By Chris Fuchs
The misdemeanor trial of a former city Department of Buildings employee accused of accepting gifts in exchange for providing favors to a Queens building consultant ended last week in a mistrial after the jury was unable to reach a verdict after deliberating for three days.
The trial in State Supreme Court in Manhattan revolved largely around the testimony of the consultant, Ronald Lattanzio, who was a contributor to City Councilman Thomas Ognibene’s (R-Middle Village) 1997 campaign and who testified that he had given the councilman tickets to a concert and at least two vacations.
Sherry Hunter, a spokeswoman for Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, said he must decide by late July whether to refile charges against Darral Hilton, the former chief Buildings Department inspector for Brooklyn, who had been accused of accepting meals and tickets to sporting events from Lattanzio.
“We’ll have to review the transcript and make a decision,” Hunter said.
Hilton was the first of eight men to go on trial as a result of a four-year investigation, conducted by Manhattan district attorney into corruption at the Buildings Department. Five were Buildings Department employees, including a former Queens commissioner, who have been charged with taking bribes in exchange for providing official favors.
In 1998, after pleading guilty to charges of bribery and evidence tampering, Lattanzio signed a plea agreement with prosecutors in which he allowed the phones at his consulting firm, A&E Consulting Services, to be wiretapped. In his plea agreement, Lattanzio admitted to maintaining “a corrupt relationship” with a city councilman and his staff.
In one instance, court papers showed that Ognibene, a close ally of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and the city council minority leader, was going to submit the name of Barry Cox, the former deputy commissioner of the Buildings Department who has also been charged, for the position of vice president of the School Construction Authority.
Prosecutors also contend that James Leonard, former Queens borough commissioner, had been willing to assist Ognibene by amending a certificate of occupancy for a house owned by the mother of an acquaintance of the councilman. Leonard, who has been charged in the case, was a prospective candidate for city Buildings Department commissioner.
Reach reporter Chris Fuchs by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 156.
