Milan convicted on 14 charges, acquitted on two, imprisoned by judge

By FRANK KUMMER,CLINT RILEY,RENEE WINKLER,KATHY HENNESSYand KIM MAIALETTI
Courier-Post Staff
CAMDEN

Mayor Milton Milan, a poor city kid who grew up to become his hometown's hope, was convicted in federal court Thursday of accepting payoffs from the Mafia, taking kickbacks from city contractors and laundering illegal drug profits.

The first-term mayor was immediately imprisoned, four days before Christmas. He faces nine to 11‘ years in federal prison with no chance for parole when he is sentenced April 5.

State officials will seek Milan's removal from office this morning at a hearing in Trenton after his conviction in U.S. District Court of committing 14 federal crimes, including 11 while he was a city councilman or mayor.

Later today, city council is expected to appoint Council President Gwendolyn Faison as mayor of this impoverished city of 82,000, where three of the last five mayors have been convicted of crimes in office.

"This was, in short, a smorgasbord of criminal activity - criminal activity that was motivated by Milan's unquenchable thirst for money and material possessions, crimes that were motivated by his unbridled avarice," said Robert J. Cleary, acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey.

Twelve South Jersey jurors struggled for seven days with the weight of the 19-count indictment against the mayor before notifying U.S. District Court Judge Joel A. Pisano at 2:54 p.m. that they had reached a verdict. Forewoman Gayle Carr of Marlton stood and announced the verdict to a standing-room-only courtroom at 3:10 p.m.

Milan, 38, dressed in a dark suit and red tie, stood with his hands clasped in front of him. The mayor blinked repeatedly, but remained expressionless as Carr declared the jury had found him guilty of 14 charges, innocent of two counts and was deadlocked on the remaining three.

The forewoman told Pisano she did not believe the panel could reach a consensus on the final three charges. Pisano declared a mistrial on the remaining counts.

Specifically, the jury convicted Milan of taking up to $ 30,000 in payoffs from former Philadelphia/South Jersey mob boss Ralph Natale between 1996 and 1998; laundering a $65, 000 cash loan in 1994 from now-convicted drug dealer Jose " JR" Rivera; using part of $7,500 he stole from campaign funds to pay for a lavish trip to Puerto Rico with friends and supporters in 1997; and staging a burglary at his business, Atlas Contracting, in 1995 in order to collect insurance money.

The jury, made up of nine whites and three blacks, found Milan innocent of two counts that he conspired with former municipal prosecutor Joseph S. Caruso to extort a $5,000 contribution from a municipal public defender in exchange for his reappointment.

The eight-woman, four-man jury, Carr said, was hopelessly deadlocked on two charges that Milan aided Camden businessman Robert Casey Sr. in expanding his city recycling business in exchange for free home improvements. They also were unable to reach a unanimous verdict on whether Milan accepted a $9,000 payoff from mob associate Daniel Daidone in December 1997.

Federal prosecutors said they have not decided whether they will retry Milan on the three charges on which the jury deadlocked after 46 hours of deliberation.

Pisano denied Milan bail shortly after the verdict was read. He painted a sad picture of an upstart politician who sold out his office only to end up "with a paucity of assets" and deemed him too risky to release on bail.

"He associated with people who were known to be criminals," Pisano said. "He consorted and conspired with people he knew to be corrupt or corruptible and took advantage of people who placed their trust in him ... people right down to an unwary college student, I suppose, whose only sin was to think of him as a leader."

The college intern to whom Milan sold a stolen computer for $1,000 more than its market value was an image from the seven-week trial that clearly left a mark on the judge.

Milan was not handcuffed in the courtroom after bail was denied. He walked briskly ahead of federal marshals and through a door, where he was placed in a holding cell. He was then taken to a federal detention facility in Philadelphia.

Cleary, the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey, called Milan nothing more than "a common thief."

"The evidence has shown Milton Milan is a one-man crime spree, someone who sold his office, someone who sold out the very people he was elected to serve," Cleary said.

The federal prosecutor said Milan must decide whether he will cooperate in continuing investigations into citywide corruption.

Milan's attorney, Carlos A. Martir Jr., met briefly with the mayor before he was imprisoned.

"He's disappointed, obviously," Martir said. " Emotionally, he's a strong man. You have to understand he came from the city of Camden. He spent four years as a Marine, some time in Beirut. He's a strong individual, and I have tremendous confidence in his ability to withstand it.

"This is not the end of his life."

After the verdict, jurors were rushed from the courthouse to a parking lot by a phalanx of federal marshals and city police.

"I'm just happy we're going home, and we made a good decision," Carr said as she hurried to her car.

Another juror, who spoke on condition of anonymity, elaborated in a telephone interview later.

"Milton Milan ... got a fair trial, and the jury worked very, very hard," the juror said. "We examined that evidence thoroughly. What we agreed on was fair and just.

"I'm sorry the people of Camden were defrauded of the service of an honest mayor again," the juror said. "I'm very glad it's over. I just wish the people of Camden the best, and I hope the city can move forward."

Milan's conviction comes as the city is in turmoil from a threatened state takeover of its government and ongoing criminal investigations into its police department and schools.

Federal, state and city investigators raided Milan's home and office in August 1999. He was indicted in March as part of parallel state and federal investigations into drug trafficking and mob activities in South Jersey.

