Free Republic

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...

A witness will testify one or both of the disgraced Luzerne County judges who have pleaded guilty to accepting millions in kickbacks have “direct connections” to jailed mobster William “Big Billy” D’Elia, according to a petition filed Thursday in the state Supreme Court by lawyers for the owners of The Citizens’ Voice. The petition asks the court to vacate a $3.5 million defamation verdict issued by suspended Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. in June 2006 against the Scranton Times LP, a related company called the Times Partner and former Citizens’ Voice reporter Edward Lewis. After a nonjury trial, Judge Ciavarella...

SCRANTON – Reputed Mafia boss William “Billy” D’Elia was sentenced Monday to nine years in federal prison, but he could reduce that sentence further if he provides “substantial” assistance in the prosecution of Mount Airy Casino owner Louis DeNaples, a prosecutor said. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Zubrod said the amount of time D’Elia might shave off his sentence is dependent upon how helpful he is in aiding Dauphin County prosecutors in the pending perjury cases against DeNaples and his longtime spiritual adviser, the Rev. Joseph Sica. The offer is in addition to already significant concessions the U.S. Attorney’s Office has...