TRAFICANT CASE Judge gives Bucci probation

The congressman has hired a lawyer and wants his sentencing to be delayed 60 days.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
CLEVELAND -- The crooked contractor who handed federal prosecutors U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. on a platter won't spend any time in prison.
Anthony R. Bucci, formerly of Liberty, was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court to two years' probation, with the first six weeks confined to his Florida home. U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. called it a very fair sentence.
"It was a tough decision. The judge was asked to do something extraordinary, but he felt it was justified in this case," Bucci's Cleveland attorney, Robert J. Rotatori Sr., said after court. "The ends justified the means here."
Rotatori said Bucci's family has been living a "hellish life" for nearly three years. Bucci said he moved to Florida because he was cooperating with the government and, now that it's over, hopes to get a job and get on with his life.
In May 1999, Bucci pleaded guilty to mail fraud and conspiracy to defraud the IRS. He moved to Florida that summer.
Bucci, looking for a way to reduce his pending 18- to 24-month sentence, went with his lawyer to the FBI in August 1999 with what he knew about Traficant, of Poland, D-17th. Bucci told the government that he provided labor and materials at Traficant's Greenford horse farm in return for congressional favors.
Helped prosecution
Craig S. Morford, an assistant U.S. attorney, told Judge Oliver that Bucci's cooperation was extraordinary. The prosecutor said Bucci provided allegations the government had never heard against Traficant.
Morford said he had doubts at first, because he didn't believe Traficant, who had beaten bribery charges once before, would be "foolish enough" to do the things Bucci alleged. Because of Bucci, the government initiated its investigation of Traficant, the prosecutor said in court.
Bucci also supplied the names of other contractors who did work at the congressman's farm and met with the government countless times as it built its case, Morford said. Bucci showed remorse and humbleness, the prosecutor said.
Rotatori told the judge that Bucci wanted to cleanse his soul. The lawyer said Bucci has four daughters -- two are lawyers, one is a doctor and one teaches handicapped children.
Judge Oliver was persuaded by Morford's description of Bucci's assistance and agreed to reduce the contractor's sentence to the zero- to six-month range. Within that range, probation is permissible under the federal sentencing guidelines.
Traficant sentencing
Traficant's 10-count indictment, meanwhile, was handed up May 4, 2001, and a jury found him guilty on all counts two months ago. He will be sentenced June 27 on convictions of racketeering, bribery, obstruction of justice and tax evasion.
Cleveland attorney Richard E. Hackerd filed a motion Tuesday afternoon asking that Traficant's sentencing be delayed 60 days. Hackerd explained that he was hired Monday by the congressman and needs time to prepare.
Bucci received immunity from prosecution after first invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and testified at Traficant's trial, which lasted 10 weeks. Morford walked the contractor through every crime he ever committed.
Bucci and his brother once owned Asphalt Specialist Inc. then Prime Contractors in Girard. The now-defunct companies had bid primarily on federal, state and county highway projects.
Over the years, Bucci cheated the IRS, paid bribes to ex-Mahoning County Engineer William P. Fergus and ran scams on the Ohio Department of Transportation and U.S. Department of Labor.
Bucci testified that he tried in vain in the late 1980s to collect nearly $13,000 from Traficant for work done at the farm and even threatened a lawsuit. Bucci said he and his brother decided they had a choice: "Basically we were gonna sue a congressman or for $13,000, own him."
Intervened for Bucci
With the debt forgiven, Traficant interceded on Bucci's behalf with federal and state agencies whenever needed until 1996, Bucci testified at trial.
As exhibits, Morford showed letters with Traficant's U.S. House of Representatives letterhead sent to whomever was giving Bucci a hard time.
Bucci said his crews delivered oats, sand for the corral and sawdust for horses' bedding; slagged roads, the driveway and parking lot; re-graded for better drainage; hauled away trash; re-supported the old farmhouse foundation and much more. Bucci also gave Traficant a riding lawn mower worth about $3,000 that the congressman asked for.
A Bucci mechanic, Joseph Altiero, testified that he worked several months at the farm, paid by Bucci, not Traficant.
Altiero's instructions were to "do whatever [Traficant] needed to make him happy," Bucci testified.
When Bucci landed a paving job in Poland, the congressman wanted some of the blacktop meant for the streets used at his home on Main Street, Bucci testified. "I told him it was too risky; I didn't know the inspector," the contractor said.
Weathersfield contract
When Weathersfield Township owed Bucci for paving that turned out to be shoddy, Bucci said he knew where to find George F. Buccella, a township trustee -- on Traficant's farm. At the time, Buccella also was a congressional staffer who has testified that he worked on the farm while collecting a federal paycheck.
Bucci said Traficant told Buccella to make sure the paving debt got paid. Bucci said he got paid.
Buccella is now the Trumbull County Health Board administrator.
Bucci also testified about Greg Tyson, who once owned Capitol Ready Mix in Youngstown.
"He was black -- he was gonna be our minority," Bucci said. The scam, Bucci said, was to set Tyson up as a "paper contractor" and, being black, he would pre-qualify for minority contracts with ODOT.
Tyson had trouble getting a $600,000 to $800,000 bank loan to buy Bucci's concrete batch plant inside Bucci's building. "He was really paying for nothing -- I had absolute control," Bucci said.
Traficant stepped in to get Bank One to lend Tyson the money, Bucci said, noting that Tyson "couldn't get a loan to buy a newspaper."
Tyson got the loan, then defaulted on it, Bucci testified.
meade@vindy.com