Teamster faces ban for tie to mobster

Sunday, December 3, 2006

Teamster faces ban for tie to mobster

Timothy O'Connor
The Journal News

Contractors, doctors, and entertainment honchos have all felt the sting of palling around with convicted Scarsdale mobster Gregory DePalma.

Blue-collar workers can now be added to that list.

A court-empowered union watchdog panel is recommending that the International Brotherhood of Teamsters lodge charges against a Local 456 member from New Rochelle for associating with DePalma. If the charges of violating the union's constitution are upheld, Joseph Pirro could be banned for life from the Teamsters union.

Pirro enlisted DePalma's aid in trying to start his own recycling business and used his connection to DePalma to get his girlfriend a catering job at a Bronx strip club that was owned by a member of DePalma's crew, according to a 17-page report sent last week from the Independent Review Board to IBT President James Hoffa.

"The evidence showed that Pirro had knowing and purposeful contact with La Cosa Nostra member Gregory DePalma," the board wrote in the report.

Pirro joined Local 456 in October 2001. He was suspended by the 3,800-member local in July for not paying his union dues. Elmsford-based Local 456 has been in a running battle with the IRB for nearly a decade over allegations that the family of long-time president Edward Doyle Sr. ran the local primarily for their own benefit. In January 2003, the Teamsters took over the local after an IRB investigation leveled charges of nepotism and mismanagement against president Bernard Doyle, Edward Doyle Sr.'s brother.

But last year control returned to the Doyle family when Edward Doyle Jr. was elected president of the local that represents workers in the construction, delivery, and public service sectors of the Lower Hudson Valley. He did not return calls seeking comment on the allegations against Pirro.

Pirro's last known address is on Sylvan Place in New Rochelle. But he hasn't lived there in months, the daughter of his ex-girlfriend said Friday. Liz Berlingo said the trucking company her mother, Pam, and Pirro formed in 2003, J&P Transport, was defunct. She said the family hadn't seen him in more than two months, though his mail is still delivered to their home and his dogs are still at the house. She said she didn't know where he now lived or how to reach him.

In testimony before the IRB in April, Pirro admitted he knew DePalma was an organized crime figure. He testified that he was introduced to DePalma in 2003 by reputed Genovese associate Patrick Lombardo.

DePalma was arrested in March 2005 along with 31 other reputed leaders, members, and associates of the Gambino crime family following a two-year investigation by the FBI's White Plains office that centered on DePalma's crew. Prominent Westchester physicians and contractors were ensnared in the case. DePalma was caught on tape extorting Liza Minnelli's manager to pay for trips to Las Vegas for mobsters' wives. DePalma is now serving a 151-month sentence on a federal racketeering conviction.

Pirro used to take Pam Berlingo's home-cooked meals to DePalma at United Hebrew Geriatric Center in New Rochelle, where the Gambino Crime Family capo conducted mob business at the bedside of his comatose son, Craig, according to the IRB report. Pirro testified that he met with DePalma at least 20 times between 2003 and and 2005.

Pirro told DePalma that Berlingo wanted to get into catering. DePalma got her a job catering at the Crazy Horse strip club in the Bronx for six months.

At the nursing home, the capo introduced Pirro to his friends. Pirro said he didn't ask who they were or what they did.

"I didn't want to know nothing," he testified.

Reach Timothy O'Connor at tpoconnor@lohud.com or 914-694-3523.