Natale testifies he gave ring to former Camden council president

By CLINT RILEYand RENEE WINKLER
Courier-Post staff
CAMDEN

Former mob boss Ralph Natale testified Monday that he gave a $2,000 ring to former Camden City Council President James R. Mathes Jr. during a meeting in December 1995.

``I gave it to James Mathes and he gave it to his girlfriend,'' Natale testified during his third day on the witness stand in the federal corruption trial of Camden Mayor Milton Milan.

Natale, who has said he expected government contracts in return for gifts to public figures, testified he gave the ring to Mathes during one of several meetings between the men at The Pub in Pennsauken.

``I picked up the check every time I saw him (Mathes) in The Pub,'' Natale said under cross-examination by Carlos Martir Jr., Milan's lead defense lawyer.

Martir spent more than two hours challenging Natale about the alleged relationship he and the mob forged with

Milan between March 1996 through June 1998 when Milan served as Camden's city

council president and later as mayor.

Under cross-examination, Natale who has said he gave Milan more than $30,000 in cash and gifts acknowledged that he and his associates received no city contracts.

Martir also drew attention to Natale's claim that payoffs were delivered to Milan by a go-between because "it would be suicide" for a mobster to be seen with a public official like Milan.

Martir pointed out to jurors that Natale had no problem meeting several times at The Pub with Mathes, who preceded Milan as city council president.

Under follow-up questioning by a prosecutor, Natale said he and Mathes were regular customers at The Pub, so the two men being seen together would not seem unusual.

Mathes, who has not been charged with any wrongdoing, could not be reached for comment. He served on city council from 1986 until mid-1997 when he was defeated. He continues to serve as the city school board's affirmative action

officer.

Natale said he and Mathes discussed government contracts, but that no business went to Natale.

``James Mathes proved to me he was impotent politically,'' Natale said.

Anyway, Natale testified, Milan looked to be the rising star in Camden politics by 1996 and that's where he placed his bets.

Among 19 federal charges, Milan is accused of taking more than $30,000 from the Philadelphia-South Jersey mob, including cash payments of $500 to $3,000, and a $1,433 payment toward a West Palm Beach, Fla., vacation.

To push his point that Milan did not reward Natale, Martir played an FBI tape recording of a Dec. 2, 1997, conversation between Daniel Daidone, the alleged mob intermediary, and city businessman Robert Casey Sr. In expletive-filled remarks, Daidone said he gave time and money to city officials, but never received any contracts.

``I'm there every (expletive) affair, every (expletive) place that they need (expletive) funds,'' Daidone said in the taped conversation.

``All they gotta do is pick a phone, `Dan, could you get me this? Could you get me that?' Not a (expletive) problem. You want T-shirts printed up, I'll print a thousand of them. You want a thousand turkeys, I'll give ya five hundred."

Daidone complained he was better off with former Camden Mayor Arnold Webster, who pleaded guilty in 1999 to federal wire fraud charges for continuing to receive a salary as superintendent of schools after he was sworn in as Camden Mayor.

``I didn't have to give him no campaign money. I didn't have to buy (expletive) turkeys. I didn't have to go out in the cold (expleive) weather like I did last week and hand out (expletive) turkeys to (expletive) people with snot hanging out of their (expletive) nose.''

While questioning Natale, Martir noted the violent end met by people who have offended the mob boss. Natale has admitted killing two associates and authorizing the murders of eight other men over the past 30 years.

``Failure to pay homage to you was a death sentence? Correct?'' Martir asked.

``Correct,'' Natale responded as Milan listened intently.

But Natale, a cooperating federal witness who faces up to life in prison, insisted Monday that he is a changed man since his arrest in June 1999 on charges of making and distributing methamphetamines.

``The day they . . . put me in this courthouse and charged me with that, I looked at my family's faces and I found out truly what I did to them because of what I thought and who I was all my life,'' Natale said.

``And right then and there, I did enough for La Cosa Nostra. No more. If there is any life left for me, any time, I'll give it to that family. No more La Cosa Nostra.''