Included on a witness list obtained by The Times are former housing director Carmen Melendez, Trenton Water Works employee Charles Hall III and his father, Harold, Mack’s former public works director. Watch video
On Thursday, November 15, 2012, early afternoon, Trenton's former housing director Carmen Melendez enters the Clarkson S. Fisher Federal Courthouse in Trenton, New Jersey.
Michael Mancuso/The Times
TRENTON — The grand jury chambers at the Clarkson S. Fisher federal district courthouse were quiet last week, but things could get a lot more lively if the corruption case against Mayor Tony Mack moves past indictment and to trial.
The government will have no shortage of witnesses to call as they try to convict the embattled mayor, who is charged with attempting to extort nearly $120,000 in bribes to help advance a parking garage project, which was actually fictitious and part of an FBI sting.
A list of potential witnesses obtained by The Times includes two former city department directors, three men who have been identified as cooperating with the FBI in the case, an ex-union head, and three senior citizen associates of Mack co-defendant Joseph “JoJo” Giorgianni.
So far, no indictments have been brought against Mack, Giorgianni, or Mack’s brother Ralphiel Mack, who is also a defendant in the case.
Carmen Melendez, who is Mack’s former director of Housing and Economic Development, is on the potential witness list too, and has already testified in front of a grand jury in the Mack case.
Two men identified by Melendez as FBI front men in the sting, Lemuel Blackburn along with developer Harry Seymour, are on the list. Seymour, Blackburn and Melendez could not be reached for comment this past week.
Terminated Trenton Water Works employee Charles Hall III is also on the list, as is Hall’s uncle Harold, 76, a longtime confidant of Mack who served as public works director from Sept. 2011 to August of this year.
Harold Hall has mostly refused to comment in the press during the nearly two years he has been with the city, and Charles Hall has repeatedly denied having any role in the extortion case.
According to the criminal complaint against Mack, a co-conspirator identified as Charles Hall was persuaded to help federal authorities following an interview late in June, well after the two-year investigation got started.
Charles Hall spent significant amounts of time at JoJo’s Steak House in North Trenton, where Giorgianni was based, said David Tallone, the former president of AFSCME Local 2286 who is listed as a potential witness alongside Hall.
Tallone went to Atlantic City in Nov. 2011, to join Mack on a trip the FBI has shown keen interest in. Money related to the alleged bribery scam is alleged to have changed hands during that visit.
“If I’m a witness, they must know I was there,” Tallone said last week.
Following a lunch that Tallone said he, Mack, both Halls, Giorgianni and several of his associates attended, Mack and Giorgianni met seperately. The criminal complaint alleges Giorgianni handed the mayor folded papers that appeared consistent with material holding a $1,500 bribe Giorgianni had received three weeks earlier. Mack then walked out of the casino, got in a cab and left.
Shown video of the supposed exchange, Mack’s attorney Mark Davis has said there is zero consistency between the papers Giorgianni had prior to the alleged exchange and the ones Mack had afterward. What Mack was holding when he exited could have been anything, Davis said.
Along with the inside men and City Hall officials, the witness list names three older associates of Giorgianni: Joseph “the Bug” Bontempo, John “Bear” Ferrara, and Harry Farsett.
Bontempo is a convicted murderer who was also found guilty of robbery, escape and unlawful possession of a revolver during the 1974 killing of a deli owner. After closing arguments in his trial, Bontempo interrupted the judge’s charges to the jury to say he wanted to say something.
The judge cleared the courtroom of the jury, then asked Bontempo if he was sure he wanted to represent himself.
“What do I have to lose?” Bontempo responded, according to court records.
Bontempo was convicted and incarcerated in state prison until 1991.
Ferrara, 64, was a frequent companion of Giorgianni’s who also attended the November meeting in Atlantic City, he said last week. Living on Martin Luther King Boulevard in North Trenton two blocks from the steak shop, Ferrara said until recently he spent time with Giorgianni at the business, pushed him around in a wheelchair and spoke with him frequently.
“I’ve known JoJo all my life,” Ferrara said.
The FBI interviewed Ferrara several months ago, he said, and sent him a letter notifying him his calls with Giorgianni may have been intercepted during wiretaps authorized by a federal judge. Sidelined over much of the past year with heart problems, Ferrara said he has not been subpoenaed to go before the grand jury.
Farsett, a Hamilton resident who is a former computer scientist for the U.S. Geological Survey, was stunned to hear his name was on a witness list when approached at his home earlier this week.
“I’m a friend of JoJo’s from way back,” he said.
Though Farsett said he’s never been contacted by anyone from the FBI or U.S. Attorney’s Office and not been subpoenaed by the grand jury, Farsett did receive a letter last month notifying him calls he made to Giorgianni may have been recorded.
“Don’t friends call each other?” he asked.
Farsett lived on Brunswick Avenue in Trenton until 2005, when his property was purchased by Capital Health for additional parking at their hospital now known as the Regional Medical Center.
When asked if Giorgianni was involved in the sale, Farsett said he was not totally sure.
“Not directly,” he said.
Farsett said he told Giorgianni about the offer for his property, but was unsure if Giorgianni had worked on his behalf to get the purchase price up. “They gave me a good price for it,” he said.
Farsett then stopped the interview and shut the door of his house.
Contact Alex Zdan at azdan@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5705.
Complete coverage of the FBI arrest of Mayor Tony Mack:
• Official testifies in Trenton Mayor Tony Mack corruption case
• Trenton Mayor Tony Mack grand jury hearing in corruption case is under way
• Trenton Mayor Tony Mack attends FBI pre-indictment information exchange
• Documents show scope of FBI wiretapping in Trenton Mayor Tony Mack corruption probe
• Trenton Mayor Tony Mack's administration was 'good corruption,' his supporter tells FBI
• Fate of Trenton Mayor Tony Mack's brother, also charged with corruption, remains unclear
• Trenton Mayor Tony Mack corruption scandal's three main players
• Excerpts from criminal complaint filed against Trenton Mayor Tony Mack, two others
• Joseph 'JoJo' Giorgianni ordered under house arrest in Tony Mack case, separate drug charges
• Trenton Mayor Tony Mack is released on $150K bail on corruption charge
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