October 12, 2007
Galante faces new charges of illegal campaign contributions
By John Christoffersen
A Danbury businessman indicted last year in a federal probe of mob influence in the trash industry is facing new state charges of making illegal campaign contributions, state police said Friday.
James Galante turned himself in at the Bethany state police barracks around 9:30 a.m. Friday to face three counts of illegal contributions to a political committee and three counts of corrupt practices, state police said.
He was released on $50,000 bond and is due to appear Oct. 24 in Hartford Superior Court. The arrest warrant for Galante was sealed at prosecutors' request.
"In the big scheme of things this is a relatively minor charge," Keefe said. "I'm not sure what the motive of the prosecutors is and was in bringing it in view of the pending federal case."
Galante was at the center of a scandal involving state Sen. Louis DeLuca, R-Woodbury. DeLuca was convicted of a misdemeanor in June after he admitted asking Galante to threaten his granddaughter's husband, who he believed was abusing her.
The threat was never carried out. DeLuca received a six-month suspended prison sentence and was ordered to pay a $2,000 fine and donate $1,500 to charity.
"He has no knowledge of bundled campaign contributions and he does not know of anyone charging that he had such knowledge," said Craig Raabe, DeLuca's attorney.
Raabe said he has been advised that DeLuca is not a target of the campaign investigation by authorities.
The new charges come as a bipartisan panel of senators investigates DeLuca and wants to know more about an FBI document it received that was blacked out to conceal names.
The group questioned a section that mentions DeLuca's name being on a ledger with the number 25,000 written next to it. It's unclear whom the ledger belongs to because the name is blacked out.
In the FBI document, DeLuca said he never took cash or a check from the unnamed person and had no idea why his name appeared on the ledger.
Galante was indicted last year along with 28 others on charges of participating in a scheme to thwart competition and drive up trash rates. He was indicted in June on additional charges of conspiring to commit arson and kidnapping by damaging a competitor's truck and kidnapping the driver at gunpoint in 1992.
Galante, 54, of New Fairfield, has pleaded not guilty to 93 federal counts, including racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, extortion, mail and wire fraud, and witness tampering.
Prosecutors said the scheme forced customers to pay more for trash pickup. Most of those charged have since pleaded guilty.
Authorities had already alleged that Galante paid a quarterly $30,000 mob tax to alleged Genovese crime family boss Matthew "Matty the Horse" Ianniello in exchange for mob muscle to stifle competition. Ianniello pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and tax evasion and was sentenced to two years in prison.
James Galante turned himself in at the Bethany state police barracks around 9:30 a.m. Friday to face three counts of illegal contributions to a political committee and three counts of corrupt practices, state police said.
He was released on $50,000 bond and is due to appear Oct. 24 in Hartford Superior Court. The arrest warrant for Galante was sealed at prosecutors' request.
Galante allegedly made about $38,000 in contributions to three political action committees in 2002 through straw donors, said his attorney, Hugh Keefe. The PACS were not identified, Keefe said, and he would not disclose whom the alleged contributions were for.
"In the big scheme of things this is a relatively minor charge," Keefe said. "I'm not sure what the motive of the prosecutors is and was in bringing it in view of the pending federal case."
Galante was at the center of a scandal involving state Sen. Louis DeLuca, R-Woodbury. DeLuca was convicted of a misdemeanor in June after he admitted asking Galante to threaten his granddaughter's husband, who he believed was abusing her.
The threat was never carried out. DeLuca received a six-month suspended prison sentence and was ordered to pay a $2,000 fine and donate $1,500 to charity.
"He has no knowledge of bundled campaign contributions and he does not know of anyone charging that he had such knowledge," said Craig Raabe, DeLuca's attorney.
Raabe said he has been advised that DeLuca is not a target of the campaign investigation by authorities.
The new charges come as a bipartisan panel of senators investigates DeLuca and wants to know more about an FBI document it received that was blacked out to conceal names.
The group questioned a section that mentions DeLuca's name being on a ledger with the number 25,000 written next to it. It's unclear whom the ledger belongs to because the name is blacked out.
In the FBI document, DeLuca said he never took cash or a check from the unnamed person and had no idea why his name appeared on the ledger.
Galante was indicted last year along with 28 others on charges of participating in a scheme to thwart competition and drive up trash rates. He was indicted in June on additional charges of conspiring to commit arson and kidnapping by damaging a competitor's truck and kidnapping the driver at gunpoint in 1992.
Galante, 54, of New Fairfield, has pleaded not guilty to 93 federal counts, including racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, extortion, mail and wire fraud, and witness tampering.
Prosecutors said the scheme forced customers to pay more for trash pickup. Most of those charged have since pleaded guilty.
Authorities had already alleged that Galante paid a quarterly $30,000 mob tax to alleged Genovese crime family boss Matthew "Matty the Horse" Ianniello in exchange for mob muscle to stifle competition. Ianniello pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and tax evasion and was sentenced to two years in prison.
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