Copyright 1995 The New York Times Company  
The New York Times
April 23, 1995, Sunday, Late Edition - Final
SECTION: Section 1;   Page 39;   Column 2;   Metropolitan Desk  

LENGTH: 833 words

HEADLINE: Officials Say School Bus System Has Ties to Mob

BYLINE:  By SELWYN RAAB  

BODY:
Former and current officials of the union and 14 companies negotiating a new contract for New York City's school bus service have longstanding connections with organized-crime figures, according to court records and law enforcement authorities.

Two representatives of the union, Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, have been co-defendants with Genovese crime family leaders in criminal and civil racketeering cases. The companies until the early 1990's employed suspected Mafia leaders or had business affiliations with them.

The possible infiltration of the school bus industry by the Mafia has led Edward F. Stancik, Special Commissioner of Investigation for the New York City school district, to investigate several companies.

"We are engaged in an investigation into ties between some school bus companies and organized crime," Mr. Stancik said in an interview on Friday. He added that his inquiry began before the union threatened to strike this month over job security.

He declined to give more details or identify the companies under investigation.

Law enforcement officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Mr. Stancik was looking into reports of "sweetheart contracts" giving some companies competitive advantages and higher profits by excusing them from paying the top wages and health and pension benefits set by Local 1181.

John Ambrosio, the president of Local 1181, and Ronald A. Straci, the union's lawyer, did not return telephone calls for comment on the inquiry. The local represents about 6,000 bus drivers, chaperones and mechanics.

The representatives of Local 1181 who have been linked to the Genovese family are Julius Bernstein, an organizer who is a member of the union's negotiating team with the city and companies, and Wilfred L. Davis, who resigned in February as the local's chief lawyer.

Mr. Davis, who represented the local and its pension and welfare funds, was named in September as a defendant in a civil racketeering suit involving the Genovese family and corruption in another union, the Mason Tenders District Council of Greater New York.

A prosecutor, Allan N. Taffet, charged in the suit in Federal District Court in Manhattan that between 1987 and 1991 Mr. Davis helped arrange deals in which the union bought real estate at inflated prices from Genovese family members. According to the suit, Mafia bosses reaped more than $10 million from the deals, and the union's losses shrank pensions and medical benefits for its 7,000 members.

Frank Lupo, the former president of the Mason Tenders union, who is serving a four-year prison sentence in a labor racketeering case, said in an affidavit that Mr. Davis had paid him $50,000 to be retained as the union's lawyer.

The suit seeks to fine Mr. Davis and to ban him permanently from representing unions. Mr. Davis, who has denied the charges, did not return calls seeking comment.

Matthew Ianiello, who Federal prosecutors say is a captain in the Genovese family, was convicted in the mid-1980's in Manhattan on Federal racketeering charges and is serving a 24-year prison sentence.

In December 1990, Mr. Bernstein acknowledged in an interview that he had often visited Mr. Ianiello in prison and had met with men identified by law enforcement agencies as Gambino family captains. At that time, Mr. Bernstein said the meetings with Mr. Ianiello and the reputed Gambino family leaders were unrelated to union business.

Mr. Bernstein did not respond to requests for interviews last week about Mr. Stancik's investigation.

The heads of two companies, known as the Greene and Curcio groups, employed until the early 1990's men identified by prosecutors as captains in the Gambino and Colombo families.

Joseph Curcio, the president of Consolidated Bus Transit, and his relatives own three other companies that have school bus contracts for $20.9 million this year. Frank Dapolito, described by Federal authorities as a Gambino family captain, was the personnel manager of Mr. Curcio's companies in the late 1980's and early 1990's.

Mr. Dapolito was convicted last year in Federal District Court in Brooklyn on racketeering and loan-sharking charges and is serving a 30-month prison sentence.

Mr. Curcio, in an interview, denied any link to organized crime.

On Dec. 26, 1990, The New York Times reported on Mr. Dapolito's affiliation with the Curcio companies. Mr. Curcio said that he dismissed Mr. Dapolito in January 1991 at the request of the Board of Education, as a result of the disclosure.

Thomas Dapolito, a second cousin to Frank Dapolito, has been a part owner of Consolidated Bus Transit since 1991.

Another company that formerly employed a suspected Mafia leader is Pupil Transportation Systems. Nicholas Grancio, who Federal authorities said was a captain in the Colombo family, was a labor-relations consultant for Pupil Transportation in the 80's and early 90's.

In January 1992, Mr. Grancio was shot to death in a gangland murder in Brooklyn.