Court dismisses felony case against Howland Hook, Ragucci

Court dismisses felony case against Howland Hook, Ragucci    Justice Leonard P. Rienzi of the New York State Supreme Court has dismissed felony charges against the Howland Hook Container Terminal and Christopher Ragucci, a former vice president and general manager of the terminal.
   The facility, now called the New York Container Terminal, is located on Staten Island, N.Y.
   The justice acted after Howland Hook agreed to pay ironworkers $200,000 in wages and benefits that prosecutors had alleged the ironworkers were owed.
   Assistant District Attorney Eileen K. Ayvazian, in the Brooklyn, N.Y. district attorney’s office, told Rienzi that authorities could not prove that Howland Hook and Ragucci had intentionally withheld money from the ironworkers.
   A former district attorney, William L. Murphy, had indicted Ragucci in November 2002, accusing Ragucci of involvement in an alleged scam that occurred during the construction of a refrigerated facility at Howland Hook known as the “banana house.”
   Ragucci, 44, had faced a maximum of five to 15 years in prison if convicted of second-degree grand larceny.
   Last December, Rienzi had dismissed 16 grand larceny charges against Howland Hook and Ragucci, but let stand a broader felony charge of scheming to defraud and a misdemeanor count of violating New York labor law by not paying prevailing wages to the ironworkers.
   Assistant District Attorney Ayvazian subsequently advised Rienzi that Howland Hook had received “conflicting instructions” on the matter of prevailing wages. The instructions had come from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and from the New York Economic Development Corporation.
   The assistant district attorney also said Howland Hook and Ragucci did not have an “employer/employee relationship” with the ironworkers, who came from Chambers Construction.
   Rienzi then dismissed the felony case against both defendants. “This is, in essence, a contractual dispute,” Rienzi noted.
   “We are extremely pleased that this matter has been properly resolved,” said James J. Devine, president and chief executive officer of New York Container Terminal.
   “This issue originally stemmed from a misunderstanding … and was never truly a criminal matter,” Devine explained.
   Christopher Ragucci is the son of Carmine Ragucci, who was formerly chief executive officer of Howland Hook. Carmine Ragucci was not charged by authorities.