Sunday, March 17, 1996
By Allan Lengel
and Norman Sinclair
Detroit Journal Staff Writer
A Macomb County building contractor who owns a Detroit marina and a retired Saginaw fast-food franchise owner were targets of shakedowns by Detroit mobsters, according to a federal indictment.
Macomb County businessman John Catenacci, who also goes by John Carlo and various combinations of the three names, and Harold Stern, who owned McDonald's franchises in the Flint-Saginaw area, were among the targets the Detroit mob singled out for extortion over the past 30 years, the indictment charged.
The 57-page indictment unveiled last week provides a glimpse into how the low-profile Detroit mob allegedly shook down owners of legitimate businesses.
The indictment links the top echelon of the organization, including its suspected leader, Jack W. Tocco, and his top underlings, Anthony Joseph Zerilli and brothers Anthony (Tony Jack) Giacalone and Vito (Billy Jack) Giacalone. Federal authorities allege that the mob thrived on extortion, racketeering, gambling and even murder when necessary.
A story about the five-year investigation first appeared in the Detroit Sunday Journal Dec. 10.
The indictment alleged that Nove Tocco, the nephew of the reputed mob leader, hired a man in December 1992 to help extort cash from Catenacci.
According to the indictment, Cate-nacci met with reputed mobsters Zerilli and Tony Giacalone in the fall of 1992 in Macomb County.
Catenacci also met with Nove Tocco and Zerilli in Catenacci's condominium in the posh Harbour Point Condominiums development he built on Lake St. Clair.
According to the indictment, after those meetings, Nove Tocco hired a thug to "inflict as much harm to Catenacci as he wished, so long as Catenacci was not killed."
"You can't collect money from a dead man when you're in the extortion business," said Keith E. Corbett, chief of the U.S. Attorney's Organized Crime Strike Force in Detroit. "You don't want to kill people you're trying to collect from."
The plan was never executed.
Nove Tocco's attorney, William Bufalino, said the allegations about his client "are not the facts; that's not true.
"It's a conglomeration of 30 years of mud and now they're trying to see if any of it will stick," he said. "The indictment is filled with rumors and innuendo. It's not worth the paper it's written on."
Catenacci was a ripe target.
State records show he owns 84 businesses in three states, including Michigan. His John Carlo Construc-tion Company is one of the largest industrial and road building firms in the Midwest.
In 1994 he was involved in a controversial struggle with the widow of the late Detroit auto dealer, Porterfield Wilson, for control of a marina on the Detroit River.
Catenacci, who was Wilson's partner, now owns the Harbor Hill Marina, billed as the largest minority-owned project in Michigan. The right to develop the site was given to Wilson by the Coleman Young administration.
Catenacci also owns the C.J. Barrymore's restaurant in Mt. Clemens, and built the Gibraltar Trade Center and the Algonac Marina.
The case involving Saginaw restaurateur Harold Stern goes back to 1977 when it is alleged the Detroit mob tried to extort money from him.
According to the indictment, Stern met with mobster Anthony Giacalone, and the Detroit Mafia "did demand insurance payments . . . to insure the safety of Stern and his family."
FBI agents said mobsters sometimes falsely told victims there were contracts on their lives and demanded money to have the threats withdrawn.
Neither Catennaci nor Stern could be reached for comment.
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