GANGLAND NEWS 9/2

[Cheech]

By Jerry Capeci

Waterfront Exec Stares Down A Rat At His Front Door; ILA Foreman Guilty In $500K Fraud

Gang Land Exclusive!The ILA RatOn October 20, Justin Weir, an executive at APM Terminals in Elizabeth, N.J., the largest waterfront terminal on the East Coast, walked out of his front door and saw a ten-inch high black plastic rat staring him in the face. Weir, whose father, and two uncles, are longshoremen, got the message. He was on his way to testify at the trial of his company's general foreman, Paul Moe, who stood accused of collecting much of his astonishing $500,000 in salary through fraud.

It wasn't the only attempt at intimidation that marked Moe's trial, which ended this week with a speedy conviction by the jury. When two members of the International Longshoremen's Association took the stand to offer their own testimony against Moe, they had to face the president of their union, Harold Daggett, along with his son Dennis, who heads their union local, ILA Local 1804-1. Both men sat in the courtroom shaking their heads at the witnesses.

The rank and file union members, with a combined 74 years on the waterfront, got that message as well. And while they tried their best to adhere to it, they ultimately admitted helping Moe steal most of the half-million dollars in salary that he hauled in over an 18-month period.

On Tuesday, Halloween eve, a mostly blue-collar jury of nine men and three women sent their own message, voting to find Moe guilty of fraud after only two hours of deliberation — without ever hearing about the plastic rat that someone had left outside the home of a key witness.

Paul MoeBefore Weir took the stand, prosecutors Vincent (Grady) O'Malley and Anthony Moscato pushed Judge Katharine Hayden to permit Weir to tell the jury about the rat, arguing that it was a clear effort by Moe's supporters to intimidate their witness.

Gerald McMahon, Moe's attorney, objected strenuously. He argued it would be "enormously prejudicial to my client to suggest that we are attempting to strong arm and intimidate and bully a witness" since there was "no showing" that Moe or anyone connected to him had anything to do with it.

McMahon, Gang Land's Defense Lawyer of the Year in 2012, won that argument, and several others he had with O'Malley, last year's Prosecutor of the Year, during the two-week trial. But in the end, O'Malley and his team of Waterfront Commission investigators and U.S. Department of Labor agents won a smashing victory when Moe was found guilty of all 14 counts of wire fraud for stealing most of his mammoth salary from September of 2015 to March of 2017.

Harold DaggettOn the witness stand, Weir, APM's Director of Maintenance and Repair, testified that Moe enjoyed a "special package" that called for him to be paid for all 168 hours of every week. But like other foremen with similar "special packages," he was entitled to that full $9330 weekly salary only if he worked 40 hours during the week, he said.

Under cross-examination by McMahon, Weir acknowledged that he never told Moe about his obligation to work the 40 hours a week in order to earn his salary. Instead, he referred to union contract rules stating that employees with "special packages" are required to work 40 hours each week and obliged to be "on call" and available to work if an emergency arose.

Weir also testified that Moe would not be considered "on call" if he were "in Florida for a week," as he was in 2015 from September 28 through October 4, along with a "close friend" named Maribel Rengifo.

McMahon had fought successfully to preclude testimony by Rengifo, who met Moe in 2003 when she was a barmaid at the Algarve Restaurant in Elizabeth. Their long "close friendship" helped win her a union job as a $165,000-a-year checker in 2014. The defense lawyer alleged that the government's intention to use her as a witness was an attempt to smear his client as a scoundrel who was "having an extra-marital affair" with a woman co-worker.

Dennis Daggett"Informing the jury that Mr. Moe was in a motel and in the state of Florida with a woman other than his wife" would be an "unfair prejudice" against his client, McMahon wrote in a motion to Judge Hayden.

The price of keeping Moe's close friend Maribel off the stand, however, was a stipulation concerning Rengifo's role in the case, one that left little to the imagination about their relationship, and which seemed to back up Weir's testimony, and other government evidence, including numerous surveillance pictures that were shown to the jury.

