The politically-connected newspaper publisher had three reasons for two calls to the president judge of Philadelphia Traffic Court in the summer of 2011.
Jimmy Tayoun, publisher of the Philadelphia Public Record, wanted an interview with Judge Michael Sullivan about his new leadership post, to take his picture and to seek help for an “associate” who was in danger of losing his license due to a traffic ticket.
Sullivan was one of nine judges indicted Thursday on corruption charges for alleged ticket-fixing.
Tayoun, a former City Councilman who served time in federal prison in the 1990s on corruption charges, says his calls to Sullivan were no big deal.
“The call to a Traffic Court judge is the same in my opinion as me being a character witness in a court case,” said Tayoun, identified in the 79-page indictment only as “Ji.T.”
Judge H. Warren Hogeland dismissed the $152 ticket for driving with an expired vehicle inspection, even though Tayoun’s associate, identified in the indictment as “G.C.” didn’t show up in court. Hogeland was also indicted Thursday.
Tayoun, who has published at least three columns critical of the Traffic Court probe since it became public in late 2011, said charging judges for doing political favors “shows a definite weakness in the efforts of the U.S. Attorney’s Office to really find something wrong with that court.”
Philadelphia will have a bike race this year and it’ll include the Wall in Manayunk.
The new 2013 race dubbed the Philly Cycling Classic will be organized by a team of sports event professionals with experience hosting cycling races, cycling advocates and local business and community leaders, Congressman Bob Brady announced today.
“The Mayor has called for a premier cycling event and the team we have pulled together intends to deliver nothing less for the City of Philadelphia in 2013,” Brady said in a statement. “As long as there is a Wall in Manayunk there will be a world class cycling event in Philadelphia.”
Shortly after David Chauner, founder of the Philadelphia International Cycling Championship announced there would be no race this year due to rising city costs and loss of sponsors, Brady immediately sprang into action to save this year’s race. Brady held a series of meetings with local elected officials, cycling enthusiasts and corporate leaders.
The new team of organizers for this year’s race does not include Chauner, of Pro Cycling Tour, who owes the city over $300,000 for last year’s race. Chauner’s relationship with the city has soured over the years.
The team includes Alan Morrison, business leader and founder of the Philadelphia Insurance Triathlon in 2005, Richard Adler, head of Philadelphia Triathlon, LLC, Karen Bliss, vice president of Marketing for Advanced Sports International, Ryan Oelkers, co-founder of the Cadence Cycling Fondation, Bob Clowry, a Manayunk-based businessman and certified cycling coach and Jane Lipton, executive director of the Manayunk Development Corporation.
A federal grand jury has charged six Philadelphia Traffic Court judges, the former court director of operations and two businessmen in a ticket-fixing case unsealed Thursday morning. Three more Traffic Court judges were also charged in separate documents. Those indicted are:
- Former administrative Judge Michael Sullivan, who was removed from his leadership post by the state Supreme Court in December 2011 but was still hearing cases.
- Judge Michael Lowry, the son of a ward leader, who admitted to an investigations firm hired by the Supreme Court that ticket fixing happened in Traffic Court.
- Judge Robert Mulgrew, who was suspended by the Supreme Court in September after being indicted on unrelated charges.
- Former President Judge Thomasine Tynes, who retired in July.
- Former Administrative Judge Fortunato Perri Sr., who is retired.
- Bucks County District Judge H. Warren Hogeland, who hears cases in Traffic Court.
- Delaware County District Judge Kenneth Miller, who heard cases in Traffic Court until 2008.
- Chester County District Judge Mark Bruno, who heard cases in Philadelphia's Traffic Court.
- William Hird, the director of operations, who retired in November 2011, two months after FBI and IRS agents raided his home, office and a bar he runs in South Philly.
- Henry "Eddy" Alfano, a tow truck company operator who also operates two strip clubs.
- Robert Moy, a translation company owner who provides services in Traffic Court.
The eight defendants are charged with conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud and aiding and abetting a crime. Tynes, Lowry and Mulgrew were also charged with perjury, accused of lying to a grand jury. Singletary and Hird face charges of making false statements to the FBI.
Perri, Miller and Hogeland were charged through "information" documents, which means they waived their rights to have their cases presented to the grand jury, a sign that they are expected to take a plea deal.
Update: Defense attorney William Brennan said he reviewed the indictment against his client, former Traffic Court Judge Willie Singletary, and was struck by the fact that "it does not allege that my client took one thin dime."
"Apprently the allegations set forth the government's perception of a scheme that defrauds the state out of potential fines," Brennan said. "I'll read it again, but it seems to me it's like speculating on pork belly futures."
Brennan said that as he read the 79-page indictment, he "kept waiting to get to the part where money changed hands, but I haven't seen it. My understanding is that my client's conviction rates were fairly high."
Earlier: As the Daily News predicted on the front page of Thursday's newspaper, Philadelphia Traffic Court judges and at least one employee have started surrendering at the federal courthouse in Center City and will appear in court later today once charges are unsealed in a grand jury indictment.
Defense attorney William Brennan and former Traffic Court judge Willie Singletary arrived at the William Green Federal Building about 8:20 Thursday morning. Singletary, wearing a dark overcoat and gray suit, looked solemn and said nothing.
