Associate claims D’Elia, Conahan link (Alleged Mafioso and felon ex-judge)

The Times Tribune (Scranton PA) ^ | 2/27/09 | Dave Janoski

[Born Conservative]

WILKES-BARRE — Former Luzerne County President Judge Michael T. Conahan met William “Big Billy” D’Elia for breakfast twice a month to discuss pending cases and once assured the mob boss of a “positive outcome” in a defamation suit filed by one of his friends, a D’Elia associate claims in a document to be filed today in state Supreme Court.

The friend was later awarded $3.5 million by a judge who is former Judge Conahan’s co-defendant in a corruption case. D’Elia associate Robert J. Kulick alleges he and Mr. D’Elia met with former Judge Conahan twice monthly for eight years in an unnamed Wilkes-Barre restaurant, according to documents to be filed by the parent company of The Citizens’ Voice newspaper, which was a defendant in the defamation case. The newspaper has asked the Supreme Court to overturn the verdict.

The Citizens’ Voice and The Times-Tribune share a common parent company, The Scranton Times L.P.

Judge Conahan steered the defamation case filed by Thomas A. Joseph to the courtroom of Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., who is Judge Conahan’s co-defendant in a federal kickbacks case, the newspaper’s attorneys allege. Judge Ciavarella ruled in Mr. Joseph’s favor following a nonjury trial in 2006.

“On several occasions, D’Elia told me that he had discussed the Joseph case with Judge Conahan, that Judge Conahan had told him he had discussed the case with the Judge Ciavarella, and that the outcome of the case was going to be positive for Joseph,” according to a declaration by Mr. Kulick included in the documents to be filed today.

Mr. Kulick said it was his “understanding” that Judge Conahan, who controlled judicial assignments as president judge from 2002 through 2006, would speak to other judges who handled matters that interested him and/or Mr. D’Elia.

The declaration makes no allegation that the three men exchanged money or other favors. It notes Mr. Kulick supplied the newspaper’s attorneys with additional details and information, which he would testify to at possible future hearings.

Newspaper attorneys said they would not comment on the documents to be filed today.

Mr. Kulick, who served time on a felony tax evasion conviction in the late 1980s, has pleaded guilty to gun-possession charges in federal court and is awaiting sentencing. Mr. D’Elia cooperated in the firearms investigation, federal prosecutors say.

Mr. Conahan and Judge Ciavarella, who have pleaded guilty to accepting $2.6 million in kickbacks in connection with juvenile detention contracts, could not be reached for comment. Mr. Conahan’s attorney, Philip Gelso, declined comment. Judge Ciavarella’s attorney, Albert Flora Jr., did not return a phone call seeking comment.

James Swetz, an attorney for Mr. D’Elia, who is serving nine years on federal money laundering and witness tampering charges, issued a statement from his client saying he was not involved “with the judges and the juvenile detention center and the Thomas Joseph lawsuit.”

Mr. Joseph and his attorney, George W. Croner, could not be reached for comment. Mr. Kulick’s attorney, Michael A. Schwartz, did not return a phone message.

In other documents to be filed today, attorneys for The Citizens’ Voice argue that records from the Luzerne County Court administrator’s office prove that Judge Conahan influenced Judge Ciavarella’s assignment to the Joseph case.

Mr. Joseph, 65, sued The Citizens’ Voice over its coverage of 2001 federal raids at his home and business and Mr. D’Elia’s home. Federal affidavits filed in connection with those raids quoted confidential informants who suspected Mr. Joseph and Mr. D’Elia were engaged in money laundering.

Mr. Joseph was never charged.

[Born Conservative]

Ex-judge Conahan was an unindicted co-conspirator in a Federal cocaine trafficking case.

"Luzerne County Corruption Prosecutions" website (US Attorney's Office/DOJ)

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