The dark storm cloud of a federal corruption investigation that had hung over the administration of Falls Mayor Vince Anello right up to his final days in office in 2007, finally let loose in 2008.

On the same November Friday that Tuscarora businessman Joseph “Smokin Joe” Anderson pleaded guilty to a single count of scheme to deprive, a grand jury handed up a four-count indictment against Anello. The indictment charges the former mayor with single felony counts of conspiracy, obstruction and two counts of scheme to deprive.

Anello pleaded not guilty to all the charges and continued to insist he did nothing wrong in his dealings with Anderson on various development projects in the city.

“I committed no crime,” the former mayor said after his arraignment in U.S. District Court in Buffalo. “I believe my name will be cleared at the trial. I still feel very good about the job I did for the people of Niagara Falls.”

The former mayor is free on his own recognizance pending a flurry of judicial proceedings scheduled to begin in early February.

The federal investigation of Anello moved in fits and starts from 2004 until his indictment just days before the statute of limitations on charging him with the crimes would have run out. The probe focused on dealings Anello had with Anderson.

Specifically, Anello is accused of “depriving the city of the intangible right of the honest services of a public official.” The indictment charges Anello with “conspiring with others to receive three checks from Anderson that totaled $40,000.”

According to federal investigators, Anello received a check from Anderson for $15,000, on June 20, 2003, and a second check for $15,000 on July 30, 2003, while he was a member of the Falls City Council and running for mayor. He received a third check, for $10,000, on Nov. 12, 2003, days after he was elected mayor.

Anello has always claimed the checks represented “interest-free loans” from Anderson to his electrical contracting business. Anderson has also described the payments as “loans, payable on demand,” and has indicated that he has never demanded re-payment of the “loans.”

His lawyer, Terrence Connors, said Anderson “wanted to be a helpful and prominent developer (in Niagara Falls). He wanted the city to improve and he wanted to be part of it.”

In his plea deal with prosecutors, Anderson said he made the loans to the mayor to get “inside” and “receive favorable consideration” in dealing with Anello if he was elected as mayor.

Asked if his client had been “shaken down” by Anello, Connors said. “That’s a determination for someone else to make.”

Three months after becoming mayor, in January 2004, and after receiving the checks from Anderson, Anello proposed the City Council approve a no-bid lease with a company controlled by Anderson to operate concessions on the East Pedestrian Mall. Prosecutors say Anello not only presented the lease to the City Council, but also introduced Anderson at a March 29, 2004, council meeting and recommended the approval of the contract.

At the same time, the former mayor never disclosed his financial dealings with Anderson to members of the City Council or included that information on city required financial disclosure forms.

It was those failures, the prosecutors contend, that put Anello outside the lines of the law. Anello’s defense attorney, Joel Daniels disagreed.

“(Anello) was doing what he thought was in the best interests of Niagara Falls,” Daniels said. “The East (Pedestrian) Mall was just sitting there, it was a ‘White Elephant’ and Joe (Anderson) said he could make a go of it.”

Anderson has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and testify against Anello, if necessary.

“(Anderson’s) obligation is to testify and cooperate,” Connors said.

Daniels says Anderson’s cooperation with prosecutors won’t deter the mayor from going to trial.

“There was nothing underhanded, nothing shady here,” he said. “We expect this case will be tried and let a jury decide.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Campana, the lead prosecutor on the case, said he too was prepared to go to trial.

“That’s why we have juries and courts,” Campana said.





The List

Here’s the top stories of 2008 as chosen by the editorial staff of the Niagara Gazette. The stories so far:

• 10: Culinary institute takes shape

• 9: Public safety complex moves forward

• 8: Decision to tear down Wintergarden

• 7: Rough year for Wilson students

• 6: Falls cop’s arrest stuns community

• 5: Next step for church closures

• 4: Bronx girl was swept away in the Niagara River

• 3: Falls schools audit exposes waste

• 2: Robert Restaino removed from City Court bench