Tallone said the elder Hall, the acting public works director at the time, was upset about his nephew’s closeness with Giorgianni and his visits to the steak shop when he was supposed to be working.
A file photo of Jo Jo's Steak House on Martin Luther King Jr Blvd in Trenton
TRENTON — Harold Hall had warned his nephew Charles Hall III to stay away from Jojo’s Steak House, a former city union leader who worked with both men said.
The younger Hall, who has been identified as a cooperating witness in the FBI investigation of Mayor Tony Mack, was spending a considerable amount of time at the steak shop with proprietor and Mack associate Joseph “Jojo” Giorgianni, said Dave Tallone, the one-time union head.
Tallone said the elder Hall, the acting public works director at the time, was upset about his nephew’s closeness with Giorgianni and his visits to the steak shop when he was supposed to be working. Hall even mulled officially disciplining his nephew, who worked for the water and recreation departments, Tallone said.
“He just said, ‘My nephew’s doing the wrong thing, going there on city time,’” Tallone recalled in a recent interview.
Nonetheless, Charles Hall stopped by the steak house many times, Tallone said.
Hall has been identified as a co-conspirator who was grabbed by FBI agents in June and convinced to cooperate in the federal investigation. Earlier this month, the mayor, his brother Ralphiel Mack and Giorgianni were indicted on charges of taking the bribes in exchange for helping along a proposed parking garage project. They are scheduled to be arraigned in federal court today.
Tallone, who was suspended from his public works job last year after being charged in an unrelated criminal case, said Charles Hall was also friends with Mayor Mack.
“Charlie Hall was tight with Tony,” Tallone said.
Tallone and Harold Hall, who is now the city’s director of public property, are on a list of potential witnesses federal prosecutors may call when the corruption case goes to trial. Harold Hall told Tallone he was interviewed by the FBI shortly after search warrants were executed at City Hall in July, Tallone said.
Harold Hall could not be reached for this article and has refused to speak to the press on any matter. Tallone said has no idea if Hall, a former city police officer, cooperated with authorities.
“If it came down to the nitty-gritty, Harold’s going to take care of himself,” Tallone said.
Tallone said he himself was never approached by the FBI.
The former union head’s main concern these days is an unrelated set of criminal charges he faces related to a catering business he ran.
In November 2011 Tallone was charged by the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office with impersonation and forgery for allegedly skirting a state law barring city employees from doing paid side work for their municipality.
Tallone signed his sister’s name to city catering contracts that he was actually paid for, prosecutors said. In the interview he argued that prosecutors were making too much of the alleged forgery.
“This is stupid, what they did to me,” he said. “This is a family thing.”
Tallone’s effort to stem the fallout from the charges happened to land him close to a crucial event in the alleged federal corruption case, although he did not know it at the time, he said.
On Nov. 16, 2011, a few days after he was charged, he met Mayor Mack in Atlantic City to ask him not to suspend him from his job due to the arrest, he said.
He joined the mayor, Charles and Harold Hall, Giorgianniand Giorgianni’s associate John “Bear” Ferrara for a late lunch at Harrah’s Resort that afternoon, leaving after the meal.
That meeting, it turned out, was being monitored by the FBI, the federal complaint indicates. After Tallone left, Giorgianni and Mack had a private meeting, according to the FBI, and Giorgianni passed the mayor papers that the complaint suggests contained bribe money.
Tallone was suspended from his job despite talking to Mack and has not done any work for the city since then. His trial is tentatively scheduled for March.
He does not plan to plead guilty, as he and his daughter have health issues and he needs to maintain his employment and pension, he said.
While he awaits a resolution, Tallone still hangs out at City Hall occasionally. It helps alleviate the boredom of his days after a lifetime of municipal employment, he said.
“I’m so used to it. Thirty-five years,” he said. “I’m used to it.”
Boredom is not the only feeling he is grappling with. Tallone said he has suffered from depression since his 26-year-old son died in a car accident in April, and going back to his old workplace takes his mind off the loss.
“Nothing means anything to me,” he said. “Nothing at all.”
Contact Alex Zdan at azdan@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5705.