FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          AT
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1995                       (202) 616-2771
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888


   FORMER NEW YORK SUPPLIER OF DISPLAY MATERIALS TO CONNECTICUT
   LIQUOR COMPANY CHARGED IN BID RIGGING, TAX FRAUD CONSPIRACY

     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A New York executive and his company
agreed to plead guilty today for involvement in a bid rigging and
tax fraud conspiracy involving contracts awarded by a Farmington,
Connecticut, liquor company to supply product advertising and
display materials to retail stores, said the Department of
Justice.  In a related case, a Connecticut man also agreed to
plead guilty to income tax evasion for his involvement in the
conspiracy.
     To date, seven individuals and one corporation have pleaded
guilty to various federal charges as a result of the Department's
ongoing antitrust investigation of bid rigging, commercial
bribery and tax related offenses in the display industry.
     The Department's cases, filed in U.S. District Court in New
York City, charged Richard Rituno and his company, Consumer
Displays Inc., with rigging bids from 1989 until mid 1991.  The
defendants also were charged with tax fraud.
     Rituno and Consumer Displays were charged with participating
in a conspiracy to rig bids and allocate contracts awarded by
Heublein Inc. to supply retail stores with display stands,
banners and counter cards.  The charge describes how Rituno
conspired with unnamed co-conspirators to designate the low
bidder on contracts, arranged for the submission of higher
noncompetitive price quotations or bids from other suppliers, and
paid kickbacks to a Heublein purchasing agent who assisted in the
scheme.  
     Rituno and Consumer Displays were also charged with tax
fraud in connection with a conspiracy to raise and accumulate
approximately $118,500, in cash to pay kickbacks to purchasing
agents at Heublein and for other purposes, and engaging in a
series of sham transactions to overstate his company's expenses,
take false tax deductions and conceal cash income that was not
reported to tax authorities.
     In the related case also filed today, the Department said
Richard Sanislo, a former purchasing agent at Heublein and
resident of Avon, Connecticut, evaded paying income tax on
approximately $22,000, which represented kickbacks he received
over a five-year period from Rituno and another display materials
vendor he did business with while employed at Heublein.
     Anne K. Bingaman, Assistant Attorney General in charge of
the Antitrust Division, said the cases are part of the Department
of Justice's ongoing antitrust investigation of bid rigging,
commercial bribery and tax related offenses in the display
industry and is being conducted by the Antitrust Division's New
York Field Office with the assistance of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service.  
     The maximum penalty for an individual convicted of a
violation of the Sherman Act committed after November 16, 1990,
is three years in prison and a fine not to exceed the greatest of
$350,000, twice the pecuniary gain the individual derived from
the crime or twice the pecuniary loss caused to the victims of
the crime.  
     The maximum penalty for a corporation convicted of a
violation of the Sherman Act committed after November 16, 1990,
is a fine not to exceed the greatest of $10 million, twice the
pecuniary gain the corporation derived from the crime or twice
the pecuniary loss caused to the victims of the crime.
     The maximum penalty for an individual convicted of a
conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service or income tax
evasion is five years in prison and a fine not to exceed the
greatest of $250,000, twice the pecuniary gain the individual
derived from the crime or twice the pecuniary loss to the
victims.  
     Anyone with information concerning bid rigging, bribery or
fraud in the display industry may contact the New York Division
of the FBI at (212) 335-2700.              
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