Tuesday, April 26, 1983/The Battalion/Page 5
Mafia head awaits
word on freedom
Drivers start your engines...
staff photo by David Fisher
It was off to the races Monday night with the Silver
pullet Minicar races at Tecs restaurant. Jeny Moller,
general studies freshman from Corpus Christi, and
Todd Handwerk, a building construction senior from
Katy, line up their cars at the start. Coors and Tecs
sponsored the races to raise money for Spina Bifida.
United Press International
NEW ORLEANS — Aging
Mafia patriarch Carlos Marcel
lo, guarded around the clock by
federal marshals because of
threats on his life, hoped a court
would free him from jail Mon
day pending appeals of federal
racketeering charges.
Marcello and former state
Commissioner of Administra
tion Charles Roemer were
ordered tojail earlier this month
when the 5th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals upheld their 1981
convictions for plotting to trade
bribes for lucrative state insur
ance contracts.
The 5th Circuit has been
asked to rehear the so-called
Brilab case, and the U.S. Sup
reme Court has been asked to
free both men during appeals.
Marcello’s lawyers so far have
managed to keep the ailing 73-
year-old Mafia kingpin behind
bars in New Orleans instead of
in a Missouri prison hospital
where he should serve his term.
A federal judge last week re
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_ United Press International
HOUSTON — FBI agents are
lestigating allegations of kick-
kks to present and former
■rials of the city’s Metropoli-
■ Transit Authority, a radio
■ion reported today.
■KTRH radio, in a copyright
ed report, said federal sources
■ confirmed a probe into
leged manipulation of two
jwkimillion dollar bus rehabili-
jon contracts with the nation’s
gest bus rebuilder, the Blitz
Corporation of Chicago.
Blitz received two contracts in
late 1980 and 1981 to repair the
MTA’s badly damaged bus fleet
which was under criticism for in
efficiency in early 1980.
Internal memos obtained by
KTRH revealed key metro staff
members expressed concerns of
irregularities and illegalities in
the handlings of the contracts
with Blitz.
Among the charges being in
vestigated are double billing, fal
sification of work orders and
possible theft of metro parts,
KTRH reported.
The station reported former
MTA operations manager Clar
ence Jiuliani and current Gener
al Manager of Administrative
Services Beverly Grisby were the
focus of the FBI investigation.
Jiuliani resigned with former
MTA Executive Director Walter
Addison in 1981, who was un
available for comment.
Grisby was in charge of con
tracts in 1981. She confirmed
the FBI had questioned her ab
out her role in drawing up the
contracts with Blitz.
The station said the FBI has
contacted the Justice Depart
ment about expanding the
probe and assigning parts of the
investigation to other federal
agencies with more immediate
jurisdiction.
Additional allegations unco
vered include alleged fraudu
lent real estate deals, bid rig
ging, misuse of federal. funds
and conflict of interest charges.
MTA board chairman Dan
Arnold refused to say if he had
been contacted by FBI and had
no comment On FBI investiga
tion, KTRH said.
FBI Agent Tim Moody, who
is in charge of the investigation,
would neither confirm or deny
the reports of the investigation.
commended to the U.S. Justice
Department that Marcello be
allowed to serve his seven-year
racketeering sentence in his
hometown until all appeals are
exhausted.
The 5-foot-1 “Little Man” of
Gulf Coast organized crime,
whose holdings have been esti
mated at $60 million, has been
jailed in New Orleans since
April 15. Marcello was arrested
after prosecutors said they
feared he would leave the coun
try before his federal sentence
started.
He is isolated on a lower floor
of the 10-story Community Cor
rectional Center where he is
being held.
“I don’t want him unnecessar
ily around a lot of persons,” said
Criminal Sheriff Charles Foti.
He said Marcello was watched
closely because of his age and his
history of health problems.
He is also being watched
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In the Plaza
with
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closely since federal officials
confirmed there have been
threats on Marcello’s life.
In addition to his Brilab con
viction, Marcello also was found
guilty in 1981 in California of
conspiring to pay off a federal
judge.
With a criminal record dating
to his teenage years, Marcello
managed until Brilab to mini
mize his confrontations with the
law. Even though he was the un
disputed head of the Cosa Nos
tra in the Gulf South and dealt
heavily in bookmaking, prostitu
tion and narcotics he was not
arrested frequently. In more
than half a century the FBI
made only robbery, marijuana
and assault charges stick.
Roemer, the most powerful
official under former Gov.
Edwin Edwards, was given until
May 16 to begin his three-year
term.