Frederick Contini

Brooklyn, N.Y. Contractor Sentenced for Role in Building Cost Overrun Scheme

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Wed, 04/22/2009 - 18:52

The massive scandal surrounding the renovation of New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) headquarters in Lower Manhattan continues to reverberate. The latest casualty in this union-connected ghost-worker and money-laundering scam is Constantine Vafias, 70, a Brooklyn-based construction contractor. On April 7, Vafias was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York to three years probation and ordered to pay $1 million in restitution and $100,000 in forfeiture. Those sums, substantial as they are, represent only a fraction of the total funds siphoned off into the pockets of the lead contractor, two major local unions, various shell companies and the Gambino crime family.

NYC Developer Sentenced, Fined in Mob Kickback Scheme

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Mon, 07/30/2007 - 00:00

Several years ago Frederick Contini realized that resistance would do him no good.  The developer of the New York State Metropolitan Transit Authority’s (MTA) new headquarters, located at 2 Broadway, pleaded guilty to various federal charges in March 2003 and July 2004.  Now he’s been handed the tab.  This July 11, Contini was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York to five years probation and ordered to make more than $8 million in restitution.  The punishment was based on his guilty plea of March 31, 2003 to conspiracy to receive, possess and dispose of money obtained by fraud and transported across state lines, obstruction of justice, and engaging in unlawful monetary transaction.

Gambino Mobster Sentenced in NYC Construction Scam

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Mon, 09/26/2005 - 00:00

The New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) back in the late 90s thought it was getting a steal of a deal on the construction of its new headquarters at 2 Broadway in Lower Manhattan.  And in an unintended way, it was.  An unholy alliance between a major developer, the Gambino crime family, a host of contractors, and at least three unions led to thefts in excess of $10 million, and contributed toward a total project cost overrun of more than $300 million.  A 43-count federal indictment unveiled last September alleged that Gambino influence led to fraud, extortion and kickbacks in at least 10 separate contracts.   This August 2 one of the syndicate’s key players, Mario Garafola, learned he would have to do some prison time.  But his wrongdoing has to be seen in the context of a far broader conspiracy uncovered by the FBI and the Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS).

NY Developer, Union Boss, Plead Guilty in $10 Million Fraud Case

Submitted by David Kendrick on Mon, 04/14/2003 - 00:00

A Manhattan developer and two former union bosses have confessed to defrauding the taxpayers of NYC by helping to steal more than $10 million from the N.Y. Metro. Transportation Authority (MTA).  That brings to four the number of defendants who have pled guilty to the scheme in which developers overcharged the MTA for construction projects, then conspired with officials from Local 14 of the Intl. Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE), and Local 1 of the Intl. Union of Elevator Constructors, to pocket the savings from using lower-paid non-union workers.

On March 31, Frederick Contini pled guilty to his major role in the conspiracy.  In Feb. 1999, the MTA contracted with Contini to renovate a 1.2 million-sq. ft. space on Broadway at a cost of $55 million, which eventually grew to $155 million.  Contini, using a sham company called Links Construction, billed the MTA at the highest possible wage for labor to be supplied by the two unions.  In addition to the use of non-union workers, Contini also inflated the number of hours actually worked. 

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