One of the big Red Hook stories of 2011 was the removal of Sal Catucci’s American Stevedoring from the Red Hook Containerport. We reported at the time about rumors of unpaid rent, unmet pension fund contributions and moneys owed to local vendors. We heard that the Port Authority gave Catucci an offer he couldn’t refuse – rumors were that he was bought off for upwards of $20 million, but nobody at the time was talking to the press about this, so that part we did not report. We only knew that the Port Authority wanted to take over port operations, that dealing with Catucci was onerous for them. One of the terms of the settlement that we were able to find out was his dropping of a lawsuit against them regarding barging subsidies. Even still, Catucci filed a lawsuit last year against the Port Authority and the ILA regarding the manner of his leaving, including allegations of mafia infiltration.
In other words, Catucci was a pest that finagled a huge settlement in order to leave, and even so came back with a lawsuit. Yet it could get even worse for the Port Authority. Yesterday’s Bergen Record reports that the Manhattan DA is starting an investigation of the settlement. We reprint the article below. We salute the Bergen Record for breaking this story.
Port Authority dock deal probed
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is investigating a secret, $25 million legal settlement between the Port Authority and a politically connected seaport company that excused $15 million in unpaid rent at the docks in Brooklyn and Newark and handed over $10 million of public money to cover other debts.
Prosecutors have sent the Port Authority a wide-ranging subpoena requesting information about its 2011 agreement with American Stevedoring Inc. and any related communications involving the offices of Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., Governor Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, according to two sources with knowledge of the subpoena.
The 2011 agreement, struck in exchange for the company agreeing to leave the Port Authority’s seaport terminals, was hashed out behind closed doors, and the negotiations were closely monitored by the offices of Nadler and Cuomo, a review of dozens of internal agency documents obtained by The Record show. The Port Authority’s executive director at the time was Christopher Ward, who had been the chief executive at ASI before he was appointed to lead the agency in 2008 by New York Gov. David Paterson.
Even though the deal provided millions of dollars to the company, the Port Authority — which gets much of its money from tolls on the Hudson River crossings but also leases land at the region’s ports — never disclosed the pact to the public, as it does with other settlements.
The focus of the district attorney’s probe is unknown.”
To read the rest of this story, please go here http://www.northjersey.com/news/port-authority-dock-deal-probed-1.1076366?page=all
3 Comments
beer distribution: tough to argue against.
where are Cuomo’s fingers in this story?
It costs a lot of $$$$ to run for Presidente ( example: LICH).
Thank you this is another Christie Bridge Gate. Bloomberg is a Republican and hated the public he represented.
This whole ASI deal was a set up by the PA authorities and Republicans on Both sides of the Hudson River. Waterfront Commission, which was created in the 1950s to root out organized crime on the waterfront; PA wants to eliminate Jobs and waterfront trade. The Republicans want to liquidate the PA. It was accomplished In Pittsburg, PA. One big spending deal. On we go. No one went to jail for that one.