The following is only a portion of what prosecutor Moscato told jurors Rengifo would have stated if she had been called to testify at trial.

"Between August 31, 2015 and April 2, 2017, I spent many days, during business hours with defendant Moe at various locations that were off the Port. On or about September 4, 2015, I was with defendant Moe at a location in Avenel, New Jersey, and we were not conducting business on behalf of APM."

Paul Moe & Maribel Rengifo"From in or about September 25, 2015 to October 3, 2015, defendant Moe and I traveled by car to Daytona, Florida. Defendant Moe and I stopped in Virginia Beach, Virginia on the way to Daytona Beach, Florida. Defendant Moe and I were not conducting any business on behalf of APM during this trip to Daytona Beach, Florida."

Before leaving for Florida, the stipulation continued, Rengifo submitted the "required" forms to the New York Shipping Association so she could receive her vacation pay.

The stipulation also stated: "On or about March 29, 2017, defendant Moe and I spent many hours during the day at my residence in Port Monmouth, New Jersey, and we were not conducting business on behalf of APM."

On the day that ILA president Daggett, and his son Dennis came to court, the two longshoremen who had agreed to cooperate and finger Moe for the government told the jury under questioning by McMahon that they really didn't know that Moe wasn't entitled to his full salary even though he showed up at work only a few hours each week.

But when confronted with their grand jury testimony by O'Malley, each reluctantly conceded that what they had told the grand jury was accurate: that Moe "rarely" showed up for work and that, like him, they were foremen with "special package" agreements and had to work 40 hours a week to earn their built in overtime. And, they testified, they didn't get their built-in overtime when they went on vacation.

Moe, 66, who turned down a plea deal with a recommended sentence between 12 and 18 months, faces about four years in prison now that he's been convicted at trial.

McMahon told Gang Land yesterday that he is confident that Moe's conspiracy conviction will be tossed because the government failed to prove that Moe conspired with either of the cooperating witnesses. He's also "cautiously optimistic" that 11 of the 13 fraud counts will be dismissed as well. But two counts involving vacations, including the one to Florida with the former bar maid, however, may be hard to beat, the star attorney acknowledged.

Accused Bank Burglar Behind Bars For Assaulting His Snitch Of A Girlfriend

Charles KerriganHe enjoyed a year of freedom as he awaited trial for two sensational multimillion-dollar bank heists. But mob associate Charles (Duke) Kerrigan is behind bars today, charged with assaulting and threatening to kill his live-in girlfriend and her nine-year-old son because she cooperated with the feds against him, Gang Land has learned.

Kerrigan was arrested shortly after midnight on October 16. He was charged with punching and choking Heather Kornhaber at their Bergen Beach, Brooklyn apartment. Despite the brutal attack on his girlfriend, Kerrigan's bail in state court on the charge was a lowly $2,000. Before he could be released, however, Manhattan federal prosecutor Benet Kearney jumped into action. She cited Kerrigan's domestic violence arrest, and Judge Katherine Forrest revoked his bail on his federal case.

Kerrigan, 42, is charged with two bank heists last year that allegedly netted him and three co-defendants some $5 million in cash and other valuables. Forrest, who announced that she would remand defendants who violated their bail restrictions when she took over the case in September, quickly made good on her threat when he was cited for the assault.

Heather KornhaberAlong with his three cohorts, who remain free on bail, Kerrigan is slated for trial in January for the daring weekend-long heists in which the enterprising quartet got $330,000 from a bank vault in Borough Park in April of 2016. The foursome scored another $4.6 million in cash and valuables the following month from the vault and safe deposit boxes from a bank in Rego Park, Queens.

In the domestic violence case, assistant Brooklyn district attorney Mary Doherty stated in an arrest complaint that Kerrigan choked Kornhaber twice in front of her son Justin and threw her to the floor. He then "straddled" her, punched her in the face, bloodied her nose, and "did repeatedly knee (her) in the side and threaten to kill" the 39-year-old woman and her son.

