Sciortino is on the Oakhill hot seat

The “Strabala Tapes”, as they will be referred to in the annals of government corruption in the Mahoning Valley, help explain why members of the Mafia make it a practice to meet in steam rooms when talking business. When all you have on is a towel covering your privates, it’s difficult to wear a wire for the FBI. No, placing a bug “inside” the body doesn’t work.

So, how was it that Harry Strabala of Youngstown was able to spend a decade as an FBI informant secretly recording individuals in and out of government in the Mahoning Valley suspected of corruption?

Simple: Strabala, a self-styled political consultant, was welcomed into the circle of the corrupt because of his own criminal background.

In August 2002, the then 50-year-old Mount Vernon Avenue resident was sentenced to 90 days in jail and five years’ probation by Mahoning County Common Pleas Judge R. Scott Krichbaum for stealing $33,835 from the 7th Ward Citizens’ Coalition playground project at Ipe Field.

Strabala said his compulsive gambling was the root of his theft. He expressed shame and regret for what he had done.

But Judge Krichbaum, while acknowledging that the defendant had repaid the money, was unmoved by the sob story.

Krichbaum, who during is long tenure on the bench has turned the verbal put-down into an art form, reminded Strabala of a phrase he (Strabala) often repeated to his fellow volunteers: There is a special place in hell for people who steal from children.

The question

And so the question today: What does the FBI have on Strabala that would persuade him to not only become an informant for agents investigating government corruption in the Valley, but to do so for a decade?

As one of the key witnesses in the Oakhill Renaissance Place conspiracy trial that’s scheduled to begin in March, the informant will undoubtedly be asked about the recordings he made of his almost daily conversations with then county Auditor Michael Sciortino, one of the three defendants in the trial in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.

The other two defendants are Youngstown Mayor and former county Commissioner John A. McNally and Youngstown Atty. Martin Yavorcik.

All three face more than 80 criminal charges, including engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, bribery, conspiracy and money laundering. The charges are related to a grand conspiracy cooked up by Anthony M. Cafaro Sr., retired president of the Cafaro Co., who sought to block county commissioners from buying Oakhill Renaissance Place, the former Southside Medical Center.

McNally was a commissioner at the time, as were Anthony Traficanti and David Ludt. Traficanti and Ludt ultimately voted to buy Oakhill and then moved the county Job and Family Services agency from the Cafaro Co.-owned Garland Plaza on Youngstown’s East Side. McNally opposed the transaction.

Sciortino, McNally and Yavorcik have pleaded not guilty.

For a long time, the issue of the secret tape recordings in the possession of the FBI and now in the hands of prosecutors in Cuyahoga County – they have been turned over to defense lawyers – has been one of the points of contention in this case.

The other has been the unidentified key confidential witness for the prosecution.

Defense lawyers were successful in getting the judge to publicly lift the veil that kept Strabala officially hidden from sight.

Now, with his identity known, the complexion of the case changes. There’s no doubt he was welcomed into the Valley’s political fold by those who sought to make use of his talents as a consultant, and that he became a confidante to some, such as Sciortino and former county Probate Judge Mark Belinky, who resigned from the bench and then pleaded guilty to a charge of tampering with records. Belinky’s law license was yanked.

And that’s the fate that awaits Sciortino, McNally and Yavorcik if they are found guilty of the criminal charges.

The “Strabala Tapes” suggest that Sciortino is the most vulnerable of the three because of the symbiotic relationship between the then auditor and the informant. Daily conversations have a way of tearing down barriers. One can only imagine Sciortino treating Strabala as some sort of Father Confessor and sharing with him the sordid details of his public life.

There was a hint of the FBI’s interest in the county auditor after agents interviewed him about the night of May 26, 2013, when sheriff’s deputies stopped Sciortino on Route 244 on suspicion of driving drunk. As Scortino was being arrested, a high ranking member of the sheriff’s department showed up, stopped the arrest and drove Sciortino home.

There was no explanation for why the FBI agents were interested in the traffic stop, but this writer speculated the auditor was on the federal agency’s radar.

That speculation has now been confirmed by the “Strabala Tapes.”

Given what transpired last week, here’s some advice to Sciortino: Cut your losses and make a deal with prosecutors in the Oakhill conspiracy case. You just might avoid a long prison sentence.

The price for making a deal won’t be very high since you’re already on tape – in all probability discussing your role in the conspiracy. You will have to give up Anthony M. Cafaro Sr., but that shouldn’t be too difficult, seeing as how he has been identified in court documents as the mastermind.

As for the question, “What does the FBI have on Strabala that would cause him to be on the FBI’s leash for 10 years?” The answer will come out in the March trial.