Natale describes Milan meeting, plan to `take half of Camden'

By RENEE WINKLERand CLINT RILEY
Courier-Post staff
CAMDEN

When former Mafia boss Ralph Natale met Mayor Milton Milan for the first and only time, in a chance encounter at a restaurant, the mobster says he leaned and whispered: "You know I can never be seen with you again."

Natale, 69, recalled the brief conversation Thursday during his second day testifying against Milan, who is accused of a broad array of crimes, including taking $30, 000 from the mob between March 1996 and June 1998.

On the witness stand, Natale described a scheme to "take half of Camden," using bribes and help from Milan to steer lucrative government contracts to mob-run businesses.

Although he and Milan met only once, Natale said, they worked together through an intermediary for more than two years.

Natale testified he regularly paid cash to Milan, through alleged mob associate Daniel Daidone, in increments of $500 or more stuffed in envelopes during 1996, 1997 and 1998.

When asked by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Futcher about his comment to Milan at the restaurant, Natale replied matter-of-factly, "What mayor of a big city would be seen with a boss of La Cosa Nostra? It would be suicide."

Milan, 38, has pleaded innocent to all charges.

Federal prosecutors on Thursday played 28 secretly recorded tapes of conversations Natale had with associates on his home telephone or at a favorite haunt, Garden State Park in Cherry Hill, where the mobsters spoke almost always in hushed tones.

One conversation, on June 6, 1997, was secretly recorded by former mob captain Ronald Previte, who was cooperating at the time with federal authorities. The two men allegedly spoke of Milan.

"We, uh, took care of him. I give him three in the envelope," Natale told Previte, referring to $3,000 he said he paid to Camden's mayor. "I always took care of him ... It assures us that he's our kind of guy. He's a man's man. Smart, though ... and looking to make money."

Natale said the cash given to Milan by Daidone was "like a consulting fee" for the mayor's attendance at meetings where mob-front companies and other schemes were discussed.

Daidone, a former union official who once lived in Cherry Hill, is an unindicted co-conspirator in the Milan case.

"I wanted him (Milan) to feel he had to rely on me and me only," Natale testified. "If he had a headache, I'd send him an aspirin."

Asked by Futcher if the payments were always in cash, Natale responded: "Always cash. I can't write a check out from La Cosa Nostra."

When Natale returns to the stand on Monday, the mayor's defense team will attempt to show that the former Pennsauken resident is lying in a bid to please authorities.

Natale, a former Philadelphia-South Jersey mob boss, is now a federal cooperating witness and awaits sentencing for a life of crime that spanned 30 years.

Sporting a tailored olive suit, graying goatee and shaved head, Natale described plans to bid on a major contract to rehabilitate low-income housing. He instructed Daidone to tell Milan that "this is home-run time."

Natale testified Thursday he was so convinced he would become a millionaire through Camden construction contracts that he warned Daidone in the summer of 1997 not to do anything illegal.

"I would lose the chance to take half the city of Camden," Natale said.

Natale said he had a hidden interest in Adrian Development Co., which hoped to profit from government contracts to rehabilitate city housing. Under Natale's scheme, the firm would hire all the plumbing, electrical and landscaping subcontractors while managing the rehabilitation projects.

Natale also described a failed venture with business partner Clement Hipple of Philadelphia - a Cherry Hill restaurant called Pal Joey's. Natale said the mob pumped up to $300,000 into the facility at the Howard Johnson Express Inn on Route 70.

But the club could not get a liquor license because federal authorities were secretly holding it up. So, Natale said, he asked Daidone to request Milan's intervention with Cherry Hill Mayor Susan Bass Levin.

Natale never said if Milan made such a call. Pal Joey's never received a liquor license.

Natale said he met Milan at Italian Bistro in Cherry Hill, sometime near the mayor's election in May 1997. He spotted Milan eating with Daidone and others.

"I walked over to him," recalled Natale, who said he then whispered to Milan, "You'll never need anything. If you need anything, ask Danny."

Shortly after that encounter, when Milan was having an an inaugural party on July 1, 1997, Natale said he picked up the tab - paying the restaurant owner with 10, $100 bills.