Records at job center seized by federal agents

Republican, The (Springfield, MA) (Published as Union-News (Springfield, MA)) - April 26, 2002

Author/Byline: JACK FLYNN; BARRY, STAFF, Union-News (Springfield, Mass.)

Edition: All
Section: News
Page: A01
SPRINGFIELD - With school children watching from the sidewalk and clowns from the Melha Shrine Circus gathering down the street,
federal agents carted away 10 boxes of loan records from the Hampden County Employment and Training Consortium yesterday in the
second raid at the city agency in five months.
Agents also searched five other locations including the home of the consortium's executive director, James W. Asselin, who oversees the
loan program targeted by federal investigators.
The raids - part of a federal probe into suspected corruption in city government - were the first since agents seized documents and
computer files from the consortium and two City Hall offices in November.
Arriving with search warrants at close to 8 a.m., a team of agents from the FBI, Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Small Business
Administration spent 31/2 hours gathering records at the 1176 Main St. office. The doors were locked, and employees arriving for work
were sent home.
The agents left shortly before noon with some loading boxes of records into a sedan parked at the back door and others carrying
equipment out the front entrance.
At a bus stop outside, 20 elementary school students looked on as the departing agents were filmed by television crews. Down the block,
clowns from the Shrine Circus warmed up for a performance outside the Civic Center.
"I guess you can take your pick of which circus to watch downtown today," one clown, Allen G. Zippin, said.
The federal agents refused to comment on what records were seized or how they related to the corruption probe, which has spawned a
whirlwind of suspicion, rumors and conspiracy theories but no arrests or indictments.
City Solicitor Peter P. Fenton said yesterday's raids appeared to target paper and computer files from a loan program run by a non-profit
board that operates out of the agency's office.
Fenton and Asselin said the Greater Springfield Entrepreneurial Fund Inc. is not directly managed by the city. But Asselin said he
administers the fund, which also receives clerical and technical support from consortium officials.
"I was very surprised when I came to work this morning," said Asselin, who offered few details about the raid.
Asselin, who earns $95,000 a year, also refused to comment on searches at his Dwight Road home or the State Street condominium of
James Krzystofik, a consortium employee who earns $74,000 annually. Krzystofik could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Asselin's brother, Christopher, is a state representative from Springfield.
Also targeted were the Locust Street office of Salvatore Anzalotti Jr., accountant for the fund; and the Tamarack Drive home of Cornell W.
Lewis, president of the fund's board of directors.
Lewis said agents questioned him and seized his personal computer.
Loans of up to $35,000 were awarded to more than 30 small businesses since 1996. Some of the businesses were run by political allies
of Mayor Michael J. Albano and others to companies with ties to reputed organized crime figures.
The recipients have included Felix Tranghese, whom federal prosecutors once portrayed as a high-ranking Mafia figure, and Victor C.
Bruno of Agawam, the son of convicted racketeer Adolfo M. Bruno.
Victor Bruno, who runs several successful Worthington Street nightspots, has no criminal record. Tranghese opened Mulino's Due
restaurant and an adjacent bakery on Bridge Street in 1997, but shut both down within three years. He received a $25,000 loan from the
entrepreneurial fund despite making only two of 16 required payments on a loan from the Community Development office.
Tranghese eventually settled his delinquency with the city, and Bruno is repaying two $25,000 loans he received from the fund.

FBI agents seized files from the city Community Development Office in November for another loan program that benefited Bruno,
Tranghese and some of Albano's political supporters.
No public official has been implicated in the corruption probe, but 15 people are scheduled to stand trial later this spring in an organized
crime crackdown staged by state police and the FBI.
Albano has said the FBI has a vendetta against him dating back to his years on the state Parole Board in the 1980s. But the four-term
mayor, who refused comment yesterday, has stopped short of saying he is a target of the federal probe.
FBI agents raided City Hall two days after Albano's re-election on Nov. 6.
In another development, Fenton yesterday said that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has dropped several
objections to the city's handling of federal block grants from the past few years.
Fenton said the move shows that HUD has essentially given the city a clean bill of health for the $50 million program following an audit
last year. The only exception was a $10,000 combination grant and loan given to Angelina's Ristorante in the South End in 1997; HUD
ruled the restaurant was not qualified for the funding, and ordered the city to recoup the $3,500 grant.
The restaurant repaid the loan last year.
A separate HUD investigation, conducted by its Inspector General's Office, has been under way for the past year. No findings have been
reported in the probe, which is looking into possible fraud and misuse of funds.
Caption: (COLOR PHOTO) Federal agents leave the Hampden County Employment and Training Consortium during a search of the
1176 Main St., Springfield, office yesterday. (PHOTO 2 - Page 16) James W. Asselin
Index terms: FEDERAL; INVESTIGATION
Record: MERLIN_1803829
Copyright: Copyright, 2002, The Republican Company, Springfield, MA. All Rights Reserved. Used by NewsBank with Permission.