Oyster Bay Town Officials Indicted For Corruption: DA

Three former Oyster Bay Town officials, one current town official, a leader of a political club and the owners of a paving company were all indicted on charges of corruption and misconduct on Thursday morning.

The following people were indicted:

• Former Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor John Venditto, 72, of Massapequa
• Richard Porcelli, 70, of Ronkonkoma, the deputy executive leader of the North Massapequa Republican Club
• Former Parks Commissioner Frank Nocerino, 65, of Massapequa
• Former Town of Oyster Bay Commissioner of Public Works Frank Antetomaso, 77, of Massapequa
• Current Town of Oyster Bay Highway Maintenance Supervisor Salvatore Cecere, 50, of West Sayville
• Owner of Carlo Lizza and Sons Paving, Inc. Elia “Aly” Lizza, 69, of Oyster Bay Cove
• Owner of Carlo Lizza and Sons Paving, Inc., Marisa Lizza, 61, of Oyster Bay Cove

In the first case involving the alleged illegal firing and hiring of an employee, Venditto was charged with corrupt use of position or authority, three counts of official misconduct and sixth degree conspiracy; Porcelli was charged with two counts of official misconduct and sixth degree conspiracy; and Nocerino was charged with official misconduct, the DA said.

If conviction, Venditto faces up to a total of four years in prison, while both Porcelli and Nocerino face up to a year in prison.

All three pleaded not guilty and are due back in court on Sept. 26. They were released on their own recognizance.

According to the indictment, Venditto directed Nocerino to hire Individual B to work in the town Parks Department at the request of Commissioner of Planning Development Frederick Ippolito, who continued to exercise influence over town matters despite his conviction for tax evasion.

Ippolito, who was also charged with tax evasion, died while in prison earlier this month.

Venditto then directed the hiring of Individual B even though the town was not hiring new employees and discussing laying off existing employees because of a financial crisis, the DA said. In addition, Individual B was also to be paid more than twice the appropriate salary for his position.

Months later, Ippolito directed that Individual B be fired.

Venditto, Porcelli, and a close associate of the supervisor all agreed to fire Individual B and that the Town of Oyster Bay would fire other employees to divert attention from the firing of Individual B, the DA saod.

“Taxpayers are victimized when public employment is abused to advance the personal interests of the powerful," DA Madeline Singas said.

Venditto was also involved in another case along with the owners of a prominent Long Island paving company who were all charged with bribing an Oyster Bay commissioner to help facilitate the construction of the Cantiague Commons senior housing development, the DA said.

Elia and his wife, Marisa were both charged with 14 counts of second degree bribery, five counts of third degree bribery, 18 counts of second degree rewarding official misconduct, two counts of defrauding the government and fifth degree conspiracy.

Carlo Lizza and Sons Paving, Inc., owned by the Lizza family, is charged with five counts of second degree bribery, third degree bribery, four counts of second degree rewarding official misconduct, two counts of defrauding the government and fifth degree conspiracy, the DA said.

Venditto was charged with two counts of defrauding the government, two counts of official misconduct and fifth degree conspiracy while Antetomaso was also charged with fifth degree conspiracy, the DA said.

If convicted of the top count, Venditto faces up to four years in prison while the Lizzas face up to a total of 15 years in prison. Antetomaso faces up to a year in prison if convicted.

They all pleaded not guilty and are due back in court on September 26. They were released on their own recognizance.

According to the indictment, the Lizzas wrote $1.6 million worth of checks from 2009 to 2016 from personal accounts to Ippolito, who was serving as Commissioner of Planning and Development for the Town of Oyster Bay, the DA said.

The couple then made these payments to Ippolito for his role in negotiating anticipated payments in excess of $20 million dollars to Elia from the developer of Cantiague Commons while Ippolito was simultaneously controlling the oversight of the developer’s rezoning application and site plan approval, the DA said.

The property, zoned for light industrial, was to become Cantiague Commons, a $150 million residential housing complex for seniors but needed the approval of the Town Board to grant an application to rezone the property for residential use, the DA said.

In order to further facilitate the Cantiague Commons deal, Ippolito negotiated the sale of a Hicksville property to the Town of Oyster Bay.

The paving company, under a special use permit issued by the town more than 30 years ago, operated an asphalt plant at 50 Engel Street, near the proposed Cantiague Commons project. The town would not approve the re-zoning application for the complex because of how close it was to the asphalt plant.

In 2011, a combination of Lizza entities offered to donate the Engel Street property to the Town and despite the offer, Venditto agreed that the town would purchase the property for $2.5 million, the DA said.

When questions arose about the propriety of the payments, Venditto worked with outside counsel for the town to create a document that suggested there was no conflict of interest and any benefit secured by Elia was achieved through legitimate means, the DA said.

