WCNYH

MAINTENANCE MAN APPLICANT DENIED FOR ASSOCIATION WITH MEMBERS OF COLOMBO AND GENOVESE FAMILIES

August 14, 2017

   Anthony Battaglia, 48, of Staten Island, New York, an applicant for a maintenance man position, was denied a registration today by the Waterfront Commission following a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ).

   The ALJ found that Battaglia had associated with Gary Gugliaro between 2001 and 2008 while they were both employed as delegates in Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, a bus drivers’ union. During that time, Battaglia and Gugliaro shared common office space, worked together three out of five days a week and occasionally shared rides to work. The Commission had established at the hearing that Gary Gugliaro was a member of the Colombo crime family who had ultimately been removed from the bus drivers’ union by a trustee based on his organized crime ties. The Commission further found that the association between Battaglia and Gugliaro was inimical to the policies of the Waterfront Commission Act, namely to ensure fair hiring in the workplace and to ensure that organized crime has no place on the ports.

    In addition, the Commission also found that Battaglia committed fraud, deceit or misrepresentation on his longshoreman application by failing to acknowledge that he associated Gugliaro and with his father, Salvatore “Sally Hot Dogs” Battaglia, a member of the Genovese crime family. Salvatore Battaglia had also served as union Local 1181 president until he was convicted on federal racketeering charges and sent to prison for taking bribes connected to the bus drivers’ union.

    Further, the Commission found that Battaglia represented a danger to the public peace or safety in the Port of New York district based on his association with Gugliaro as well as the fraud, deceit or misrepresentation on his application regarding his father’s reputed membership in the Genovese crime family.