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Body in car may solve a mobster mystery
Police make grisly find at Union diner weeks after defendant in extortion trial vanished
Thursday, December 01, 2005
BY MARK MUELLER
Star-Ledger Staff
A body found in the trunk of a car behind a Union County diner yesterday is believed to be that of a New Jersey mobster who vanished eight weeks ago in the middle of a Mafia-studded Brooklyn trial.

Lawrence Ricci, a reputed capo in the New Jersey branch of the Genovese crime family and a defendant in the fraud and extortion trial, disappeared in early October, sparking fears he had been killed by his gangland associates.

Yesterday, FBI agents told Ricci's family the body found in Union Township is probably that of the 60-year-old Essex County man, said New York lawyer Martin Schmukler, who represented Ricci at trial.

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"The FBI says they believe it's him," Schmukler said. "They haven't made any definitive announcement yet, but they did tell that to a family member."

The Union County Prosecutor's Office and Union Township police declined comment, referring calls to the FBI in New York and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Brooklyn.

A federal law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed Schmukler's account, saying more information would be released pending the completion of an autopsy.

The body was discovered in the trunk of a silver Acura behind the Huck Finn Diner on Morris Avenue, a busy, commerce-packed thoroughfare. The law enforcement official said the body was in an advanced state of decomposition and was not readily identifiable.

Authorities said the diner's owner called police about 10 a.m., reporting the Acura had been sitting in his back parking lot for five or six weeks. The lot, with room for about 100 vehicles, is accessible by a side street and is occasionally used by people other than the diner's customers. The rear of the lot backs to Union High School's athletic fields.

Ricci, whose involvement in the Genovese family dated back decades, was acquitted in absentia last month.

"I'm sorry he couldn't have been around to see the outcome of this case, and I'm especially sorry for his family, who lost a wonderful human being," Schmukler said. "Everybody who knew him liked him, and liked him a lot. Including me."

While public records list several addresses for Ricci, the lawyer said he believed his client most recently lived in Caldwell. Schmukler said Ricci was divorced, with two grown children.

A purported dairy salesman, Ricci had long been a key mob figure at the New Jersey waterfront, working with members of the International Longshoremen's Association, authorities contend.

The federal trial in Brooklyn was meant to smash organized crime's influence on the union. Ricci was charged with steering a lucrative union contact to a mob-tied pharmaceutical firm.

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Two co-defendants, union executives Harold Daggett and Arthur Coffey, were acquitted of charges of extortion and of seeking to defraud the union's pension fund.

Another defendant, Albert Cernadas, 70, entered into a plea deal earlier this year. Cernadas, who previously served as the ILA's executive vice president and as president of Local 1235 in Newark, lives less than a mile from the diner.

Throughout the trial, which began in early September, prosecutors presented as witnesses a string of Mafia turncoats, among them Pete "The Crumb" Caprio and aged hit man George Barone, a former ILA official who has admitted killing "probably 10 or 12" people in his long criminal career.

Witnesses also invoked the names of imprisoned bosses Vincent "Chin" Gigante and Peter Gotti, brother of the late Gambino don John Gotti.

Ricci, convicted of extortion more than two decades ago with one-time waterfront crime boss Tino Fiumara, would have faced five years in prison had he been convicted of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in the most recent trial.

Free on $500,000 bond, Ricci dutifully reported to the courthouse every day. Then, one day, he didn't, prompting the judge hearing the case to issue an arrest warrant.

An investigation showed Ricci was last seen in Carteret the night of Oct. 7, a Friday, as he borrowed his girlfriend's car. He is believed to have switched vehicles later.

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Body in car may solve a mobster mystery
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As days and then weeks passed, Schmukler told reporters he had no doubt his client had been killed. Yesterday, the lawyer said Ricci's family always felt the same way.

"They've been in mourning since he was first missing, because they knew he was not a person who would just disappear on anybody or anything," Schmukler said.

Word that Ricci's body has likely been found came as a relief to the relatives, he said.

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"Mysterious absence and all sorts of speculation produce agony, and the certainty of knowing what you firmly believe anyway is calming," Schmukler said. "It brings what's called closure."

But the lawyer said he remains mystified why someone would target his client. Ricci was not cooperating with the government and did not intend to testify at trial, Schmukler said.

Moreover, Schmukler said, the possibility of a five-year term would not have been enough to push him into the arms of law enforcement.

"It's totally out of the question," the lawyer said. "It had nothing to do with anyone thinking he was about to be an informer."

Staff writers Jason Jett and Ana M. Alaya contributed to this report.