Word: merola
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...long ordeal was about over, Donovan struck a defiant note two weeks ago after a four-hour grilling before a grand jury in The Bronx in New York City. The jurors had been looking into Schiavone's subway work at the request of Bronx District Attorney Mario Merola, a four-term Democrat. Donovan claimed that the jury was doing nothing more than "a rehash" of "the baseless allegations" that Silverman had investigated. It was all "a witch hunt," he said. The Labor Secretary said he had hired independent experts to give him lie-detector tests, and "needless...
...pugnacious Merola, 62, was a New York City councilman before winning election to the $82,000-a-year D.A.'s job in 1972. He has handled a number of nationally prominent cases, including the 1978 trial of David Berkowitz for the Son of Sam killings. Merola has a reputation for speaking loosely to the press. In 1980, for example, he disclosed that a prominent surgeon was the prime suspect in an attempted murder; as it turned out, the man was never charged. More recently Merola identified an elderly woman as a suspect in a highly publicized child-abuse case...
...even New York Republican leaders doubted that Merola was trying to advance his own career at Donovan's expense. "I just don't see the political motivation," said New York Republican Party Chairman George Clark Jr. "There is no evidence that Merola is seeking higher office. He's the toughest D.A. in the city and a stand-up guy." Indeed, Merola argues persuasively that the indictments had to be handed up now to beat the end of a five-year statute of limitations...
Apart from Donovan's personal predicament, the significance of his indictment may lie in a deeper question: Why did the various federal law enforcement agencies, with access to most of the same evidence that Merola acquired, fail to file charges against the Schiavone firm long ago? The agencies involved say the evidence was not strong enough to prosecute. But other Government sources claim that there was official foot dragging to avoid embarrassing people in high places, both Democrats and Republicans. Among those whose actions are open to question: the Reagan White House, the Justice Department...
...Schiavone company needed to find a so-called MBE (Minority Business Enterprise) to do part of the work. Thus Masselli set up the Jo-Pel Contracting and Trucking Co. and claimed that at least 51% of it was owned by Joseph Galiber, a black state senator from The Bronx. Merola's evidence shows that Galiber, while drawing a $700 weekly salary as Jo-Pel's president, had no equity in the company...