Copyright 1993 Newsday, Inc.  
 
Newsday (New York)
April 9, 1993, Friday, CITY EDITION
SECTION: BUSINESS; Pg. 37
Other Edition: Nassau and Suffolk Pg. 30

LENGTH: 380 words

HEADLINE: Guilty Pleas in Pension Fund Theft;
Topless bar owner, alleged mob capo both face 20-year sentences

BYLINE: Kenneth C. Crowe

BODY:
The owner of an Island Park, L.I., topless nightclub and a purported Genovese crime family "captain" yesterday pleaded guilty to labor racketeering charges accusing them of draining $ 27 million from a New York City construction union pension fund.

In addition to facing a maximum of 20 years in prison, Ronald Miceli, 42, of Oceanside, L.I., agreed in pleading guilty to forfeit the $ 450,000 yacht, four Mercedes Benz cars, and various pieces of real estate that he bought with his share of the theft of the union pension fund - uncovered in a Newsday investigation in July, 1991.

Miceli, free on $ 2 million bail, owns the Mirage Bar in Island Park, one of the clubs where the controversial "Girls of Goldfingers" dance.

James Messera, 56, identified by the federal government as a mob capo, also pleaded guilty to racketeering before U.S. District Court Judge John E. Sprizzo. Messera, who also faces 20 years in prison, is currently serving a 37-month prison term after pleading guilty in 1990 in a separate racketeering case accusing him of dominating the Mason Tenders'' District Council.

In January, Frank Lupo, 45, of Massapequa, who quit as district council president after being indicted in the scheme last September, pleaded guilty to racketeering charges along with Charles Trentacosta, 32, of Staten Island, identified as a Genovese crime family associate.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Orin Snyder said the four would be sentenced sometime this summer.

Lupo's brother, James Lupo, has succeeded him as president of the district council, which covers 10 union locals in the city. Its 10,000 members do some of the hardest physical work on construction sites.

The Newsday investigation showed that the pension fund, whose co-counsel is North Hempstead Republican Town Board member Gerard W. Cunningham, bought a loft on West 18th Street in Manhattan from Miceli for $ 24 million - more than three times the price he paid - and another eight buildings in Brooklyn, including one that collapsed, for $ 3.4 million.

Snyder said that after investing another $ 4.5 million in renovations the Manhattan building, the union's own real estate experts placed the value of the property at $ 5 million - less than one sixth of the $ 32 million invested in it..