January 26, 2005
BY STEVE WARMBIR,
TIM NOVAK,
FRAN SPIELMAN AND
STEVE PATTERSON Staff
Reporters
The Hired Truck scandal rumbled further into Mayor Daley's 11th Ward
on Tuesday as a man with deep ties to the Daley machine was charged with
getting millions in city business while pretending his wife and daughter
ran a trucking outfit that he actually controlled.
The allegations mark at the least the 10th time in recent months when
a company in Daley's minority set-aside program has come under fire for
being owned and run by white men, including some Hired Truck firms.
GNA Trucking is in the name of Nicki Cannatello and her
daughter, Gina, but federal prosecutors on Tuesday said Nicki's
husband, John, ran the firm. The Sun-Times first reported on the
Cannatellos last year in its series that revealed waste and
corruption in the city program. He is the 16th person to be
charged.
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City
official accused of trading licenses for bribes
BY FRAN SPIELMAN
City Hall Reporter
An 18-year veteran city investigator was accused Tuesday of
trading public chauffeur licenses for bribes -- including $1,000
allegedly paid by a would-be cabdriver with a disqualifying
drunk-driving conviction.
Anthony Perkins, 46, faces six counts of bribery and official
misconduct after being captured on tape by two license-seeking
cabbies who wore wires to snare him.
Six times over a 14-month period, Perkins allegedly accepted
bribes ranging from $50 to $1,000 in exchange for issuing two
permanent and four temporary public chauffeur licenses. One
applicant allegedly paid twice.
The driver with the DUI conviction allegedly coughed up the
biggest payoff -- $1,000 -- to wipe the slate clean on a
conviction that barred him from driving a public vehicle in
Chicago for five years. He still didn't get a license.
Other applicants allegedly greased Perkins' palm in exchange
for having the investigator waive a two-hour safety class or
look the other way when a driver accused of misconduct had
failed to be retrained.
The undercover investigation was launched after the Consumer
Services Department discovered an unidentified number of missing
license forms and summoned the inspector general. The forms were
reportedly traced to Perkins, who was then observed huddling
with applicants away from the city's licensing facility at 2350
W. Ogden.
'He puts everybody at
risk'
"This employee was, in essence, giving licenses to taxicab
drivers who were not qualified to have them. By doing that, he
puts everybody at risk for his own greed," said Inspector
General Alexander Vroustouris.
"He's even willing to issue a chauffeur's license to someone
who's been convicted of driving under the influence and
shouldn't be allowed, under any circumstances to be driving a
cab."
Consumer Services Commissioner Norma Reyes said Perkins is
now on administrative leave with pay from his $49,548-a-year job
pending termination proceedings. He has worked for the city
since 1987.
Perkins is accused of accepting a bribe in November 2003, two
more in February 2004, and four more on Sept. 14 and 17 and on
Oct. 19 and 26. Three of the drivers now have valid licenses
after completing the city's requirements. All five are
cooperating with the city's internal investigation.
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GNA took in at least $6 million from the Hired Truck
business from 1997 to 2003 and another $800,000 from leasing
other equipment to the city under a program restricted to
businesses owned by women or minorities. The trucks did
nothing but work for the city.
Federal prosecutors say according to their witnesses,
John Cannatello, 59, worked on the trucks, hired and fired
employees and ran the other day-to-day operations. His wife,
Nicki, though, had a different story, telling the feds her
husband was "never" involved in the "business operations."
If prosecutors are right, John Cannatello was a busy man.
While running GNA, Cannatello was regional superintendent of the
Cook County Forest Preserve's Southwest Region, a job that
didn't require him to be anywhere at any specific time,
according to a former high-ranking county official.
If his wife is believed, she too was busy. Nicki Cannatello
would have been running GNA while she was working for the Cook
County Public Health Department.
GNA is no longer in the Hired Truck Program or certified by the city
as woman-owned.
John Cannatello's lawyer denied his client did anything wrong. In an
interview last year, Nicki Cannatello denied having any clout.
Donated to key officials
"I don't dig that kind of stuff. I'm just blessed they took my
application," she said.
The Cannatellos now are drawing government pensions, living in their
$850,000 home on Marco Island, Fla. But several other Cannatellos still
have county jobs.
Cook County President John Stroger has reason to be grateful to John
Cannatello. He was the top Democratic official in Palos Township and in
the early 1990s was the first suburban committeeman to endorse Stroger
for Cook County Board president.
John Cannatello's political roots, though, trace back to Daley's 11th
Ward.
His father, Ross, worked for the Water Department, in charge of
hiring private trucks.
Early on, John Cannatello was a city truck driver himself.
And while the Cannatellos have moved to the southwest suburbs, they
still claim a Chicago address for their firm -- right across the street
from the 11th Ward office.
Cannatello's company, GNA, has purchased insurance from the mayor's
brother, Cook County Commissioner John Daley, since 2003. John Daley
said he dealt directly with John Cannatello, not his wife.
GNA has also given $4,000 to John Daley's political funds.
Daley said, "I've known him for a number of years. Are we like
buddy-buddy? I know him.
"He seemed to be a very sociable individual and came from a large
family in the community. Are they good people? I think they are."
Including Daley, the Cannatellos have given at least $11,500 to such
politicians as Ald. Ed Burke, House Speaker Michael Madigan and Cook
County Sheriff Michael Sheahan.
John Cannatello's clout was evident even when meeting with Donald
Tomczak, the city employee who ruled over the Water Department for
years. Tomczak was indicted in December for overseeing an operation that
allegedly shook down trucking firms for bribes and campaign donations so
they would get city hired truck work.
Cannatello would meet directly with Tomczak at his office, which one
of Tomczak's bag men described as "very rare."
That bag man, Roger McMahon, understood Cannatello was paying cash to
Tomczak, according to an affidavit by U.S. Postal Inspector David
Hodapp.
Cannatello is accused of trying to bribe two Hired Truck program
officials in December 1997, with $100 cash each. But officials gave the
money back and reported it.