There is no favor for this s--t," the Russian answered. "We've done it all our lives," Castaldo said. "If you guys need a favor, we do it for you. If we need a favor, you do it for us, so they can't trace it back.

" Castaldo then drove to the secretary's home, pointed out the car she drove and gave the Russian her phone number. He insisted that the job not be "messy.

" "I got a couple of guys that'll do it, but they're messy," he complained. "They'll just come over here and pop her in the driveway and leave her there. I can't do that, you know what I mean? . . . She's gotta disappear and never be found.

" Yesterday, Castaldo was held pending bail application later this week. He faces up to 20 years in prison on charges of solicitation to commit murder.

[toto]

Posted by Felice earlier this year. Trying to identify. Now we can identify as James Castaldo.

[B.]

Posted by Felice earlier this year. Trying to identify. Now we can identify as James Castaldo.

Good eye, brother!