Genovese soldier charged in bid-rigging scheme

[Wiseguy]

Alleged Genovese soldier charged in bid-rigging scheme, authorities say
By Mira Wasse
March 29, 2018


STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- 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/alle ... bster.html

[Wiseguy]

Press release and indictment
https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/ag-schn ... defendants


Back in 2003, Chierchio was involved in a labor bribery case involving the Plumbers Union.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Great stuff WG.

Appreciated.

[TommyNoto]

Geez they are really struggling to make major cases

I don’t want to belittle LE efforts but wire taps and all the other resources for an HVAC job and not reporting $95k in income is almost insane . The 10+ agents/ prosecutors could of been better used in about a million more important cases. They use all these resources for this and Wells Fargo barely got a sniff and in fact it was the LA Times article that brought them down .

Another huge bid rigging case scheme involved big private equity companies bid rigging to cheat out land owners on their natural gas or oil fracking cuts by colluding to under cut them and F the common land owner .

Something is way off with LE if this nickle and dime case gets so much attention and allocation of resources when huge billion dollar scams of every day people don’t even get a sniff unless a newspaper breaks a story .

Good find though WG lol

[SonnyBlackstein]

Geez they are really struggling to make major cases

I don’t want to belittle LE efforts but wire taps and all the other resources for an HVAC job and not reporting $95k in income is almost insane . The 10+ agents/ prosecutors could of been better used in about a million more important cases. They use all these resources for this and Wells Fargo barely got a sniff and in fact it was the LA Times article that brought them down .

Another huge bid rigging case scheme involved big private equity companies bid rigging to cheat out land owners on their natural gas or oil fracking cuts by colluding to under cut them and F the common land owner .

Something is way off with LE if this nickle and dime case gets so much attention and allocation of resources when huge billion dollar scams of every day people don’t even get a sniff unless a newspaper breaks a story .

Good find though WG lol

Completely agree. It should be mandatory to disclose LE expenditure at trial.
Pretty soon LE would adjust its priorities.

[Villain]

Geez they are really struggling to make major cases

I don’t want to belittle LE efforts but wire taps and all the other resources for an HVAC job and not reporting $95k in income is almost insane . The 10+ agents/ prosecutors could of been better used in about a million more important cases. They use all these resources for this and Wells Fargo barely got a sniff and in fact it was the LA Times article that brought them down .

Another huge bid rigging case scheme involved big private equity companies bid rigging to cheat out land owners on their natural gas or oil fracking cuts by colluding to under cut them and F the common land owner .

Something is way off with LE if this nickle and dime case gets so much attention and allocation of resources when huge billion dollar scams of every day people don’t even get a sniff unless a newspaper breaks a story .

Good find though WG lol

Completely agree. It should be mandatory to disclose LE expenditure at trial.
Pretty soon LE would adjust its priorities.

Too many "important" people are involved in the big cases....just my two cents

[SILENT PARTNERZ]

Agree with the above posts. "The 10+ agents/ prosecutors could of been better used in about a million more important cases."
So true:They let crazy teenagers shoot up schools in order to further the cause to remove our 2nd Ammendment rights, but go out
of the way to stop these guys in SI/Bklyn. Priorities are screwed up bad.