Michael "Butch" Quarcini died on July 12, but the federal prosecution of 13 other officers and members of the union he dominated for nearly four decades lives on.
Federal prosecutors said their case against the longtime business manager of Laborers Local 91 isn't necessarily over, either.
Under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations statute, any material gains stemming from violations of the law are subject to forfeiture upon conviction. Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Wydysh said prosecutors are looking into whether RICO permits them to go after the portions of Quarcini's estate consisting of proceeds from the "criminal enterprise" they allege Local 91 became under his leadership.
"We're reviewing that and checking out the status of the law," said Wydysh, who took over as lead prosecutor after William Hochul Jr. was assigned to head the Lackawanna Six prosecution.
There's no uncertainty regarding the rest of the defendants, however.
"Absolutely none," Wydysh said, when asked what impact Quarcini's death would have on the case. "We're still proceeding to trial."
Following Quarcini's death, Local 91 member Mark Zito told the Niagara Gazette that Quarcini was guilty only of loving his union members.
Apparently, that affection wasn't going to extend to court. Quarcini had filed unsuccessful motions seeking a quick trial, and court papers indicated his defense hinged on the idea that the other defendants had acted without his knowledge or consent.
Wydysh refuted allegations by some Quarcini supporters that the elaborate indictments against more than a dozen members of his union were part of some sort of "Get Butch" effort.
"The grand jury found sufficient evidence that 13 other people engaged in various crimes, including extortion," Wydysh said. "The fact that Mr. Quarcini passed away doesn't absolve them of that."
Court observers said Quarcini's lawyer, high-profile defense attorney Paul Cambria, may stay on the case, representing former Local 91 President Mark Congi. Cambria, who did not appear at a status hearing in Buffalo on Friday, had not filed the paperwork necessary to switch clients as of press time, according to a court clerk.
Cambria, whose client list has included "Hustler" magazine publisher Larry Flynt, convicted doctor-killer James Charles Kopp and several highly publicized accused murderers in the Buffalo area, doesn't come cheap. Congi would have to come up with Cambria's fee on his own, since the Laborers International Union of North America constitution forbids union money from being spent on the defense of members charged in criminal cases.
Quarcini's passing leaves Congi as the highest-ranking former Local 91 officer under indictment. The ex-president has been lead defendant in the case since it began in May, 2002. Last month, prosecutors charged Congi with Hobbs Act extortion and interstate transportation in aid of racketeering, bringing the total number of felony counts facing him to 11.
The same new charges, emanating from an October, 2002 story in the Niagara Falls Reporter, were levied against Joel Cicero, another Local 91 official and Quarcini's son-in-law. Colorado businessman Joe Aragon told the Reporter, and subsequently federal prosecutors, that he was shaken down by Congi and Cicero, then a member of the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission, during construction of a Pizza Hut-Taco Bell restaurant on the American side of the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge during the spring of 2002.
Aragon said Congi and Cicero demanded jobs on the construction project, threatening trouble on the site and a boycott if their wishes weren't satisfied.
"I thought I was in a James Cagney movie," Aragon said.
During their meeting at the Local 91 union hall on Seneca Avenue, Aragon said, "Cicero was sitting in this big chair like a judge or something. Mark Congi told me, 'We never forget and you'll never get away from us.'"
After he refused to hire more than one Local 91 member, Aragon said one of his employees was hit by a car and the job site was vandalized. The restaurant closed within months, the only one of 47 similar facilities built by Aragon's company, ProServe Corp., to fail.
Gov. George Pataki removed Cicero from the Bridge Commission last winter, after Aragon's allegations surfaced.
The interstate transportation charge "means that Congi and Cicero caused an employee of ProServe Corp. to travel from Denver to the Western District with the intent to commit extortion," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett Harvey, another federal prosecutor.
The complex case against the 14 Local 91 members continues to proceed slowly. Four defendants charged with a single felony count sought separate trials last fall, but Magistrate Judge Leslie Foscio dismissed those motions, a decision recently upheld by Judge Richard Arcara, slated to preside over the trial.
Arcara is scheduled to hear oral arguments Aug. 12 on a defense motion to dismiss the RICO charges. Those motions cite a recent Supreme Court decision which negated RICO charges against anti-abortion protesters, saying that the activists didn't profit from their activities.
Prosecutors plan to argue that the defendants in the Local 91 case did gain material benefits from the activities cited in the indictment, which range from verbal threats to property damage to firebombing a house where two non-union workers were living.
Should Arcara rule for the prosecution, another status hearing is scheduled for Aug. 21. Wydysh said he doesn't expect the trial to begin until spring of 2004, due mainly to the problems inherent in coordinating the calendars of 14 separate defense attorneys.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | July 29 2003 |