U.S. v. Genova
| Decision Date | 22 October 2001 |
| Docket Number | No. 00 CR 585.,00 CR 585. |
| Citation | 167 F.Supp.2d 1021 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. Jerome P. GENOVA, Lawrence P. Gulotta, and Jerome J. Stack, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois |
Jonathan D. King, United States Attorney's Office, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff.
Charles B. Sklarsky, Anton Ronald Valukas, Terence George Banich, II, Jenner & Block, Stanley L. Hill, Stanley L. Hill & Associates, P.C., Dalal M. Jarad, James D. Tunick, Law Offices of James D. Tunick, Edward Marvin Genson, Genson and Gillespie, Chicago, IL, for Defendants.
It is the Court's hope that all attorneys who read this opinion will be reminded that the practice of law is a public trust to be sacredly guarded and not a right given to any person. As detailed herein, this criminal trial involves two lawyers who stand convicted of serious criminal charges as well as a third lawyer who the Court concludes committed the crime of perjury. The Court strongly believes these men have dishonored the legal profession and should be disbarred.
The defendant Lawrence P. Gulotta ("Gulotta"), with the consent of the United States, voluntarily waived his right to a jury trial. A consolidated trial, with Gulotta's two co-defendants Jerome P. Genova ("Genova") and Jerome J. Stack ("Stack") proceeding before a jury, was held from July 29, 2001 to August 21, 2001. The Court, having reviewed all the evidence, its trial notes and the testimony of the witnesses to determine the credibility of each witness, hereby enters the following findings of fact and conclusions of law pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 23(c).
Count One of the indictment charged that Genova, Gulotta and Stack knowingly conducted and participated in the conduct of the affairs of Calumet City, Illinois ("Calumet City"), through a pattern of racketeering activity. The vast majority of the racketeering acts charged in Count One constitute two broad schemes that involved the conduct of Genova following his election to the position of Mayor of Calumet City in 1993:(1) an attorney fees kickback scheme with his City Prosecutor (Racketeering Acts One through Four); and (2) his scheme to misappropriate Calumet City funds with his Commissioner of Public Works, Stack, primarily through the misuse of Calumet City Municipal employees (Racketeering Acts Five through Nineteen).
This opinion's primary focus is those portions of the indictment that related to the attorney fees kickback scheme between Genova and Gulotta. In relevant part, the indictment alleged that beginning in approximately December 1993 and continuing until at least February 1, 2000, the defendants used Calumet City as an enterprise to conduct a pattern of racketeering activity, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1961(1) and 1961(5), which included the following:
(a) failing to report and disclose, as required by law, more than $125,000 in payments to Genova from Gulotta and his private law firm, Gulotta & Kawanna, formerly named Antonietti & Gulotta (the "Law Firm"), which both had received more than $418,000 in legal fees from Calumet City during the time of the payments to Genova;
(b) causing the payment of more than $125,000 to Genova from Gulotta and the Law Firm, for legal services purportedly rendered by Genova, knowing that Genova did not actually perform the substantial part of this legal work; and
(c) retaining Genova in the capacity of an associate of, and consultant to, Gulotta and the Law Firm, in order to provide Genova with more than $125,000 in payments which were intended, at least in part, to pay back Genova for exercising the power of his office to cause Calumet City to award legal work to Gulotta and the Law Firm. (Indictment, ¶ 5.)
The relevant pattern of racketeering activity alleged for purposes of this opinion was set forth in Racketeering Acts One through Four, which detailed the attorney fees kickback scheme. (Id., ¶ 6.) The indictment alleged that after Genova was elected the Mayor of Calumet City in 1993 he appointed Gulotta to the position of City Prosecutor and caused Calumet City to hire and contract the Law Firm. (Id., ¶¶ 1(k), 7.) This kickback scheme was devised to both defraud the people of Calumet City of their intangible right to the honest services of Genova and Gulotta and to obtain money and property from the people of Calumet City by means of material false and fraudulent pretenses and representations which included: (1) false assertions that $125,000 paid to Genova between early 1994 and 1997 was compensation for legal work, when in actuality Genova did not have to perform a substantial part of this purported legal work, (id., ¶¶ 9, 10); and (2) Genova's failure to disclose any of the payments he received from Gulotta and the Law Firm on the Statement of Economic Interest forms he filed with the Cook County Clerk in 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998, or to the City Council of Calumet City (the "City Council") prior to, during or after its deliberations to pay legal fees to Gulotta and the Law Firm and to reappoint him as its City Prosecutor. (Id., ¶¶ 11-13.)
