By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
If Ronald M. Fino could do it over again, he would have chosen his role with the FBI a bit differently, the Buffalo News reports.
Fino was an FBI informant, Buffalo labor leader and organized crime associate.
Instead of being a paid informant, Fino said he wished he had become an FBI agent.
“If I had to do it all over again, I would have applied to become an actual FBI agent and tried to attack these problems through the courts and the field of law enforcement,” Fino told the Buffalo News.
\This is a copy of my response letter to the Buffalo, News
Dan Herbeck,
Buffalo News
Dear Dan,
In response to your article about me which appeared in September 30th 2012 edition of the Buffalo News.
First of all, I think I know you well enough, to believe that you wanted to be fair and impartial when you wrote the story.
1. The majority of overseas activity reports etc., involved the FBI not CIA
2. I was hoping and thought that you would have reviewed the FBI captured video tapes that I presented to you and the Buffalo News before going to press. In the mob, its leaders and minions own words they show who really ran the union and appointed the job stewards. They equally and clearly reflect my daily fights and arguments with them over job appointments and the no-show issue. In one of the tapes you will hear Victor Sansanese, discussing with me that cannot be changes to the stewards clause.
3. The FBI audio tapes that I presented to you would clearly paint a different picture of Hazardous Waste Management, Onyx Const., and how the mob controlled and ran it into the ground. PLEASE REVIEW: Sansanese, Cardinale’s and Mastykarcz tapes
4. Re: Denise Erb, The playboy Bunny as you put it. 1. Yes, I did have an affair with her. It took place after I was already separated from my wife. I had my own apartment for many months.
I did not hire her. She was hired by Joseph Cardinale who did it for James Cosentino’s, assistant – William Dellamore” who at that time of hire was dating her.
5. Robert Hills remarks I totally understand and agree with. He was sent non-working stewards with work slips containing my name. If you recall that in the Rosato case, union secretary Jenny De Angelo acknowledged that she was the one who signed them. What she didn’t own up to “who appointed the stewards” is answered in the videos and if you listen and watch them? You will understand..
6. I too like Paul Cambria, who was a personal friend for many years and his sordid remarks do not bother me in the least. As the lead attorney whose firm representatives the current leadership and activities of Laborers Local 210, he has an obligation to give them his finest efforts. If it means condemning anyone on their behalf, he will do so. This is his job and his client base would shrink quite considerably if he failed to follow this practice.
In all fairness, your article connotes his representation of Local 210 in the past tense. It doe not reflect that he had represented the Capitano’s, the insurgent group and and has never stopped representation them. tRemember Cambria tried to prevent the takeover of the union as a result of mob corruption. Again in all fairness I point to a Dec. 2, 1999- Buffalo News article written by Michael Beebe
MOB-LED UNION NEEDS OVERSEER, COURT IS TOLD
“U.S. Attorney Denise E. O’Donnell, the Justice Department’s Organized Crime Division in Washington, D.C., and the international union accuse the Todaros and others of eight violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations statute, known as RICO. They said they controlled every aspect of Local 210, from naming mobsters as officers and stewards to hiring relatives and other cronies for construction jobs. “This is something that has been charged for many years but yet to be proven,” attorney Paul J. Cambria, who has represented the Todaros, said of the organized-crime allegations.
Cambria also noted the charges are based on testimony by Ronald M.Fino, a former business manager of Local 210 who became an FBI witness, as well as on informants who have been convicted of crimes. “There’s been a great controversy as to the credibility of these individuals and whether their statements can be taken with any grain of salt,” Cambria said. “It would not be warranted to make these allegations based on those sources.”
As a penalty for the takeover, both brothers agreed to a year’s suspension from union membership and a five-year ban from holding office. Their father, Peter Capitano Sr., was removed as a trustee of a union fund by the international. “They say the dissident members are aligned with the old guard, which is B.S.,” Samuel Capitano said. “What we stand for are labor rights. I want all of us to stand together and fight nonunion contractors.”
The record is quite clear and copious public records and Paul Cambria’s numerous statements in support of the mob controlled insurgents and its preventing a mob clean-up are available for all to read.
7. What can the FBI and CIA say about my activity. You know as well as I do that discussions can lead to the degradation of on-going matters that benefit America and other Countries. For that reason, I am very limited in what I can publically discuss. Like I said during our meeting! My pursuit’s were limited to transnational crime, terrorism, and arms smuggling. Not just the United States but many Countries intelligence and enforcement agencies who face the same problem are aware of my activities. If they did become public then I did not do what I was bound to do.
8. I actually like Samuel Capitano’s remarks and his attempt to correct his earlier statement. His only failure was in his effort to state that he was apposed only to the method in which it was carried out. I do not know if this was just his being naïve or an ill conceived method of covering up his original purpose and remarks. I wish to point out that how else could we rid the union of the mob without placing it under trusteeship.
In closing I ask: Have there been any organized crime murders since I became public? In truth Local 210 and its leadership have cleaned up its image and is now sending more qualified working stewards. Many if not most of the leaders on Western New York Mafia family have hunkered down and try to carry on an image and air of respectability. This in no way means that they do not exist and make money from illegal operations. They know that they are being watched and now operate more clandestinely.
Believe me when I tell you I am no Saint and I stumble like most folks. I am not by any means attempting to adorn nor crown myself with only goodness. The so-called playboy bunny episode, that I do own up as well as my wanting to obtain more money for a better life style bare this out. These things happen and I have never run away from my mistakes. I do believe that anyone with half a heart that was in my position would have done the same thing in trying to stop the pillage that was taking place with the laborers union”
Respectfully Submitted
Ronald Fino