DIRTY WORK
Ex-JCIA inspector admits shaking down trash hauler
Saturday, March 25, 2006
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

NEWARK - A former Jersey City Incinerator Authority worker pleaded guilty yesterday to extorting money from a contractor and running an illegal gambling operation.

Russell Fallacara, 38, of Keansburg, admitted in federal court yesterday that he demanded a $100,000 payment from Nacirema Carting and Demolition of Bayonne, which had a contract with Jersey City.

Wearing a white sweater and light slacks, Fallacara calmly answered the judge's questions yesterday as he pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy. He faces 27 to 30 months in prison when he is sentenced July 13.

The June 2002 contract was for cleanup work ordered by the Jersey City Environmental Task Force at a property on Lafayette Street.

Fallacara admitted using his position as a JCIA inspector to close down Nacirema job sites around Jersey City when company officials balked at paying him. Company officials paid at least a portion of the $100,000, according to federal prosecutors.

Fallacara also admitted directing, financing, supervising, and owning all or part of an illegal sports bookmaking operation that operated in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania from as early as 1997 through August 2005.

Fallacara was charged with 15 others in an FBI probe that netted Lawrence Dentico, 81, of Seaside Park, one of a handful of men accused of running the Genovese crime family since Vincent "the Chin" Gigante was convicted of extortion in 1997. The racketeering probe focused on betting rings operating out of Hoboken and Jersey City.

Yesterday morning, Joseph "Billy Nap" Napolitano, 34, of Belleville, also pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy based on the charge of operating an illegal gambling operation, Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Schwartz said.

Many of the original 16 defendants have pleaded guilty and U.S. District Court Judge William Martini ruled that three of the defendants facing less serious charges should be tried separately.

That means John Dennis, 48, and Michael Crincoli, 46, both of Jersey City, as well as John Grecco, 62, of Rutherford, and Joseph "Big Joe" Scarbrough, 66, of West Orange, are the only four remaining in the racketeering prosecution, Schwartz said. Schwartz said she expects additional guilty pleas before the trial starts on April 17.

The FBI's case is apparently based on more than 300 recorded conversations made by Peter Caporino as he operated his own gambling business and interacted with those charged. If all those charged take pleas and there is no trial, the recordings will not be entered as evidence for the prosecution and may never become public.