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Major League Baseball lurched out of an embarrassing All-Star break last week, stumbling inexorably toward another strike. Football training camps don't open until the end of this month. Hockey and basketball mercifully wound down in June.
But in the increasingly court-dominated world of Laborers Local 91, lawyer-ball season is in full swing.
Deposed boss Michael "Butch" Quarcini will be looking for new representation if a federal judge grants a motion by prosecutors to disqualify Paul Cambria as Quarcini's defense attorney. Former Local 91 vice president Salvatore Bertino, his son Anthony, and Patrick Ciccarelli still await trial on charges stemming from a November altercation with a Department of Transportation worker at a Williams Road job site.
And all the lawyering in the world isn't going to restore Quarcini, the elder Bertino or ex-president Mark Congi -- all indicted on multiple federal felony counts in May -- to power any time soon, after Laborers International Union of North America upheld the trusteeship imposed after the arrests of 14 officers and members of Local 91.
Sources close to the federal case against 14 officers and members of Laborers Local 91 expect U.S. Magistrate Judge Leslie Foschio to decide this week whether to disqualify Cambria as counsel for former business manager and alleged racketeer/extortionist Quarcini, due to multiple conflicts of interest alleged by prosecutors.
Assistant U.S. Attorney William Hochul maintains that Cambria's representation of Quarcini constitutes a conflict of interest, since the firm of Lipsitz, Green, Fahringer, Roll, Salisbury and Cambria has represented Local 91 on numerous occasions over the years, as well as other potential government witnesses.
Cambria repeated his boast that the feds are "afraid of us" to reporters after a hearing on the matter last month, while Carol Heckman, the lawyer's attorney, argued that Local 91 is on the side of the defendants and is no longer represented by Cambria's firm. But a letter from still another Buffalo lawyer, John Curran, offered evidence to the contrary that could prove fatal to Quarcini's hopes of being represented by one of the area's most prominent defense attorneys.
In a letter filed as part of the prosecution's response to Quarcini's opposition to disqualifying Cambria, Curran (general executive board attorney for Laborers International Union of North America in that organization's internal investigation of Local 91) listed the reasons LIUNA "supports the government's position in the Motion to Disqualify."
Curran cited LIUNA's trusteeship of Local 91 in wake of May's indictments as grounds to make such a decision on behalf of the union and contradicted Heckman's claim that there was no potential conflict in Cambria's representation of Quarcini.
"According to the records provided to us, Lipsitz, Green continues to represent Laborers Local 91 as it has for many years," Curran said.
Curran included correspondence between the law firm and Vincent R. Masino, the appointed trustee of Local 91, that reaffirms Lipsitz, Green's representation of the local in the ongoing case of Sevenson v. Local 91 at a rate of $130 per hour. Also, Local 91 paid the firm a semi-annual retainer of $2,500 in May for services as general counsel.
The letter goes on to list 11 criminal or civil matters in which the firm represented Local 91. "It appears that each one of these matters was billed to and paid by Laborers Local 91," Curran wrote. "We also believe that some of these invoices may relate to incidents which are referred to ... in the indictment. ... To the extent Lipsitz, Green's representation of Laborers Local 91 in these matters has furnished that firm with confidential information belonging to Local 91, it should not be used on behalf of any client other than Local 91."
The government's response also included an affidavit from David Fay, former business representative of Local 280 of the Carpenters Millwright Union. While Cambria maintains that he's never represented Fay, the affidavit reads, "The Lipsitz, Green law firm has represented my union for many years. In that time period, and in my capacity as the principal union officer for Local 280, I have had innumerable conversations and meetings with members of the ... law firm, most often Eugene Salisbury, on a wide variety of matters ... I consider myself to have an attorney/client relationship with the Lipsitz, Green law firm and Eugene Salisbury."
Fay said he objected "to having a member of the Lipsitz, Green law firm representing a defendant at any trial that I may testify in on behalf of the Government or an opposing party."
Fay is expected to testify in United States v. Congi, et al. (so named for former Local 91 President Mark Congi, who faces five felony counts).
"I am aware that members of Laborers Local 91, to include the defendants, have injured, attempted to injure, and engaged in criminal acts directed against members of my union, and that some of these acts are included in the Congi case," the affidavit reads. "Accordingly, I would consider any representation by the Lipsitz, Green law firm of any of the defendants in the Congi case to be adverse to my own and my own union's interests."
Wheatfield Town Judge Robert Cliffe still hasn't been able to set a date for the trial of the three Local 91 members charged with harassment last year.
After his second attempt to get the charges dismissed failed, Angelo Musitano, attorney for the three defendants, moved last week to subpoena the personnel records of the DOT employee involved, who was directing traffic at the Williams Road site when he was attacked by Bertino,
Bertino and Ciccarelli, according to a state police report.
Wheatfield Town Prosecutor Erin DeLabio opposed Musitano's motion, which Cliffe is expected to rule on this week.
"We're arguing that he's not allowed that information," said DeLabio, calling the DOT employee's work history "irrelevant."
One pre-trial motion Musitano, who also represents Salvatore Bertino on the federal charges, won't be able to make is that his clients were denied a speedy trial.
"We're done with our motions," DeLabio said. "We've been declared ready for trial for the last couple of months."
The prosecution plans to call two witnesses, in addition to the alleged victim, DeLabio said, when the case finally comes to trial.
Anyone who witnessed the Nov. 28 incident and wants to come forward can contact the Niagara County District Attorney's Office at 439-7085 or Wheatfield Town Hall at 694-6440.
LIUNA Hearing Officer Peter F. Vaira cited $97,000 in supposedly unused vacation time paid out to Quarcini in ruling that the emergency trusteeship enacted after the May indictments should remain in place for at least another 18 months.
"The GEB Attorney submitted evidence that Quarcini received $97,000 in unused vacation pay in late 2000," Vaira wrote in his July 2 decision. "Quarcini was entitled to 60 vacation days per year. His salary was $170,000 per year, or approximately $10,000 per month. The $97,000 payment indicated that Quarcini neither took vacation for nearly five years nor received payment for unused vacation during that time. However, neither the schedule nor the payment, reflecting five years of unused vacation time and uncollected vacation pay, is credible."
Vaira also listed 23 other reasons for retaining the trusteeship, ranging from the federal allegations of violence, extortion and racketeering to Local 91's payment of legal fees for members charged with job-site violence.
He also noted the refusal of Cheryl Cicero, Quarcini's daughter and, in her former role as secretary/treasurer, the keeper of vacation-time and other records, to testify at last month's LIUNA hearing in his decision.
"Cheryl Cicero ... who voluntarily attended the trusteeship hearing, was called to testify by the GEB Attorney," Vaira wrote. "The GEB Attorney stated that he intended to question Ms. Cicero on the Executive Board's knowledge regarding the events reported in newspapers and included in the indictment. Ms. Cicero declined to testify, citing health and personal reasons."
Cicero was also removed from her position as an officer of Local 91 under the trusteeship, though she continued working at the Seneca Avenue union hall on a contractual basis during the transition period.
Curran confirmed last Friday that a LIUNA investigation continues into both the financial dealings and job-site conduct of Local 91 members, including former officers and non-officers. That formal disciplinary process could yield further suspensions or banishment from the union. LIUNA's investigation into Buffalo's Local 210 in 1995 led to the expulsion of more than 80 members.
"We're going to take it where it leads us," Curran said of the Local 91 probe.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | July 16 2002 |