Word: scotto
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...major charges against Scotto were that he had accepted $300,000 over five years from two dockside businessmen, William Montella Jr. and Walter D. O'Hearn Jr. As evidence, the prosecution produced 27 tape recordings from FBI eavesdropping on Scotto's conversations over a period of five months. On one 1978 tape, he could be heard accepting $5,000 in cash from Montella in the men's room of a New York City hotel. Montella, the onetime owner of a marine carpentry company, testified that the payment was supposed to help prevent labor troubles...
...trial also produced evidence that Scotto, who is paid a salary of $120,000 a year by Local 1814, operated in a style far removed from the grimy docks. Montella testified, for example, that he had built Scotto a swimming pool cabana for free at his Catskills summer home. Scotto answered that he had paid $10,200 for this work but that he had paid in cash. Scotto also acknowledged that he acquired a 13% interest in a multimillion-dollar East Side apartment building for only $26. He dealt mainly in cash, he said, to thwart the continuous harassment...
...Scotto admitted receiving a total of $75,000 from Montella and O'Hearn but insisted that the money was intended for political contributions. The union leader said that he in turn donated $25,000 in cash to New York Governor Carey's re-election campaign in 1978 and $50,000 in cash through an associate to Lieutenant Governor Mario Cuomo's unsuccessful campaign for mayor of New York City in 1977. Making political donations of more than $100 in cash is illegal, but Scotto claimed ignorance of the law. Both Carey and Cuomo denied any knowledge...
...bolster his defense, Scotto produced an extraordinary parade of character witnesses, including Carey and former New York City Mayors Robert Wagner and John Lindsay. Carey characterized Scotto as "trustworthy, energetic, intelligent, effective and dedicated." He is, testified the Governor, "one of the outstanding young labor leaders in the United States." After the verdict, Carey changed his assessment. Said he: "I feel compassion for Mr. Scotto's family and regret that a person of such considerable talent and ability has violated our laws...
...Scotto vowed to appeal; if his conviction is upheld, he faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and, after his release, will be barred from regaining his union post for at least five years...