In the latest charges stemming from the federal probe of the city's scandal-plagued Hired Truck Program, a former suburban Democratic politician has been accused of fraud for falsely claiming his trucking business was women-owned.

The charges, unsealed Tuesday in U.S. District Court, also accuse John Cannatello of paying cash bribes and making campaign contributions to an indicted former high-ranking city official to get lucrative work in the Hired Truck Program.

According to the charges, Cannatello hid his role as the principal operator and manager of GNA Trucking Inc. The business took in revenue of about $6.6 million from the city between 1997 and 2003 after it had been certified as a women business enterprise.

Public records show that Cannatello's wife, Nicki, and daughter Gina claimed to be in control of GNA Trucking's day-to-day operations. Until 2000, Nicki Cannatello held a full-time position as an administrative assistant at the Cook County Department of Public Health, records show.

The charges allege that the city certified GNA Trucking as women-controlled even after one of two city Hired Truck Program officials who were each given $100 cash by Cannatello in December 1997, reported the alleged bribe attempts to higher-ups.

The charges also revealed that a city investigator had suspicions about the company's claim to be women-controlled after questioning Cannatello's wife--identified in the charges only as "Individual A"--in 2002 and 2004. The investigator recently told federal authorities that Nicki Cannatello seemed to possess "sketchy" knowledge about GNA Trucking's operations, the charges said.

After an unannounced visit last March, the investigator intentionally made no recommendation concerning the company's certification as women-owned, but GNA Trucking kept its status as a women business enterprise until the city later overhauled the Hired Truck Program.

Cannatello, 59, a former Palos Township Democratic committeeman who lives in Palos Park, is the 16th individual to be charged in the ongoing federal probe of the program, in which the city hires private contractors to do trucking work.

The charges also allege that Cannatello passed cash bribes and campaign contributions to Donald Tomczak, the former No. 2 official in the city's Water Department, through two Tomczak underlings.

Tomczak has been charged with earmarking the campaign contributions for candidates he favored and using an army of more than 100 city workers to do political work in return for jobs, promotions and overtime.

One of Tomczak's subordinates, Roger McMahon, who is cooperating in the federal probe, told authorities he accepted cash and campaign contributions from GNA Trucking and four other companies from the mid-1990s through 2003, prosecutors alleged.

GNA Trucking consistently ranked in the top 10 in terms of the Hired Truck Program work it received from the Water Department, according to the charges.

Between 1996 and 2003, GNA Trucking and Cannatello contributed more than $11,000 to five political campaigns that had been among Tomczak's favorites, prosecutors alleged.

State Board of Elections records show that Cannatello contributed $1,000 in 2002 to Tomczak's son, Jeff Tomczak, former Will County state's attorney. The younger Tomczak lost a bitter re-election campaign in November, about two weeks after his father was charged with bribery.

The campaign records show that between 1996 and 2003 GNA Trucking also made contributions to the 8th Ward and 19th Ward Democratic Organizations, House Speaker Michael Madigan, former Gov. George Ryan and Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th).

Another beneficiary was John Daley, a Cook County commissioner and 11th Ward committeeman, whose campaign fund and ward organization received $4,000 from the trucking firm.

In an interview Tuesday, John Daley, Mayor Richard Daley's brother, confirmed that GNA Trucking was also an insurance client of his. Daley said he sold worker's compensation insurance to GNA Trucking, dealing primarily with John Cannatello.

Daley said he has known Cannatello, a Bridgeport native, for years and that Cannatello had helped out his 11th Ward organization before moving to Palos Park.

Cannatello made an initial appearance Tuesday in U.S. District Court and was released on his own recognizance. He was charged with two counts of mail fraud in a criminal complaint.

Cannatello's lawyer, Edmund Wanderling, said he was surprised and disappointed by the charges.

"Did he make a contribution to Tomczak's son's campaign? Sure," Wanderling said. "But it had nothing to do with getting work in the city trucking program. He had been in the program for years before that."

The evidence will show that Cannatello was an employee of GNA Trucking "and nothing more than that," Wanderling said.

Prosecutors didn't dispute that Cannatello's wife did some work for GNA Trucking but contended a number of witnesses, including the operator of a trucking repair business located at the same address, would testify for the government that Cannatello controlled the business operations. Cannatello also dealt with the city, GNA Trucking's primary client, the government said.

Since the city's overhaul of the Hired Truck Program last year, GNA Trucking's application to rejoin the program remains pending, said Lisa Schrader, a spokeswoman for the city's Budget Department.

Cannatello and several of his family members have held county jobs. Cannatello was a regional superintendent for the Forest Preserve District from 1995 to 2001 , and his wife worked in the Public Health Department. Another Cannatello daughter, Nicki, works as an administrative assistant in the county's Revenue Department.

In addition, Cannatello's twin brother, Frank W., works in the county Highway Department, and two of Frank's son work for the county.