"You lie down with dogs, sometimes you get up with fleas."
Words to that effect will be at the center of an effort by defense attorneys Joel Daniels and George Muscato to clear Newfane dentist Scott Geise on a 65-count federal indictment that could send him to prison for five years.
According to the indictment, handed down on July 3 of last year, Geise ran a lucrative side business processing phony claims for members of Laborers Local 91, billing both private insurance companies and the union's welfare fund for dental work that was never performed. The fraudulent activity occurred between September 2002 and November 2006, according to the indictment.
Geise, who is also charged with falsifying his tax returns, pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Buffalo in December. While Muscato and Daniels say that they are ready to go to court to prove their client was just another victim of crooked Local 91 thugs, federal officials are hopeful that a deal can be worked out that might lead to additional charges against current and former Laborers officials.
Sources close to the investigation say the popular and politically powerful dentist's problems began with the hiring of Wendy Fazzolari, wife of Local 91 member Tony Fazzolari, as an office assistant.
Tony Fazzolari was a partner in a private contracting business with convicted labor racketeer and stool pigeon Robert Malvestuto Jr. It is believed that Fazzolari, who was sentenced to a year's probation after pleading guilty to charges of embezzling $6,970 from the union welfare fund, provided evidence against Geise in return for a lighter sentence.
Wendy Fazzolari, who sources say had access to paperwork in the dental office, has not been charged.
Malvestuto Jr., who wore an FBI wire and was willing to rat out any and all of his union brothers in return for less jail time on charges relating to the bombing of a house occupied by non-union workers, is now serving a 51-month sentence in federal prison and continuing to cooperate with the feds.
Malvestuto Jr. gave evidence against former union president, Mark Congi, who headed Local 91's notorious "Goon Squad"; his close friend Rico Liberale; Local 91 sergeant-at-arms Randy Butler, who was sentenced as the second bomb-thrower in the Town of Niagara case; Laborers executive board member Patrick McKeown; Malvestuto business partner and Local 91 member Tony Fazzolari; and Dr. Scott Geise.
Geise is seeking to avoid prison at all costs, and sources close to the investigation told the Niagara Falls Reporter last week that other Local 91 members and officers might have been involved in the scam.
"What they're looking at now is who was in charge of overseeing these fraudulent claims, who was really running the union's welfare fund?" said one top lawman familiar with the case.
In January, FBI agents brandishing search warrants and subpoenas descended on the union's Seneca Avenue clubhouse, seizing documents related to the case and questioning Local 91 Business Manager Rob Connelly for more than an hour.
Connelly's involvement in the case is not clear.
"Somebody put their stamp of approval on these obviously fraudulent claims, and that seems to be where the case is headed now," the source added. "If the FBI can get the dentist to cooperate here, we might see another round of indictments relative to the Laborers here."
The Geise case is the latest manifestation of major labor racketeering investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice that ultimately resulted in the convictions of virtually the entire Local 91 leadership. The multi-tiered case has taken a decade to investigate and prosecute, and remains open even today, law enforcement sources said.
Congi, the former union president and apparently genuine tough guy, drew the longest sentence handed down so far, 15 years.
Many of the other indicted Local 91 thugs, like Malvestuto, chose to inform on their associates and drew reduced sentences or probation following their convictions.
In all, 18 union thugs were convicted on various counts, and a number of those remain in federal prison today.
Geise's political connections in the eastern end of the county are well known, and he was able to purchase Lockport's old City Hall on Pine Street in 2004.
Two years later, he and a partner received a sizable state grant to buy an old wooden schooner, the Ellida, which he said would be docked in Olcott as an attraction. Instead, the Ellida was moved to St. Petersburg, Fla., where it is used for municipal festivals and corporate functions.
Still, he is hardly the sort you'd expect to see indicted as part of a federal racketeering investigation.
Geise is a pillar of the community in Newfane, where he created a family practice center on Main Street out of what had been a bankrupt appliance store and two derelict houses. In front of the complex, he erected a gazebo, which hosts band concerts throughout the summer and has become the pride and joy of the town.
He is a Gulf War veteran, and a former star football player at Hobart College who tried out for the Buffalo Bills in 1983.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | June 3 2008 |