Reply #14: Did Corrupt Judge Regularly Meet With Mobsters? [View All]

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202428694293&rss=newswire

The above article is full of interesting accusations. Here's a couple excerpts:

"the judge used to hold meetings about twice a month with a reputed mob boss and a common friend -- also an admitted felon -- to discuss pending court cases, according to a supplement to a King's Bench petition filed with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Friday. The newspaper the Citizens' Voice wrote to the court that a friend of William "Billy" D'Elia, Robert Kulick, has detailed his relationship with former Judge Conahan and D'Elia.

... the three men once met in Conahan's chambers ...to discuss a case in which D'Elia and Kulick "were both interested." That meeting happened prior to a hearing in that case ... "If I or someone I knew had an interest in a particular case pending before that court, I would ask Judge Conahan to consider that the party I supported got a 'fair shake,' or a 'second look,'" Kulick claims in a declaration attached to the supplement. "It was my understanding that if the case was not being handled by Judge Conahan himself, he would, on occasion, speak to other judges who were handling the matter in response to my request. At various times, Judge Conahan would confirm that he had either acted on my requests or had arranged for them to be acted on." ...Both men have pleaded guilty in the last year to criminal charges -- Kulick to possession of a firearm by an admitted felon, D'Elia to money-laundering conspiracy and witness tampering charges in 2008.

This ... filing to the state Supreme Court asks the justices to vacate a $3.5 million defamation award issued against the newspaper and reopen discovery in the case. In Joseph v. Scranton Times, Thomas Joseph argued that articles published by the Citizens' Voice during its coverage of a 2001 federal investigation that targeted D'Elia and his alleged business partners damaged his reputation and business. A source told the paper that federal officials were investigating Joseph to see whether he used his direct mail and advertising business to launder money for D'Elia and that his taxi and limousine service was used to traffic guns, drugs and prostitutes between the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Lehigh Valley international airports and Atlantic City, N.J., New York City and Philadelphia.

Conahan handled the pretrial matters and, despite voiced concerns from the newspaper company, worked with William T. Sharkey, the former court administrator who has pleaded guilty to embezzling funds, to steer the case to Ciavarella for a 10-day nonjury trial, according to the petition...Ciavarella awarded Joseph and his businesses $3.5 million in damages."