Somewhat Ironic, No?

The New York Times

February 28, 2006
Prosecutors Are Said to Have Eavesdropped on Kerik's Calls
By WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM

Bronx prosecutors investigating former Police Commissioner Bernard B. Kerik obtained a court order to tap his cellular telephone last summer and listened to his calls for two months, according to two people with knowledge of the case.

For more than a year, the prosecutors, along with lawyers from city's Department of Investigation, have been investigating who paid for several hundred thousand dollars in renovations on Mr. Kerik's apartment in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. The work on the apartment was done in late 1999 and early 2000.

Bronx prosecutors and Department of Investigation lawyers have been presenting evidence to a grand jury in the Bronx since earlier this month, and officials have said as many as 50 witnesses will testify as part of the inquiry. Grand jury proceedings are conducted in secret.

It is unclear whether the court-ordered eavesdropping developed evidence that will be presented to the panel. To get the wiretap, prosecutors would have been required to persuade a judge they had probable cause to believe that a crime was being committed.

As required by law, people who were called by Mr. Kerik on the cellphone were notified of the court-ordered eavesdropping, according to one of the people with knowledge of the case.

The offices of the Bronx district attorney, Robert Johnson, and the Department of Investigation commissioner, Rose Gill Hearn, would not comment yesterday on the eavesdropping. Both officials have also declined to discuss the investigation into the apartment and any other matters involving Mr. Kerik that have come under scrutiny.

But the authorities in New Jersey said last November that Mr. Kerik had accepted more than $200,000 in work on the apartment from a construction company accused of having ties to organized crime while he helped the company pursue business with New York City.

The New Jersey officials, lawyers for the state Division of Gaming Enforcement, have been trying to revoke a license that allows the construction company, Interstate Industrial Corporation, to work at casinos in Atlantic City.

Mr. Kerik has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. Yesterday, his lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, reiterated his denials and repeated Mr. Kerik's position that he welcomed "a full-blown and open investigation." He added, "I want Bernie's name cleared once and for all."

"The Bronx D.A. can choose to use whatever investigative means they deem appropriate, and we don't take issue with that," he said. "We have always encouraged them to do what they had to do with this investigation."

Mr. Kerik bought the apartment, at 679 West 239th Street — originally two apartments that had been combined into one — in 1999 when he was commissioner of the city Department of Correction. Court papers filed by the New Jersey officials said that he was concerned at the time about his ability to pay for extensive renovations to the apartment.

One of the witnesses who has already testified before the grand jury is a builder who helped renovate Mr. Kerik's apartment, Tim Woods, of Woods Restoration Services, according to his lawyer, Kyle B. Watters.

Mr. Woods has told the authorities in New Jersey that he was paid more than $200,000 by Interstate, a large New Jersey construction company, for the work. Federal and state officials have long accused the company of having ties to organized crime, a charge its owners have adamantly denied. Interstate's owners have also denied making the payments, which are detailed in Woods's business records.

Mr. Tacopina has said in the past that Mr. Kerik paid $30,000 for the renovations, but the New Jersey officials said in court papers that Mr. Kerik paid only $17,800 and that Interstate paid the balance of more than $200,000.

The owners of Interstate, Frank and Peter DiTommaso, are also expected to testify before the grand jury, but with immunity, according to Mr. Watters, who said he was told that by Bronx prosecutors. Frank DiTommaso said yesterday that his lawyer, Thomas E. Durkin Jr., had been talking to Bronx prosecutors about the brothers' testimony.

The lawyers from the Division of Gaming Enforcement investigating Mr. Kerik's relationship with Interstate argued that Mr. Kerik had sought to help the company obtain a New York City license to run a transfer station. But city regulators ultimately denied the license.

Gambling enforcement officials also contended that Mr. Kerik met with Raymond V. Casey, then the city's chief trade waste regulator, from whom Interstate was seeking the license. Mr. Kerik, they said, also made his Correction Department office available for Interstate's meetings with Mr. Casey's investigators.

Mr. Kerik also gave advice about Interstate's pending regulatory issues, and the company's license applications were faxed to his office, gambling enforcement officials said.

Mr. Casey has said that he did not feel that Mr. Kerik improperly tried to influence him.

The accusations by the New Jersey gambling regulators were included in court papers filed last November and became public nearly a year after President Bush nominated Mr. Kerik to serve as federal homeland security secretary in December 2004.

Mr. Kerik withdrew his nomination after seven days, citing possible tax problems involving his family's nanny, an embarrassment for his political patron, former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani. Mr. Kerik also resigned from Mr. Giuliani's consulting company, saying his troubles had become a distraction for the business.

* Copyright 2006The New York Times Company