Long Article of the Week: Charles Gargano and Red Hook

This week's Village Voice lets loose with a fascinating investigative article about former Empire State Development Corp. Chair (and current Port Authority Board Member) Charles Gargano. It does not paint a pretty picture. In fact, it depicts a scenario concerning Mr. Gargano, his nephew and the Red Hook Piers walking the razor's edge of legal and ethical line there is. (And, that's putting it politely.)

The thumbnail is that Mr. Gargano--who tools around town in limos and likes to be called "ambassador" because he was the envoy to Trinidad and Tobago during the Reagan Administration--appears to have encouraged the hiring of his nephew by American Stevedoring, which was and is trying not to be kicked out of operating the container port so the city can close it and redevelop the land. The nephew appears to have implied he would help get a favorable decision from "Uncle Charlie" in his role on the Port Authority. Keep in mind that Uncle Charlie, so to speak, was in charge of driving the Atlantic Yards approval process among other things.

The story says in part:

In the spring of 2003, Charles Gargano, who served as George Pataki's economic development czar, made a visit to the embattled operator of the marine container port that sprawls for 80 acres along the docks in Brooklyn's Red Hook. Much of the region's cocoa, coffee, and lumber is handled here, along with tens of thousands of huge shipping containers from around the world loaded with everything from beer to appliances. All told, an estimated $4.5 billion in goods move through the port every year, and some $36 million in wages are generated there. As Sal Catucci, president of American Stevedoring Inc., which operates the container terminal, recalls it, Gargano had phoned—seemingly out of the blue—to say he wanted to come by to see his operation...

Within a few weeks, a newly optimistic Sal Catucci had a new attorney under retainer: Charlie Gargano's nephew. And not long after that, the waterfront executive was finally getting the attention from state decision-makers that he'd long sought. But when those meetings produced little more than kind words, and when he was back again fighting just to stay in business, Catucci wondered exactly what had prompted that unexpected phone call. Whatever made him pick up the phone, Charles Gargano wasn't saying, refusing to respond to requests for comment. His nephew, Frank Gargano, also didn't want to talk about his involvement, acknowledging only that he had represented Catucci's company. Exactly how that came to pass is one more disturbing tale from New York's waterfront.

Fun reading for the entire family, especially the kids in civics class.
[Photo courtesy wnyc.org/Brian Lehrer]