Kornhaber suffered numerous cuts, bruises and swelling to her face, neck and scalp that required her to be rushed to a local hospital, where she was treated and released, Doherty wrote.

On Monday, federal prosecutors Kearney and David Denton filed an updated indictment charging Kerrigan with the late-night beating "to retaliate against Kornhaber for information (she) provided to law enforcement officers" about the two heists. The single federal assault charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years; six state charges against Kerrigan, all misdemeanors, which include assault, menacing, and endangering the welfare of a child, carry maximum sentences of one year or less.

Roman KitroserThe new indictment against Kerrigan confirms Gang Land's exclusive report in July that Kornhaber, who was charged last December with receiving "money, valuables and other items" from the Rego Park haul, was cooperating against Duke, his brother Christopher, and their codefendants.

The case is filled with enough intriguing plot twists and turns to make a Stephen King novel.

Before the Rego Park heist, according to court documents obtained by Gang Land, Kerrigan told Kornhaber to alert the father of her son, Luchese associate Roman (The Jew) Kitroser, that Duke was coming into cash very soon and would help him pay for his appeals lawyer. Kitroser is currently serving 25 years for drug dealing.

Kornhaber isn't the first paramour of an accused bank burglar to become a snitch.

The girlfriend of accused ringleader, Michael Mazzara, logged that distinction when she tipped the feds to Kornhaber's involvement in the bank burglaries, according to court records. Mazzara's former sweetheart also alerted the feds to hiding places for the stolen loot that he and Kerrigan allegedly maintained in the Gravesend, Brooklyn home where both men lived at the time.

Benet Kearney The women have helped authorities recover some cash and collectors' items — including jewelry, baseball cards, gold and silver, and valuable "loose coins dating principally from the 19th century," according to an FBI affidavit. Most of the stolen money and treasured goods, however, is still missing.

Authorities also recovered $1.4 million in a duffel bag at the home of the fourth defendant awaiting trial in the case, Jonathan Mascuzzio, when they arrested him back in July of 2016.

Last week, in a 35-page decision, Judge Forrest upheld the legality of video tapes that represent the government's key evidence in the case. The tapes were recorded by a camera that the NYPD installed on a utility pole across the street from Mazzara's home at 1849 West 10th street. The camera caught the four defendants on days they were allegedly preparing for — and returning from — the bank heists.

Forrest wrote that because the camera recorded everything for 21 months, it raised "complex and difficult questions" regarding "what constitutes a 'reasonable' expectation of privacy in an increasingly digital age." The judge ruled that since the camera did not record any activity inside Mazzara's home, however, it did not violate privacy restrictions guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment.

Frankie Loc Fires Another Long Shot At Gotti Trial Judge I. Leo Glasser

Frank LocascioAn appeals court took very little time last month — two days — to dismiss a long-shot but intriguing legal challenge to the verdict in the 1992 trial of late Mafia boss John Gotti.

Gotti codefendant Frank (Frankie Loc) Locascio had sought a new trial on the grounds that trial Judge I. Leo Glasser had a conflict of interest and should have recused himself. The conflict, Locascio's lawyer maintains, stems from the fact that Glasser's son was at the time a federal prosecutor in an office that had charged other Gambino mobsters with the same crime as Frankie Loc.

Having failed to succeed, appeals specialist Harlan Protass took the try, try again response to the unanimous rejection of his argument by the appeals court. He quickly petitioned the three-judge 2d Circuit Court of Appeals panel to reconsider their ruling, arguing that the judges had "incorrectly interpreted and incorrectly applied" a 2003 ruling that the same appeals court had made in upholding a drug conviction.

That case, Protass wrote, involved a second appeal that a Bonanno associate named Alfred Bottone had made to the 2d Circuit about the conviction and sentence he got for a 1994 drug conviction, which the appeals court had affirmed the first time around.

