A former councilman who was convicted of corruption charges 20 years ago once again will face the Federal Bureau of Investigation for his alleged role in the statewide “Operation Big Rig” probe.
Last Thursday, a decade long investigation into pay-to-play deals and international money laundering resulted in the arrest of 44 New Jersey politicians, government officials, and religious leaders.
Among those arrested were Ridgefield Mayor Anthony Suarez and former Guttenberg Councilman Vincent Tabbachino, who have been charged with “knowingly and willingly” conspiring to obstruct interstate commerce by extortion under the color of official right, due to their acceptance of allegedly corrupt payments to be used toward Suarez’s “legal fund,” according to the official criminal complaint from the FBI. (Suarez had a legal fund that he planned to use for a lawsuit against a political opponent.)
Tabbachino, who lives in Fairview and runs a tax preparation business on Park Avenue in Guttenberg, faces an additional charge of money laundering.
Both were released on $100,000 bail last week.
According to the complaint, Suarez and Tabbachino met several times since May with the government’s confidential witness, who according to published reports is developer Solomon Dwek. Dwek’s real estate business in Monmouth County crashed in 2006 when he bounced a $25 million check. Dwek became an FBI informant after that, bringing down various politicians whose campaigns he offered to donate to this year.
According to the FBI, during a May 18, 2009 meeting, the federal witness agreed to pay Suarez $10,000 that would be used for a future legal fund, as long as his future developments in Ridgefield would receive preferential zoning.
Tabbachino allegedly acted as the middle man who would take Dwek’s money and then write checks out to give to Suarez’s legal fund.
When the witness asked how they wanted to handle the transaction, Tabbachino allegedly said, according to the FBI documents, “give it to me and I’ll sit in the car with – and we’ll check the weather,” according to the complaint. At that meeting Suarez allegedly said to let Tabbachino handle the funds.
Tabbachino later wrote out a check for $10,000 for Suarez’s legal fund and told the witness that Tabbachino could contribute the entire amount because it did not have to go through the Board of Elections.
Mayor Suarez later told Tabbachino to “hold off” and only accepted an initial $2,500 payment from him, according to the documents.
Getting nervous
Then, during a following meeting, Suarez apparently backpedaled, stating he treated every development application “fairly” depending on what was best for the town.
In a later conversation with the informant, Tabbachino said, according to the complaint, “…I’m gonna write an article in the paper saying [Suarez is] my nephew, and you know, I gave him the contribution…I have nothin’ to gain, nothin’ to lose, and just to show you how much I love him, I’m gonna give him another twenty-five hundred.”
On or around July 2009, Suarez cashed a check for $2,500 from Tabbachino.
Knock-offs
According to the FBI documents, Tabbachino had first met with the witness in February, when he allegedly agreed to launder a total of $50,000 in exchange for a $5,000 kickback for himself. This agreement was apparently unrelated to the later transactions with Suarez.
The witness had told Tabbachino that he needed to hide the illegal proceeds of his “label swapping” handbag business, according to the documents. So Dwek could write out what appeared to be business checks to “Tabbachino Associates,” and Tabbachino could give Dwek untraceable cash in return. He would keep some of it for himself.
On Feb. 12, Tabbachino allegedly agreed, and by the 19th he allegedly proposed that his profits from the money laundering scheme should instead be $8,000, according to the criminal complaint.
At the end of April, Tabbachino allegedly gave Dwek $22,570 in cash for a future laundering transaction. According to the documents, in May, Dwek met with a relative of Tabbachino at Tabbachino’s tax preparation office in Guttenberg, where he forked over a $25,000 check and said that it was for “Uncle Vinny.”
The last payment received was in June at Tabbachino’s business in Guttenberg, at which Tabbachino allegedly accepted another $25,000 check.
Tabbachino’s attorney Anthony Kress declined to comment for this story.
Previous conviction
In 1989, Tabbachino, along with then-Mayor of Guttenberg Nicholas Cicco, faced a trial on corruption charges. They were both convicted.
According to court documents, Cicco and Tabbachino were indicted by the federal government for allegedly refusing to renew the contract of two special police officers because they hadn’t campaigned for the Democratic ticket, and for allegedly threatening to dismiss a school crossing guard for the same reason.
The two police officers were said to be well known friends of that election year’s viable republican candidate, Andy Juncosa. After their one-year contracts weren’t renewed, the F.B.I. put microphones on the officers.
The jury’s verdict was “guilty,” and both defendants were convicted of their crimes and could have spent more than 20 years in prison if the conviction hadn’t been overturned in 1991. The United States 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that there was insufficient evidence.
Mayor Gerald Drasheff said since then, Tabbachino has remained out of Guttenberg politics. He also said he believed he and former Mayor David Delle Donna had some type of “political falling out.”
Comeback
Drasheff said that while he was campaigning for his recent election last year, Tabbachino purchased a few fundraising tickets for the mayor’s ball and other events.
He said that at committee meetings that Tabbachino attended, Drasheff “got the sense he was looking to get re-involved again politically.”
Rumors have spread like wildfire.
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Drasheff said that he was never contacted by Dwek, while some Hudson County politicians have said that they were. Rumors of Dwek’s visits and future F.B.I. stings have spread like wildfire.
BOE treasurer
Tabbachino also works as the Guttenberg Board of Education’s treasurer.
Board president Sari Zuckerman said that in June, 2009 a salary of $9,270 was approved for his role.
Zuckerman said that she had not really known him, except that he has had this role for a long time. She said that everything on the treasurer report has always been correct and that the business administrator always checks over the figures.
She said that the board would discuss the situation at their next meeting on Aug. 26, but didn’t want to “jump the gun,” since one is presumed innocent before being proven guilty.
Still not over it
Drasheff said that while some time has passed since former Mayor David Delle Donna and his wife were convicted and sent to prison, Guttenberg has not yet healed from those wounds, as a recent letter to the editor sent to The Hudson Reporter noted, in which the writer attempted to compare Drasheff to Delle Donna.
“The town has not yet recovered from the issue of the Delle Donnas and a jury has spoken, but it keeps getting thrown back [to us] and there has never been any implication that any other person on the council was involved in anything that [Delle Donna] may or may not have done,” said Drasheff.
Drasheff said he believed the towns involved in the FBI probe have a long road to healing ahead.
Tricia Tirella may be reached at TriciaT@hudsonreporter.com.