Secret Partner At One World Trade Center Construction Firm Pleads Guilty To Obstruction Of Justice And Making A False Tax Return

Earlier today, Vincent Vertuccio, who has maintained a long affiliation with the Bonanno organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra, pleaded guilty at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, New York, to conspiring to alter records for use in a grand jury investigation and to making and subscribing a false tax return. The plea was entered before United States District Judge Eric N. Vitaliano. Pursuant to Vertuccio’s plea agreement with the government, Vertuccio agreed to pay over $1 million in restitution as part of the sentence imposed by the Court.

The plea was announced by Bridget M. Rohde, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Kathy A. Enstrom, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, New York (IRS); Michael C. Mikulka, Special Agent-in-Charge, United States Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations (DOL-OIG); and Michael Nestor, Inspector General for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (Port Authority-OIG). For its investigative work and assistance in the case, Ms. Rohde also extended her grateful appreciation to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office.

According to court filings and facts presented during the plea proceeding, Vertuccio was under investigation by a grand jury in the Eastern District of New York for conspiring to defraud the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in connection with the One World Trade Center project located in lower Manhattan, as well as related money laundering and tax crimes. As uncovered through the grand jury investigation, Vertuccio had hidden his control of Crimson Construction Corporation (Crimson) during the bidding process for the One World Trade Center project in light of his ties to organized crime and so as to hide taxable income that he received through Crimson. As part of the investigation, the grand jury issued a subpoena in March 2013 to a Manhattan jewelry store for records relating to some of Vertuccio’s unreported income, which he received in the form of high-end jewelry. Vertuccio conspired to alter the invoices and sales receipts issued by the Manhattan jewelry store before the store provided the records to the grand jury, thereby concealing some of his taxable income and his role in Crimson. In addition to the obstruction scheme, Vertuccio also admitted to filing a false tax return for calendar year 2011. The investigation revealed that Vertuccio directed that a substantial amount of money from Crimson’s bank accounts be used to pay for his personal expenses, which Vertuccio failed to report as taxable income on his federal personal income tax returns.

When sentenced by Judge Vitaliano, Vertuccio faces up to 20 years in prison. As part of the plea, Vertuccio agreed to make restitution payments to the Port Authority in the amount of $1,089,771.09 and to the Internal Revenue Service in the amount of $374,057.30. The trial against Vertuccio’s alleged co-conspirator on the obstruction of justice charge, attorney John Servider, is scheduled to begin on June 12, 2017.

The government’s case is being handled jointly by the Office’s Organized Crime & Gangs Section and the Public Integrity Section. Assistant United States Attorneys M. Kristin Mace, Lan Nguyen, Jonathan P. Lax and Tanya Hajjar are in charge of the prosecution.

The Defendant:

VINCENT VERTUCCIO, a/k/a “Vinny”

Age: 61

Maspeth, New York

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 15-CR-174 (ENV)