Jun 25, 2006 9:36 am US/Eastern
Brothers Allegedly Bribed NYPD Commissioner Kerik
DiTomassos Run Successful Construction Firm
WEST CALDWELL, N.J. (AP) ―
Two decades ago, Frank and Peter DiTommaso scraped up enough money to start a concrete company in a basement apartment, then watched it grow into a full-fledged construction firm working jobs worth tens of millions of dollars.
But the brothers' American dream has taken an unfortunate detour.
Last year, their names surfaced in a corruption investigation of Bernard Kerik, the former NYPD commissioner and failed nominee for homeland security chief. A grand jury has been looking into whether they bought favors from Kerik by paying for extensive renovations to his home -- charges they vigorously denied in a recent interview.
The DiTommasos spoke at the New Jersey office of their attorney, Thomas Durkin, who introduced them sarcastically as "the Mafioso." They said they had met Kerik in passing, but never bribed him.
"It's like reading fiction," Frank, 47, said of the onslaught of news reports linking his Clifton, N.J.-based company, Interstate Industrial Corp., to the Kerik scandal and to organized crime.
Added 45-year-old Peter: "We worked hard for 20 years-plus, Frank and I, and they'd like to minimize our successes."
The Bronx District Attorney's office has refused to comment on speculation that the grand jury could soon charge Kerik with abusing his authority while a top city official, or reports that former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani -- once a close friend of Kerik -- has testified.
Kerik, who has denied any wrongdoing, drew national attention while leading the NYPD's response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. By late 2004, President Bush wanted him for homeland security chief, but allegations of ethical lapses doomed his nomination.
It remains unclear if the DiTommasos -- who testified before the grand jury earlier this year -- face possible charges. On another front, they have been fighting New Jersey officials who said their alleged Mafia ties should disqualify them from working on casinos in Atlantic City.
The embattled brothers claim in both instances, they're victims of guilt by association.
"We have a very strong sense of frustration that we've been cast as these mob guys," Frank said. "We want to clear our names."
The DiTommasos have working-class roots on Staten Island. Their father, who died recently, was a police officer who did construction after he retired -- a trade his sons picked up after attending the University of Massachusetts, both on football scholarships.
Over the years, Interstate Industrial landed large construction projects, both private and public, in New York City and New Jersey. Their success, investigators said, created a cash flow that the Gambino crime family couldn't resist.
At the trial last year of Gambino scion John Gotti Jr., a mob turncoat testified that Interstate was "on record" with the family. The witness, admitted killer Michael "Mikey Scars" DiLeonardo, testified that the company paid the Gambinos hundreds of thousands of dollars in exchange for solving problems with mob-controlled unions.
The DiTommasos scoff at the accusations. They acknowledge doing business with DiLeonardo's own construction firm, but deny knowing at the time he was a mobster. And Gotti?
"I never met any Gotti, never saw a Gotti, never talked to a Gotti," Frank said. "What was my name doing in that trial?"
The brothers point to a finding by the Casino Control Commission in New Jersey, which granted them a license to work in Atlantic City in 2004, they had a clean record. Any "incidental contact with disreputable characters within the confines of their industry may have been unavoidable and, to some extent, even inevitable," the panel said.
The New Jersey attorney general disagreed, and sued the commission last year in a bid to revoke the license. A civil complaint filed in the pending case insisted Interstate was deeply entangled with the mob.
The complaint added another allegation: that in 2000 Interstate secretly paid for the bulk of a $240,000 makeover of Kerik's Bronx apartment -- described in a real estate ad as a "gem" with marble baths and a renovated kitchen with a granite countertop -- while he was commissioner of the city's Department of Correction. In return, Kerik allegedly helped the company pursue lucrative contracts with the city.
The DiTommasos they met Kerik through a former employee who was fired after being charged in a mob-run stock swindle. The brothers suspect the employee retaliated by cooking up the bribery allegation and feeding it to authorities.
Peter called the charge "absolute nonsense." Interstate's only involvement, he said, was recommending the contractor used by Kerik -- not paying him.
The denials didn't stop prosecutors from grilling the brothers for hours before the grand jury.
"They showed me 50 pictures of the apartment and asked me if I had an arrangement to pay for the work," Frank said. "Of course, I told them I did not."
(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
