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Bernard Kerik Linked to Company with Mob Ties
Bernard Kerik, one-time nominee for Homeland Security secretary, accepted tens of thousands of dollars from a construction company with ties to organized crime, New Jersey officials charge. Court papers filed by the state’s Division of Gaming Enforcement say Kerik abused his position as New York City correction commissioner in the late 1990s by accepting the money from the Interstate Industrial Corporation of Clifton, N.J., while he was helping the company pursue business with New York. The gaming agency is trying to keep Interstate from doing work on Atlantic City casinos. Details of Kerik’s dealings with Interstate and its owners, Frank and Peter DiTommaso, became public late last year after President Bush nominated him for the Homeland Security slot.
Story Continues Below Kerik – who was New York City police commissioner at the time of the 2001 terrorist attacks – withdrew his nomination just days later, citing possible tax problems with his family’s nanny, the New York Times reports. New Jersey officials say Interstate paid another contractor for renovations worth more than $200,000 at Kerik’s Bronx apartment. According to the complaint, Peter DiTommaso brokered a deal in which Kerik paid only $17,800 for the renovations, and the balance was paid by the DiTommasos. Kerik’s lawyer Joseph Tacopina said Kerik paid $30,000 for the renovations and believed that was the full amount due. New Jersey officials also alleged that Interstate gave Kerik’s brother Donald an $85,000-a-year job at the same time Kerik was "using his influence within New York City government to help the company win a license to operate on Staten Island,” according to the Times. The gambling agency’s court papers were filed with the Casino Control Commission in Trenton. The agency has no authority to bring criminal charges against Kerik, but the Bronx district attorney is investigating his ties to Interstate.
During the agency’s investigation, Kerik – now a security consultant to the government of Jordan – invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination eight times, according to the Times. Frank DiTommaso has long rejected claims that he and his brother have ties to organized crime, and told the Times they had not underwritten the renovations at Keri’s apartment. But New Jersey investigators said they have information – including testimony from mob turncoats – about ties between the DiTommasos and the Gambino and DeCavalcante crime families.
Editor's note:
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