Racketeering Act One specifically alleged that even though Gulotta and the Law Firm provided Genova with approximately $19,451 in payments, that on or about March 23, 1995, Genova and Gulotta committed mail fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1341 and 1346, in that for purposes of executing the alleged attorney fees kickback scheme they knowingly caused a letter to be delivered to the Cook County Clerk, a Statement of Economic Interest, that falsely declared that Genova had not served in any advisory capacity for any professional organization from which he received in excess of $1,200. (Id., ¶ 17(a).) Racketeering Act One also alleges a violation of the Illinois Official Misconduct laws, 720 ILCS 5/33-3(c) and 720 ILCS 5/5-1, in that Genova and Gulotta obtained money and property from the people of Calumet City through the performance of official acts by Genova as Mayor in excess of his lawful authority, by:
(1) filing a Statement of Economic Interest signed by Genova, falsely declaring that he had not served in any advisory capacity for any professional organization from which he had received in excess of $1,200 during the preceding calendar year, and that he had not rendered professional services to the Law Firm from which he had received fees in excess of $5,000 during the preceding calendar year, in violation of 5 ILCS 420/4A-101 and 107;
(2) taking and maintaining a direct and indirect interest, in his own name, in contracts and the performance of work in the making or letting of which Genova was called upon to act, that is, legal work provided by Gulotta and the Law Firm on behalf of Calumet City, in violation of 50 ILCS 105/3;
(3) taking and maintaining a direct and indirect interest in contract, work and business of Calumet City, that is, legal work provided by Gulotta and the Law Firm on behalf of Calumet City, when the expense, price and consideration of the contract, work or business was paid from the treasury, in violation of 50 ILCS 105/3; and,
(4) taking and receiving, directly and indirectly, money from Gulotta and the Law Firm as a bribe and means of influencing his action in his official character, in violation of the Calumet City Municipal Code, § 2-22; (Id., ¶ 17(b).)
Racketeering Act One alleged that the illicit relationship between Genova and Gulotta constituted bribery in violation of Illinois law in two distinct fashions. The behavior alleged violated 720 ILCS 5/33-1(d) because Genova received, retrieved and agreed to accept payments from Gulotta and the Law Firm, which he was not authorized by law to accept, knowing that the property was promised and tendered with intent to influence his performance of acts related to his employment as Mayor, including his ability to cause Calumet City to contract with Gulotta and the Law Firm to provide legal services to Calumet City. Finally, the indictment alleged that the illicit relationship also constituted bribery by Gulotta, in violation of 720 ILCS 5/33-1(a), in that he promised and tendered property, namely payments of money, to Genova, which he was not authorized to accept, with the intent to influence the performance of acts related to his employment as Mayor, including his ability to cause Calumet City to contract with Gulotta and the Law Firm to provide legal services to Calumet City.
Racketeering Act Two alleged the same mail fraud, Illinois official misconduct and bribery charges for the 1995 Gulotta payments of approximately $62,775 to Genova. Racketeering Acts Three and Four similarly alleged the same violations for the respective 1996 Gulotta payments of $38,775 and the 1997 Gulotta payments of $5,150 to Genova.
Count Two of the indictment alleged the crime of mail fraud because Genova and Gulotta's attorney fees kickback scheme defrauded the people of Calumet City of their intangible right to the honest services of Genova and was used to obtain money and property from the people of Calumet City.
The specific mailing alleged was the April 1, 1996 Statement of Economic Interest signed by Genova and mailed to the Cook County Clerk. (Id., Count Two.) Count Two was the same mail fraud charged, in part, in Racketeering Act Two. (Id., ¶ 19(a).) Count Two, as well as all the other mail fraud counts, also specifically charged a violation of the aiding and abetting statute which was most applicable to Gulotta's role in the offense. Count Three similarly alleged a mail fraud violation by Genova and Gulotta which related to the March 18, 1997 Statement of Economic Interest signed by Genova and mailed to the Cook County Clerk. (Id., ¶ 21(a).) Count Four of the indictment...
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