TRENTON
- Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa announced
that a Monmouth County man was sentenced to
state prison today in connection with a joint
investigation by the Division of Criminal
Justice and Waterfront Commission of New York
Harbor into alleged extortion of money from
dock workers at the Port of New York and New
Jersey.
Joseph
Queli, 65, of Wall, was sentenced to five
years in state prison by Superior Court
Judge Anthony J. Mellaci Jr. in Monmouth
County. Queli was also ordered to pay a
$57,500 fine. Queli must forfeit $24,260
seized in the investigation. The sentence
was based on Queli’s Oct. 28, 2011
guilty plea to one count of second-degree
conspiracy to commit criminal usury and
money laundering, and a second count of
third-degree filing false tax returns. Queli
was charged in an Oct. 26, 2010 indictment.
In
pleading guilty, Queli admitted that he
made loans at usurious interest rates in
excess of 50 percent per year. The investigation
revealed that Queli made usurious loans,
which is commonly known as loansharking,
to members of the International Longshoremen’s
Association, and that he would demand weekly
payments from the union members.
Supervising
Deputy Attorney General Mark Eliades, Chief
of the Division of Criminal Justice Gangs
& Organized Crime Bureau, and Deputy
Attorney General Erin Callahan are prosecuting
the case and represented the Division of
Criminal Justice at the sentencing.
Queli
was initially arrested and charged in April
2010 as a result of Operation Terminal,
an ongoing investigation by the Division
of Criminal Justice and the Waterfront Commission
of New York Harbor into the activities of
a criminal enterprise that allegedly has
exercised control and corrupt influence
over International Longshoremen’s
Association (ILA) locals operating shipping
terminals at the Port. The criminal enterprise
allegedly was demanding “tribute”
from dock workers for better jobs and pay.
Also charged in April 2010 were a top ILA
official, Nunzio LaGrasso, another ILA member,
and a Newark police officer who is LaGrasso’s
nephew. They were indicted on Feb. 8, 2011.
The charges in that indictment are pending.
LaGrasso,
61, of Florham Park, Secretary-Treasurer
of ILA Local #1478, was charged with extortion
and commercial bribery, both in the second
degree. LaGrasso is Vice President of the
Atlantic Coast District of all ILA locals.
LaGrasso’s nephew, Newark Police Officer
Alan Marfia, 40, of Kenilworth, was charged
with second-degree official misconduct for
allegedly using his access to police databases
to obtain information for LaGrasso on undercover
police vehicles that were conducting surveillance
near his union office. Rocco Ferrandino,
69, of Lakewood, a timekeeper at Maher Terminal
in Port Newark/Elizabeth, was charged with
second-degree extortion and second-degree
commercial bribery. The indictment is merely
an accusation and the defendants are presumed
innocent until proven guilty.
The
investigation into the activities of the
alleged criminal enterprise at the New Jersey
waterfront revealed that ILA members working
at the shipping terminals are required to
make a cash “tribute” payment
at Christmas time each year to the enterprise
out of the year-end bonuses each ILA member
receives called “container royalty
checks.”
It
is alleged that those payments are funneled
to the criminal enterprise through LaGrasso.
The payments must be made for union members
to receive high-paying jobs, preferred shift
assignments and overtime, all as determined
under the influence of the criminal enterprise.
Each of the thousands of union members allegedly
must make a payment that typically ranges
from a couple of hundred dollars to a couple
of thousand dollars depending on the size
of the container royalty check. It is alleged
that LaGrasso collected some tribute payments
directly, but usually relied on others,
such as Ferrandino, to collect them.
Supervising
Deputy Attorney General Eliades and Deputy
Attorney General Callahan presented the
indictments to the state grand juries for
the Division of Criminal Justice Gangs &
Organized Crime Bureau. Attorney General
Chiesa, Criminal Justice Director Stephen
J. Taylor and Commissioner Jan Gilhooly
of the Waterfront Commission of New York
Harbor credited all of the detectives, attorneys
and officers who worked on the investigation
for the Division of Criminal Justice and
Waterfront Commission. They also thanked
the Newark Police Department for its valuable
assistance.
The
Port of New York and New Jersey is the largest
port complex located on the East Coast of
North America. Roughly $200 billion in cargo
moves through the port each year. Through
the years, the New Jersey Division of Criminal
Justice and the Waterfront Commission have
conducted investigations into the activities
of organized crime in and around the port.
Past investigations have led to prosecution
of union officials and members of the Genovese
crime family, which has been found to control
or exert significant influence over the
ILA and commercial activity at the waterfront.
Their criminal activities have included
extortion, fencing, commercial bribery,
loansharking and gambling.
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