Bevacqua described the purpose of this organization as follows:
To form a close bond, so to speak, amongst these
members and contractors, that is, and to eliminate
one contractor taking another account away from a fellow member.
Q. So, in effect, it was to protect everbody's individual business, is that correct?
A. That's right.
Q. And to limit free bidding and free enterprise
by the members of that particular company.
A. Yes.
Q. I take it, then, that when one person was bidding in a particular job, other members of this particular group would be warned off or told to bid high;
is that the idea?
A. Right.
Q. So that, in fact, whether it was the State or any
other person that was purchasing, they weren't getting
the lowest available price?
A. No.
Q. Was it understood that you couldn't take business from fellow
members of the association?
A. Yes.
Bevacqua stated that the N.J.C.M.C. was also used to settle disputes
that arose between members. One such instance arose with a
contract that Middlesex Building Services had with Reynolds Metal
Company. However, after a while, Reynolds cancelled its contract
with Middlesex because of a sub-par performance. In its place,
International Maintenance Company of Newark, New Jersey was
hired. Bevacqua then described what happened:
Mr. Adoff complained to Mr. Leonard and Mr.
Leonard interceded and, as a result, International
made a monthly payment to Middlesex.
Q. Well, even though Middlesex had lost the contract
by nonperformance, International had taken
over presumably legitimately, they were still forced
to pay this reparation to Middlesex each and every
month?
A. Yes.
Under questioning at the public hearings Leonard said one
of the services he performed for members of the N.J.C.M.C.
was to arbitrate disputes between them.
Q. Well, I would like the specifics of these arbitrations.
What was the issue? Who were the parties?
What were the contentions? What was your decision?
A. It's been a custom in the trade for, oh, ever
since the trade has been in its inception that if you
had a customer, in order to maintain the value of
your businesses you maintained your own customers
and you didn't go around taking work away from
other people. And on occasion they would sit down
and they would sell the accounts to somebody else.
Q. You mean to tell me there was no competition
in this business?
A. There's competition.
Q. How could there be?. You just said they had
an understanding they wouldn't take each other's
customers?
A. Mr. Commissioner,-
Q. Isn't that what you said?
A. Mr. Commissioner,-
Q. Wait a minute.. I know-
A. If there's five hundred-
Q. I know my title. Didn't you just say they would
sit down and sell an account to somebody else and
that was one of the things you would participate in?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. All right. Then I get back to what I said before.
What kind of competition was there in the business?
A. There's over five hundred companies doing
business in the state, and this was just a little handful.
Q. You just told us there was a practice they
wouldn't take customers from each other?
A. Usual practice.
Q. And one of the things you were called upon to
do was apparently help maintain that practice because
you would help arbitrate the disputes that arose out
of that practice. Is that right?
A. That is right, sir.
Mr. Samuel Turren, Vice President of Bloomfield Window Cleaning
Company substantiated the foregoing anti-competitive
practices:
Q. Now, let me ask you this, Mr. Turren: With
your experience in the trade, is there a practice, sir,
among some of the contractors who are friendly to
each other of paying reparations when they take each
other's jobs?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And at the present time, sir, may I ask you this:
Is your company receiving any reparations from any
company who took jobs from you?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. About how many is that?
A. I'd say that there's probably around a half a
dozen either one way or the other.
Q. All right. And they're making monthly payments to your firm?
A. Yes, sir.
The subject of the N.J.C.M.C. was brought up again in questions
to Bevacqua. Even though Leonard was the head of the association,
Bevacqua alleged that he was, in fact, only a front man for
someone else. When asked who was the person behind Leonard,
the witness replied:
There was an understanding in the industry that
he represented a man known as Timmy Murphy.
Bevacqua then stated that Murphy also was known by another
name, Thomas Pecora, and that this man was the real head of the
N.J.C.M.C. When pressed further as to what power Pecora, a/k/a
Timmy Murphy, possessed that enabled him to be the behind-the-
scenes man for Leonard, Bevacqua replied "... through the
union."
Q. It was generally believed and known that he was
connected with labor?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you ultimately learn what union Pecora,
also known as Murphy, was associated with?
A. Yes.
Q. And what union was that?
A. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local
97.
This branch is generally associated with the building maintenance industry.
Bevacqua was then asked about the money that was paid by
members to Sam Leonard and his group. To this, he answered:
[There] was an understanding amongst the
industry that all moneys collected by Mr. Leonard
were, in fact, deposited with Timmy Murphy and lie
would make the slice.
Mr. Robert Morrison heads the Acme Cleaning Service, Inc., in
Newark. Morrison testified that he also joined the N.J.C.M.C. He
stated that once he was having a problem with a contractor and
Sam Leonard indicated that he had a connection with Local 97 and that some friends there may be some help. Although Leonard did
not mention any names at this time, Morrison stated that he did
so at a later date:
Well, at a future time, at a later date, I was having
a problem with a contractor, with some work doing
for the State at that time, and Mr. Leonard offered
to intercede on my behalf and mentioned that a man
by the name of Timmy Murphy might be able to help
me secure that contract which I had difficulty getting.
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New Jersey Fact:
"New Jersey is a small state on the eastern seaboard halfway between Honest John Lindsay and the Liberty Bell. It is best known for its turnpike, Atlantic City, Imamu Baraka, Newark Airport and the Morro Castle disaster. Most of its leaders are in jail for stealing money...."
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