There were envelopes of cash and there were orders to be followed.þþThat, a former president of a longshoremen's union local told a jury yesterday, was how the Gambino crime family kept its hold on the New York waterfront as recently as two years ago.þþFrank Scollo, a diminutive 76-year-old, testified that Anthony Ciccone, who the prosecutors say is a Gambino captain, controlled him and other union officials.þþÿMr. Ciccone would tell me on many occasions what to do and what not to do,ÿ he testified.þþMr. Ciccone, 68, long an influential figure on the New York waterfront, is on trial in the racketeering case in Federal District Court in Brooklyn that includes Peter Gotti, who is suspected of being the head of the Gambino family.þþMr. Scollo, who said he was called ÿthe little guy,ÿ occupied a union position that prosecutors say has been controlled by the mob for generations: president of Local 1814 of the International Longshoremen's Association, covering Brooklyn and Staten Island. He was indicted with 16 others in the case but has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with prosecutors.þþMr. Scollo also told the jurors that he delivered the envelopes to Mr. Ciccone from Carmine Ragucci, a friend of Mr. Scollo who ran a Staten Island port company, apparently as payments in exchange for labor peace. The bulky envelopes, he said, contained cash. One had $8,900 in it. Another had $9,200.þþMr. Ragucci is the head of the Conservative Party in Staten Island. He did not return telephone calls seeking comment yesterday.þþMr. Scollo said he followed Mr. Ciccone's orders about such subjects as how to vote on union business because he respected Mr. Ciccone and feared him. But from his courtroom performance yesterday, he appeared conflicted about identifying alleged mobsters.þþHe was often indirect and occasionally appeared befuddled and avoided making references to the Mafia. The prosecutor, Andrew M. Genser, tried to focus him. Finally, Mr. Scollo responded, ÿIt was alleged that he was with the family, the Gambino family, whatever that is.ÿþþMr. Scollo told the jurors that after his arrest last year, he learned that investigators had planted a listening device in his car. The jury heard some of the eavesdropping tapes, including conversations in which another defendant, Primo Cassarino, could be heard providing Mr. Scollo with instructions about how to vote to fill certain union positions at a convention in Nevada in 2000. Prosecutors say that Mr. Cassarino was a member of Mr. Ciccone's crew.þþMr. Scollo also testified that he was a close friend of Mr. Ragucci, the Staten Island businessman who until 2001 headed the Howland Hook Container Terminal, a port company that Mr. Ragucci had reopened after it had been closed for a number of years in the mid-1990's.þþMr. Scollo said that in 1997, he accepted a role as an intermediary who would carry cash payments between Mr. Ciccone, who is known as Sonny, and Mr. Ragucci.þþUnder questioning from the prosecutor, Mr. Scollo did not provide a detailed explanation of why he did what Mr. Ciccone ordered.þþÿThe way it was,ÿ he told the jurors, ÿwe just did what Sonny wanted.ÿþþþ
Source: NY Times
