NEWARK, NJ—The former president of the International Longshoremen’s Association Local 1235 was sentenced Wednesday to 18 months in federal prison for conspiring to extort “Christmastime tributes” from members, officials said.
Vincent Aulisi, 82, of West Orange, New Jersey—the president of Local 1235 from 2006 through 2007 – – plead guilty to one-count of conspiracy, officials said.
Aulisi apologized for his crime and to members of Local 1235 of the International Longshoremen’s Association, according to N.J.Com
“I apologize to the court and to my membership,” Aulisi told Judge Claire C. Cecchi. “That’s the part I’m feeling bad about. That I let them down.”
Members of the Genovese family, including Depiro, are charged with conspiring to collect tribute payments from New Jersey port workers at Christmastime each year through their corrupt influence over union officials, including the last three presidents of Local 1235.
The FBI conducted the investigation.
According to the evidence in this case, this is what happened:
- Aulisi and two other former ILA officers—Thomas Leonardis, 57, of Glen Gardner, New Jersey, the president of the union from approximately 2008 through 2011; and Robert Ruiz, 55, of Watchung, New Jersey, the delegate of the union from approximately 2007 through 2010 –admitted that they conspired to compel tribute payments from ILA union members, who made the payments based on actual and threatened force, violence and fear.
- The timing of the extortions typically coincided with the receipt by certain ILA members of “Container Royalty Fund” checks, a form of year-end compensation.
- Leonardis and Ruiz were suspended from their positions following their arrests in January 2011.
- Aulisi had already retired from his employment on the New Jersey piers at the time of his arrest.
Charges are still pending against three defendants in the superseding indictment, including a racketeering conspiracy charge against Stephen Depiro, 59, of Kenilworth, New Jersey—a soldier in the Genovese organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra.
Since at least 2005, Depiro has managed the Genovese family’s control over the New Jersey waterfront –including the nearly three-decades-long extortion of port workers in ILA Local 1, ILA Local 1235, and ILA Local 1478.
Two other Genovese family associates charged in the case are former union officials:
Albert Cernadas, 79, of Union, New Jersey, the president of ILA Local 1235 from approximately 1981 to 2006 and former ILA executive vice president
Nunzio LaGrasso, 63, of Florham Park, New Jersey, the former vice president of ILA Local 1478 and former ILA representative.