Third Street business owners are concerned about plans by businessman Alan Tsui to open a massage parlor in a vacant storefront there, and question the involvement of disgraced former city councilman and convicted felon Michael Gawel in the enterprise.
In November, Tsui received a ruling from the Zoning Board of Appeals that would allow him to open a massage parlor at 446 Third St. Subsequently, Gawel turned up at a meeting of the South End Business Association as Tsui's representative, according to Frank Smith, owner of Third Street Liquors.
"There's already a red-light district out by the boulevard, and if they want to have a massage parlor, they ought to put it out there," he said.
Smith and other Third Street business people are also wary of Gawel's involvement. Gawel was investigated by the district attorney's office concerning funds missing from the successful Niagara Wine, Food and Music Festival held there in 2003. No charges were filed in the case.
Until recently, Gawel worked for "Smokin'" Joe Anderson, promoting events at Club Malibu -- a Third Street tavern best known for the number of underage drinking arrests it generated -- and running the beer concession at Anderson's East Mall pedestrian walkway. Last year, he was involved in a confrontation with state police and sheriff's deputies on the Tuscarora Reservation stemming from a dispute between Anderson and his ex-wife, Gail Anderson.
It was Gawel who, in 2003, authorized two checks totaling $30,000 from a company controlled by Anderson to then-councilman Vince Anello, who was running for mayor. The payments are now at the center of a corruption investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Gawel was fired late last year following an altercation with another Anderson employee, sources said.
But his rocky tenure as an Anderson employee is just the latest chapter in a checkered criminal career that has led to no fewer than six arrests over the past dozen years.
The most serious case stemmed from a June 1993 indictment on federal charges of money-laundering, tax evasion and conspiracy, charges which led to his serving five months of a 17-month sentence at the McKean, Pa., federal penitentiary during 1995 and 1996. A former attorney and certified public accountant, Gawel was disbarred following his conviction.
Upon his release, Gawel served three years on parole, records show.
While awaiting trial in November 1994, Gawel was again arrested by the FBI on witness intimidation charges and, a month earlier, he was picked up by Niagara Falls city police and charged with drunk driving and leaving the scene of an accident.
In March 1997, he was arrested for harassment, obstructing governmental administration and endangering the welfare of a child following a domestic incident at his 84th Street home.
In a bizarre twist to that incident, Gawel attempted to elude police officers by jumping out of a second-story window and was captured while hiding in some bushes three doors away, records show.
A month later, in April 1997, he was picked up by city police on another drunk driving charge.
More recently, in December 2004, Gawel was arrested by city police on charges including menacing, harassment, obstructing police officers and resisting arrest.
According to reports, NFPD Patrolmen Mike Scozzafava and Jimmy Tedesco were dispatched to a residence on Glenn Street shortly after midnight following a 911 call from Gawel's girlfriend.
When they arrived, she told the officers she had been in bed asleep when a drunken and enraged Gawel barged into her bedroom, picked her up by the hair and said, "I'm going to smash your teeth in. Do you want to go at it?"
She did not. By the time the shaken woman had related her ordeal, Gawel had taken to bed himself.
When the officers confronted him, he became verbally abusive and attempted to continue his fight with the woman. Because it was a domestic incident, the officers, under law, needed to remove him from the residence. As they tried to explain this, the highly intoxicated Gawel began fighting with both officers.
He was subdued, handcuffed and transported to the Public Safety Building, where he was locked up.
He was held without bail overnight and later released on a $1,500 cash bond, records show.
Frank Smith believes a massage parlor run by Gawel might not be the best fit on Third Street, where millions of dollars have been spent by state and local government to create an upscale entertainment district.
"Who's running this Third Street development?" he asked. "I don't think everybody's on the same page."
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | Jan. 17 2006 |