Judge I. Leo GlasserLocascio's motion "did not challenge or question this Court's decision affirming his conviction" and "does not ask this Court to revisit or question any prior decision or ruling by this or any other court," wrote Protass, using italicized words to stress the points the lawyer obviously believes that the court ignored in its denial last month.

His client's motion, wrote Protass, is "based on new information and arguments that have never before been presented to, considered or adjudicated by any court. In particular, Mr. Locascio's motion is based on Judge Glasser's failure to recuse himself" due to a "newly discovered" conflict of interest that his client had uncovered.

"Judge Glasser was laboring under (and should have disqualified himself because of) an appearance of partiality arising from his son's work as an assistant United States attorney in an office of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut responsible for investigating and bringing cases overlapping with the government's case against Mr. Locascio," wrote Protass.

According to his original 242-page filing, Locascio "discovered" that Glasser's son James was a federal prosecutor in the Nutmeg state from 1988 until 1992 while doing "legal research" in a prison library. The aging mobster noticed that someone named James Glasser was a federal prosecutor and idly wondered if he was related to the judge and if it could undermine his conviction.

Harlan ProtassAfter investigating the facts of the case, and doing his own legal research for about 18 months, Protass thought so as well. And he still does.

The Bottone ruling "is silent on the appropriate disposition of a motion" like Frankie Loc's "that does not challenge or question the merits of a prior decision," wrote Protass, who "respectfully" asked the court to "reconsider its decision" and toss Locascio's conviction, or in the alternative, order a hearing — before a different judge — on whether Glasser should have recused himself.

As you might expect, the government thinks Protass is all wet, that the appeals panel made the right decision on Locascio, and that 85-year-old Frankie Loc should continue serving his life sentence at a prison hospital in Massachusetts where he is currently housed — as long as he can. The feds didn't say this but if you looked closely between the lines they also sent an unwritten message that Frankie Loc should stop wasting his time in the prison library.

[bronx]

Thanks Cheech,

[NYNighthawk]

Frankie Loc may have to flip at this point

[bronx]

never ever pure cosa nostra

[Cheech]

Frankie Loc may have to flip at this point

flip on who? who is selling cigarettes in the prison hospital?

[SonnyBlackstein]

Frankie Loc may have to flip at this point

flip on who? who is selling cigarettes in the prison hospital?

Thanks for the post Cheech.

[Garbageman]

"On or about September 4, 2015, I was with defendant Moe at a location in Avenel, New Jersey, and we were not conducting business on behalf of APM"

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, the only establishment worthy of such debauchery... The world famous... Loop Inn
http://loopinn.com/

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[Rocco]

"On or about September 4, 2015, I was with defendant Moe at a location in Avenel, New Jersey, and we were not conducting business on behalf of APM"

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, the only establishment worthy of such debauchery... The world famous... Loop Inn
http://loopinn.com/

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

I'll take the 4 hour rate and the room with the stripper pole please....

[Garbageman]

"On or about September 4, 2015, I was with defendant Moe at a location in Avenel, New Jersey, and we were not conducting business on behalf of APM"

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, the only establishment worthy of such debauchery... The world famous... Loop Inn
http://loopinn.com/

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

I'll take the 4 hour rate and the room with the stripper pole please....

Lol, the heart shaped tubs, though

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[Wiseguy]

What a lazy bastard. Because of a ridiculous contract where he's never off the clock, he gets paid a half million a year if he just puts in the standard 40 hours a week. But he couldn't even do that. Treated it like any no-show job.

[TommyNoto]

Can't believe they have that shit in the US , the love motels lol

That's a straight Rio De Jenerio thing where it's 6 people to a 3 room shack and the only place for a proper bang is an hour in one of these hotels . Bringing up memories as I spent a few hours in Rio with a smoking hot girl .

Any man that hasn't been to Rio must do so at least in and check that box on what it feels like to be a smoking hot girl as the love for Americans is borderline insane