His conviction Thursday marks a troubling end to a swift rise to power for Milan, a relatively young man who grew up on Bailey Street in North Camden, an area rife with drug dealers and vacant homes. Milan escaped the city by enlisting in the Marine Corps in the early 1980s. He was serving in Beirut, Lebanon, in April 1983, when the U.S. Embassy was bombed by terrorists and 63 soldiers were killed.

By the mid-1990s, Milan had used that military training and his 6-foot, barrel-chested frame to hurl himself quickly from a political unknown to the top of the city's hierarchy. The ever-cocky Milan was first elected to city council in November 1995. He was sworn in as council president on Jan. 1, 1996.

He was elected the city's first Hispanic mayor in May 1997, despite anonymous fliers that claimed he was friends with Rivera, an East Camden auto parts store owner also known as a financier for drug kingpins.

A former construction contractor, Milan battled opponents in City Hall and Trenton with a bravado markedly different than his predecessor, Arnold Webster. After leaving office, the gentlemanly Webster was convicted of taking more than $ 20,000 of his Camden school superintendent's salary two months after he stopped working for the district.

Milan was considered a fresh face who offered the city a fresh start.

But almost as soon as he was elected to City Council, prosecutors said, Milan began to sell himself by accepting two vehicles for personal use from Nick's Towing, the city' s towing contractor, and taking bribes from Natale.

The government called more than 60 witnesses and introduced more than 700 pieces of evidence during Milan's trial, including dozens of secretly recorded conversations involving Natale.

Natale, 65, testified over three days in husky tones. He dressed in tailored suits. His head was cleanly shaven and he sported a goatee. Tanned and relaxed, Natale told of his early days as a union thug and killer, before he contacted Milan for the first time in 1996.

Natale, who said he met the mayor only once by chance, told jurors how he planned to use Milan to "take half of Camden" by capturing some of the $20 million to $40 million the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development planned to pour into a city Empowerment Zone.

Natale's goal was to establish legitimate mob-backed companies that would win contracts with Milan's help greasing the bureaucracy. To do that, Natale said, he bribed Milan by giving him $500 to $3,000 stuffed in envelopes over a two-year period. The money was transferred through Daidone.

"I said this is the opportunity for me to get into Camden and get all that government money," Natale told jurors, adding later that Milan was "our kind of guy."

A Jan. 8, 1998, FBI videotape showing Daidone and Milan waiting for an airplane at Philadelphia International Airport proved one of the most powerful pieces of evidence establishing Milan's relationship with the mob. Records and testimony revealed that Daidone, the mayor, and Milan's then-girlfriend were en route that day to a $1,400 West Palm Beach, Fla., golf outing paid for by the mob.

Prosecutors also called Rivera to testify. Rivera, 40, formerly of Cherry Hill, faces life in prison. He was convicted in February of money laundering and conspiracy to distribute large amounts of cocaine. During Rivera's trial, five dealers named Milan as a former mid-level drug dealer in the city.

Milan has never been convicted of drug dealing, however.

Rivera testified against Milan, his one-time friend, in hopes of a reduced sentence. The courtroom was crowded Nov. 30 when Rivera, flanked by a federal marshal at all times, gave his testimony.

Rivera told jurors he loaned Milan $115,000 over two years, all from drug money he kept in his office safe at JR' s Custom Auto Parts in East Camden. He recounted specifically the day in 1994 when he agreed to loan Milan the $65,000 in cash that Milan later was charged with laundering.

Rivera went to the safe in a closet, which routinely held between $250,000 and $400,000 for area drug dealers. Milan sat on a leather couch less than three feet away, he said. Rivera testified he returned with $65,000 bundled in small bills and gave it to Milan, who had not yet been elected to any office.

"I opened it, took the cash and gave it to him in a bag," said Rivera, who later added, "I trusted (Milan) ... At times, people thought he was my bodyguard."

Milan's former partner in Atlas Contracting, Gholam H. " Joseph" Darakhshan, also testified against the mayor. Darakhshan told jurors that Milan knew Rivera was a drug dealer.

Darakhshan also admitted that at Milan's suggestion in December 1994, he staged a break-in, removed two leased computers and a copy machine from now-defunct Atlas Contracting and reported the equipment stolen to an insurance company. The copier and a computer were given to Milan, he said.

The staged break-in occurred on the eve of Milan's inauguration as a Camden councilman on Jan. 1, 1996.

"Are you crazy? You can't bring the computer in here, it' s stolen," Darakhshan testified as having said when he walked into Milan's city council office in early 1996 and saw the computer.

Douglas A. Bradley, a former Milan aide and campaign manager, also gave damaging testimony. He told jurors the mayor personally directed him to divert $7,500 from a campaign fund to pay for the Puerto Rico trip and disguise the money's source through a series of financial transactions.

Bradley also said Milan directed him in March 1998 to call Cherry Hill Mayor Susan Bass Levin to seek her help in getting a liquor license for Pal Joey's restaurant, a Natale-backed business in Cherry Hill.

Bradley said he believed the request was intended to assist Daidone, Natale's associate and a Milan fund-raiser. Levin, who knew Pal Joey's was under investigation for mob ties, never returned the call.

In the end, it is clear the jurors believed most of what they heard from the government's witnesses.

"The guilty verdict in this case should send out a loud and clear message and that is: No one is above the law," Cleary said. "Milton Milan set out to rip off his constituents, but in the end it is Milton Milan who will now pay dearly for his crimes."