Denied Paying $165G Tab
Kerik 'Benefactors' Indicted for Lying

By RICHARD STEIER

The brothers whom ex-Correction and Police Commissioner Bernard B. Kerik admitted improperly paid $165,000 to renovate his former home were indicted July 19 on perjury charges for denying any financial involvement in the renovations.

BERNARD B. KERIK: Renovation resurfaces.

Frank and Peter DiTommaso were accused of lying to a grand jury during two days of testimony earlier this year about their dealings with Mr. Kerik. Peter DiTommaso was hit with an additional perjury count for claiming that the brothers' firm, Interstate Industrial Corp., had paid the contractor who did the work for Mr. Kerik for renovation work at St. Vincent's Nursing Home in New Jersey.

Phonied-Up Invoices

Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson and city Investigation Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn, who secured Mr. Kerik's conviction June 30, said their probe showed the contractor, Woods Restoration, did no work for the nursing home. They alleged that Interstate disguised some of its payments to Woods for Mr. Kerik's renovation by having the contractor submit fraudulent and inflated invoices for other work, some of which was never performed.

The contractor, Timothy Woods, reportedly told the grand jury that Mr. Kerik paid just $30,000 of the costs of combining the two apartments and renovating the property. The work included installing new plumbing and electrical wiring, hardwood floors, built-in cabinets and a rotunda with a marble entryway. Mr. Kerik has since sold the property for nearly $300,000 more than he paid and bought a luxurious home in New Jersey.

In making his guilty plea, Mr. Kerik stated that at the time when he allowed Interstate Industrial to pay for a large share of the renovation in the late 1990s, he believed that the firm was "clean." As part of the guilty plea, he paid a $221,000 fine but escaped with no jail time.

Tied to Gambino Family

Investigators have linked Interstate to the Gambino crime family, however, and shortly before Frank DiTommaso met Mr. Kerik in 1998, the firm purchased a Staten Island waste transfer station from Edward Garafola, a Gambino soldier whose brother-in-law was the family's former underboss, Salvatore "Sammy The Bull" Gravano.

When Mr. DiTommaso mentioned his problems in getting a city waste-hauling license because of his suspected organized crime ties, Mr. Kerik recommended that he hire Lawrence Ray, who had been the best man at his recent wedding and helped pay part of its cost, to lobby city officials. The firm also hired Mr. Kerik's brother, Donald, for an $85,000-a-year job.

Kerik Hosted Meeting

Mr. Kerik subsequently arranged a meeting between Frank DiTommaso and Raymond V. Casey, the chief investigator at the time for the city's Trade Waste Commission and a cousin of then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Mr. Casey later told the New York Times that he found it strange that Mr. Kerik brokered the meeting, which was held in his office at the Department of Correction, but he denied that the then-jail commissioner had attempted to improperly influence him on Interstate's behalf. Interstate was subsequently denied the waste-hauling license.

Mr. Giuliani has denied knowing about Mr. Kerik's dealings with the DiTommasos, even though the meeting was probed by then-Investigation Commissioner Edward J. Kuriansky in June 2000, when he appointed Mr. Kerik Police Commissioner in August of that year.

DA Johnson and Commissioner Hearn said one reason they allowed Mr. Kerik to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts rather than taking him to trial for felony violations was that they believed it might be difficult to establish that the renovation work that was paid for by Interstate was a quid pro quo for Mr. Kerik's help in getting the meeting with Mr. Casey, who today is the head of the city's Off-Track Betting Corporation. Two years ago, a mobster turned government informant testified in the trial of then-Gambino family boss Peter Gotti that the DiTommaso brothers had regularly paid him money to ensure they would have no labor problems while employing non-union crews.

A spokesman for DA Johnson said it was possible that Mr. Kerik could be called by either side if the DiTommasos went to trial. If convicted, they face up to seven years in prison.