Copyright 1988 The New York Times Company  
The New York Times
November 19, 1988, Saturday, Late City Final Edition
SECTION: Section 1; Page 30, Column 6; Metropolitan Desk

LENGTH: 585 words

HEADLINE: 10 Are Guilty Of Corruption In Construction

BYLINE: By JESUS RANGEL

BODY:
Ten men, including several union officers, were convicted in Federal District Court in Brooklyn last night in a case involving corruption in the billion-dollar construction industry in New York City. Four other defendants were acquitted.

The verdict came after a two-month trial in which prosecutors charged that the defendants had systematically ''bled'' the construction industry in Queens through a pattern of extortion, bribery, collusion and fraud.

The indictment accused the defendants of accepting or extorting payoffs from contractors in return for labor peace and, in other cases, of rigging bids on projects to reward companies that paid the bribes and to punish those that did not.

Nine of the defendants are or were officials of unions in the concrete, masonry or carpentry trades. The others were contractors or labor union members.

The defendants charged with the most serious crimes were Basil Robert Cervone Sr., 75 years old, for many years an officer and business agent of Mason Tenders Local 13 in Queens, and his son, Joseph Cervone, 50, the president of the local.
 
Son Testified About Payoffs

They were convicted on various charges, including labor bribery and fraud. Mr. Cervone Sr. was also convicted of extortion and racketeering. Federal prosecutors had charged that the two men used fear and violence to induce payoffs from building contractors.

Another of Mr. Cervone's sons, 39-year-old Basil Robert Cervone Jr., was the main prosecution witness. Mr. Cervone Jr. testified that he collected and cashed paychecks from contractors made out to ''ghost'' employees and turned the money over to his father.

Mr. Cervone Jr., who worked as a laborer on construction jobs and served as a vice president of the masonry local, also testified that seven other people collected envelopes with money for his father.

Those acquitted of all charges were George Barba, 45, of Palisades, N.Y., president and owner of Brix Inc., a masonry contractor; John Cerasuolo, 52, of Flushing, Queens, a shop steward for Mason Tenders Local 13; Nicola Ranieri, 53, of Bayside, Queens, a shop steward for the local, and Ralph Morea, 53, of Howard Beach, Queens, president and owner of Morea Inc., a masonry contractor.

Stanley A. Teitler, who represented Mr. Ranieri, said he was delighted at the acquittal. ''As someone who has handled a lot of RICO cases, this has restored my faith in the system,'' Mr. Teitler said.

These men were convicted on federal racketeering charges::
 
Basil Robert Cervone Sr.
 
Peter A. Vario, 42, of Howard Beach, Queens, the business manager of Mason Tenders Local 46.
 
Henry Walaski, 67, of Bayside, Queens, a business agent for Local 531 of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners.
 

These men were convicted of charges ranging from obstruction of justice to mail and wire fraud::
 
Joseph Cervone.
 
Joseph Frangipane, 62, of Staten Island, a business agent of Local 20 of the Cement and Concrete Workers Union.
 
George Bernesser, 55, of Northport, N.Y., president and owner of Bernesser Masonry Corp.
 
Albert Joseph DiBernardo, an owner of A.J.

DiBernardo and Sons Inc., a construction company.
 
Anthony Perna, 54, of Flushing, Queens, owner and operator of Perna Contrating Co.
 
Edward Cummings, 37, of Hicksville, L.I., a site supervisor for Benjamin Contracting Corp., a builder of residential properties.
 
Vincent Vanacore, 60, of Plainview, L.I., a shop steward with Mason Tenderss Local 13.