The Waterfront Comm’n of N.Y. Harbor announced Sept. 14 that Nicholas Romano and Carl Bilancione pled guilty before U.S. Dist. Judge Katharine S. Hayden in Newark, N.J. to one criminal count of conspiracy to steal an interstate shipment of goods.
Romano is a longshoreman, union shop steward and secretary-treasurer of Int’l Longshoremen’s Ass’n Local 1588 and Bilancione is a longshoreman and foreman. Both are registered by WCNYH and are employed at Global Terminal in Bayonne, N.J.
In 1998, WCNYH received 43 anonymous letters and other information concerning corrupt activities committed by Romano, Bilancione and others. WCNYH detectives, together with the FBI and U.S. Customs Serv., conducted an extensive two-year probe. WCNYH said evidence was developed which implicated Romano and Bilancione in the June 1995 theft of two containers of perfume valued at $2 million from Global Terminal. Both Romano and Bilancione are allegedly associates of the Genovese Organized Crime Family, according to WCNYH.
WCNYH said more arrests are anticipated and the probe is continuing. [WCNYH, Media Release 9/14/00]