Ippolito allegedly used town employees and resources to draft and edit agreements among Elia and other family members. Ippolito and Venditto advocated to the town board on behalf of Elia in connection with the subject application, and hid Ippolito’s financial interest in the project, the DA said.

In 2012, the town board conditionally granted the re-zoning application pending the environmental remediation of both the Cantiague Commons site and 50 Engel Street. Venditto represented that the development of the project and the purchase of 50 Engel Street were integrally related.

The town board was advised that the money for the purchase of Engel Street would not be released until the property was “cleaned up to satisfaction.”

The following year, the town purchased the Engel Street site for $2.5 million even though the property had not been satisfactorily cleaned. The owner of the property immediately issued a payment to Carlo Lizza and Sons Paving, Inc. for $1,476,676 the DA said.

Even though the property was not properly cleaned, Venditto signed a contract of sale that limited the seller’s liability to $100,000 for any environmental issues that arose on the property. To date, the property has not been developed or used by the town.

According to the indictment, Ippolito gave his recommendation to the Board to approve the rezoning of the property on West John Street in Hicksville while failing to disclose to the Board his financial interest in Cantiague Commons. Ippolito allegedly worked closely with Lizza family members and their contractors to develop Cantiague Commons in order to ensure that Elia received an excess of $20 million dollars.

Ippolito failed to report the payments from the Lizza family, as well as additional payments which pre-dated his TOB employment, to the Internal Revenue Service and he was indicted in March 2015.

Once Ippolito was indicted by a federal grand jury, Elia and Ippolito stopped communicating directly.

Antetomaso, who was also principal of engineering firm Sidney Bowne that was working on the Cantiague Commons project – allegedly passed messages between Ippolito and Elia.

Antetomaso allegedly knew that Ippolito had a financial stake in Cantiague Commons and helped facilitate and conceal alleged criminal conduct by Ippolito and Elia Lizza.

According to the indictment, the payments to Ippolito originated from a Carlo Lizza & Sons bank account and were then sent through the personal checking account of Aly and Marisa Lizza before they were made to Ippolito, the DA said.

Furthermore, after Ippolito was indicted, the Lizzas allegedly concealed two more payments to Ippolito by writing checks for snow removal services to a snow removal company owned by Ippolito, which were not used for snow removal services, the DA said.

Ippolito pleaded guilty on Jan. 26, 2016 to one count of tax evasion in federal court for tax year 2008 and was sentenced to 27 months in prison on Sept. 28, 2016.

Antetomaso was also involved in a third case along with his nephew, Cecere, for allegedly repairing a friend's sidewalk for free, according to the Nassau County DA.

The two were both charged with one count each of official misconduct and theft of services, the DA said.

Both pleaded not guilty and are due back in court on Sept. 26. They were released on their own recognizance.

If convicted, the two face a maximum sentence of one year in prison.

In July 2016, Oyster Bay Town Board voted to end a program that subsidized homeowner’s costs to replace damaged sidewalks.

Under the program, Oyster Bay paid an outside vendor to replace sidewalks at the request of property owners, reducing property owner’s costs by 75 percent. When the town board ended the program, it enacted a new local law that assigned responsibility for sidewalk repairs solely to the owner of the abutting property.

If a homeowner failed to repair a sidewalk after being issued a notice to do so by the town, the town would repair the sidewalk and then issue a bill to the homeowner.

The following month, Antetomaso, who currently works as the principal of Sidney Bowne and Son an engineering firm with town contracts, was at the home of a longtime friend on Greenwood Drive in North Massapequa, according to the DA.

While at the location, Antetomaso called Cecere, and their conversation was intercepted by the NCDA pursuant to a court-authorized eavesdropping warrant, the DA said.

Antetomaso informed Cecere that there is a dead tree in front of his friend’s home and it caused damage to the sidewalk.

He allegedly asked Cecere if the town would perform the repair work to which Cecere stated that the sidewalk program ended, but he would take care of the repair as a favor, the DA said.

In October, town employees, under Cecere’s direction, removed the dead tree in front of the Greenwood Drive address and replaced the sidewalk in front of the home. The homeowner was not billed for this work.

The two surrendered this morning to NCDA investigators.

“The average Oyster Bay taxpayer would have to personally pay for tree removal and sidewalk repairs, but these defendants allegedly abused their authority to provide free services to a connected friend,” Singas said. “Government officials should never use public resources to do favors for friends and cronies, and we will hold these defendants accountable for this abuse.”

Pictured:

Top from Left to Right: Salvatore Cecere, Frank Antetomaso, John Venditto, and Marisa Lizza

Bottom from Left to Right: Elia Lizza, Frank Nocerino and Richard Porcelli