They left the building shortly before 10 a.m. Brennan said Singletary had been allowed by prosecutors to surrender "as a courtesy." The other option, Brennan said, was for federal investigators to "kick your door in and drag you out by your hair, and that's very unpleasant."
Brennan said the federal indictment was still sealed, so it was unclear what Singletary would be charged with. Brennan also said that Singletary would appear in court at 1:30 Thursday afternoon and plead not guilty to "whatever he's charged with."
Clout's Chris Brennan and Dave Gambacorta have the lowdown on indictments expected today againgt officials related to the Traffic Court scandal for today's cover story.
Negotiators from the administration and District Council 33 met until 10:30 p.m. last night - as Nutter's "final offer" deadline approached - but there was no deal.
Councilman Bill Greenlee will introduce a bill that would require a minor to be accompanied by an adult when tanning at a salon.
And Will Bunch wonders whether the current push for privatizing the liquor business will be the one that does the trick.
The day has arrived.
But don't get too excited.
Mayor Nutter two weeks ago gave AFSCME's D.C. 33 a "final offer" to resolve the stalemate over replacing the union's contract that expired in 2009. He said his administration will take some unspecified action if the union, which represents blue-collar municipal workers, doesn't agree to his terms or come to the table in a serious way by today.
Negotiators from both sides met yesterday and agreed to meet again this afternoon, mayoral spokesman Mark McDonald said. No word on whether they are close to a deal. D.C. 33 did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Nutter has been vague about what he will do if there's no deal. Administration officials have said his options could include unilaterally enforcing his terms (a dicey maneuver that would likely put the city in an uphill legal battle), or some other court intervention, or nothing at all.
As of their last public statements, Nutter and D.C. 33 President Pete Matthews were miles apart. The mayor wants to dramatically alter municipal pensions and find savings in healthcare plans and work rules in exchange for marginal raises. Matthews said that the mayor's offer was not a net raise because of the addition of 15 possible furlough days and that he had no intention of making a single concession.
Mayor Nutter fires Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown’s former campaign manager amid ethics dust up.
Another ally of Rep. Bill Keller has been indicted.
Does Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell’s bill hurt city development?
Was former Philadelphia Housing Director Carl Greene’s actions the result of major depression?
Mark Olkowski, longtime business partner of state Rep. Bill Keller, has been indicted on federal charges of filing false personal and business tax returns and wire fraud of allegedly collecting more than $25,000 in improper unemployment claims.
Olkowski and Keller operate K&O Sports, a Pennsport company known for printing up sweatshirts and t-shirts for local unions, political campaigns and taverns. Teams of FBI and IRS agents in August 2010 raided the company's office and Olkowski's home along with Keller's district office and home and other locations.
The grand jury indictment released today by the U.S. Attorney's Office accuses Olkowski of under-reporting his personal income by a total of $237,097 from 2006 to 2009 and under-reporting his company's income by $251,272 during the same period. Olkowski is also accused of collecting $25,484 in unemployment benefits from 2007 to 2009 while he was self-employed at K&O Sports.
Keller is mentioned briefly in the indictment, identified only as "W.K." His attorney in 2010 said federal agents took "general business records" from his office and home and said Keller was uninvolved in and unaware of any criminal activity.
Joseph Procacci, the 85-year-old Italian food and fresh produce merchant who has run a South Philly business since 1948, added investors Tuesday to his bid for the city's second casino license. Dr. Walter Lomax and his family will own at least 9 percent of the business, which goes by the company name PHL Local Gaming but will operate under the name Casino Revolution if it wins the competition for the license.
Procacci will own at least 60 percent of the company, according to a news release, but Lomax and other bidders could put up close to $40 million to buy more of a share. Lomax started his medical career in South Philadelphia, growing a business through contracts to provide services to prison inmates and welfare recipients. He now is chairman of the Lomax Companies, which works in venture capital and real estate.
The casino would be built on a plot of land controlled by Procacci between Packer and Pattison avenues, Front and Third streets. There are five other bidders for the casino license, including two more on Packer Avenue.
A day after the city’s Ethics Board fined Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown for a series of campaign finance violations, the city’s political watchdog, Committee of Seventy is calling for law enforcement officials to review the findings.
Brown who earlier today refused to answer questions about the report has to pay more than $48,000 in fines for poor bookkeeping.
The Committee of Seventy noted two major issues of concern including the “lack of transparency involving annual filings with the city of statements of financial disclosure by elected officials and many non-elected officials and the sufficiency of civil penalties imposed for violations of Philadelphia’s ethics and campaign finance laws in deterring recurring abuses of these laws.”
Zack Stalberg, president of the Committee of Seventy called on law enforcement to determine if further action is warranted. As the Daily News reported today, sources say the FBI has asked questions about Reynolds Brown and former campaign manager John McDaniel.
Stalberg said in a statement that the city needs to make annual financial disclosure statements available online. “The lack of transparency – which should be immediately corrected – makes it exceedingly difficult to find out if sources of income are properly reported, much less figure out what may not have been reported.”
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David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics – which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
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Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans. E-mail tips to ransomj@phillynews.com
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Sean Collins Walsh is from Bucks County and went to Northwestern University. He joined the Daily News copy desk in 2012 and now covers the Nutter administration. Before that, he interned at papers including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Seattle Times. E-mail tips to walshSE@phillynews.com
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