New Rochelle resident Vincent Delazzero of 10 Shore Club Drive and co-conspirator Ralph Petrillo of Bronxville plead guilty Monday to charges of tax fraud and bid-rigging. Vincent Delazzero and Ralph Petrillo, owners of two of the largest marble and stone contracting companies in the metropolitan area, plead guilty Monday in White Plains federal court to participating in a tax fraud scheme designed to evade taxes on profits made from a collusive bidding scheme in which both participated. Delazzero and Petrillo face a maximum term of five years’ imprisonment, three years’ supervised release, a fine of $250,000, and restitution to the IRS
The announcement of the guilty plea was made by The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division.
Co-schemer Dennis Pilotti, a CPA from Armonk, New York previously pleaded guilty to charges related to the tax evasion scheme with Delazzero and Petrillo is currently serving a 30 month prison term. .
According to a press release from the Department of Justice:
Between 2000 and 2003, VINCENT DELAZZERO owned Port Morris Tile & Marble Corporation (“Port Morris”), based in the Bronx, New York, which was engaged in the business of importing, fabricating, and installing marble, granite, limestone, and other stone products for the interior and exterior of commercial and residential buildings. RALPH PETRILLO was one of the owners of Petrillo Stone Corporation (“Petrillo Stone”), a company based in Mount Vernon, New York. Petrillo Stone’s business also consisted of importing, fabricating, and installing marble and stone for the interior and exterior of commercial and residential buildings. Port Morris and Petrillo Stone were competitors in the commercial marble and stone business in the New York metropolitan area, often submitting bids for the same work.
Another manner by which RALPH PETRILLO made profit- sharing payments to VINCENT DELAZZERO was through payments made directly to one of DELAZZERO’s personal creditors. At DELAZZERO’s direction, PETRILLO caused Petrillo Stone to make in excess of $318,000 in payments to a construction company that had performed work on, or supplied materials for, a home DELAZZERO was building for himself in New Rochelle, New York. Despite the fact that the payments from Petrillo Stone to DELAZZERO’S construction company creditor constituted income, VINCENT DELAZZERO fraudulently omitted that income from the personal income tax returns he filed for the years in which the payments were made. With respect to both methods of funneling money to DELAZZERO, PETRILLO falsely expensed and characterized the DELAZZERO payments on the books and corporate tax returns of Petrillo Stone.
According to the company web site Vincent P. DeLazzero is/was the Chief Executive Officer of Port Morris Tile & Marble Corporation.
Vincent DeLazzero represents the fourth generation of leadership at Port Morris. He joined the company in 1969, became Vice President in 1974, and had held the title of President since 1989 until being named CEO in 2004. His responsibilities include the management of divisions of the corporation as well as serving as its chief sales representative and spokesman.
In addition to his years of industry experience, Mr. DeLazzero has served as President of the Greater New York and New Jersey Tile Contractors’ Association (GNY/NJTCA), Trustee of The International Masonry Institute (IMI), Trustee of the Bricklayer and Allied Craftworkers pension fund, and current President of the Tile Contractors’ Association of America (TCAA). He is also a Vice President of the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
The folks over at the Bricklayer and Allied Craftworkers pension fund might want to hire an auditor PDQ.
UPDATE: Reader Tip
A new development in this story which needs to be told to your readers is that Port Morris Tile actually received Federal assistance in 2003 in the amount of $743,000.
Attached are two links to the articles, and the article itself…