Lawrence Gray, Esq.
David Ambro
Smithtown News
One Brooksite
Drive
Smithtown, New
York 11787 May
15, 2008
Dear Mr. Ambro
& Friends:
Here is what
David Ambro in his Smithtown News did not take into account when he
wrote, “Unraveling Smithtown Corruption
Case” --- something anyone could have done with Google and a camera. 60 Main Street in Kings Park used to be
known as Kings Park Plumbing. Where did
the owners go? It now has a PARTY HARDY sign on it. Question:
Was the real action upstairs in those second and third floor
apartments? Ambro, go down to the
Building Department and see who signed off on the construction that went on in
those apartments. What do you think the
odds are that it was Supervisor Patrick Vecchio’s 18-year Chief Building
Inspector, Robert Bonerba, who personally signed off on the project? Are all the walls in these apartments up to
fire and building code specifications?
To refresh your inconvenient recollection Ambro, Bonerba was Vecchio’s
indicted bribe taker who is now accused of taking $5,000 payoffs from confessed
bribers, Robert Fitzpatrick and Frank Esposito. He is the same Bonerba that Vecchio, in collusion with Councilmen
Edward Wehrheim and Thomas McCarthy and Patricia Biancaniello let run
out the backdoor of the Building Department with a pension rather than dismiss
him and forfeit the crook’s pension.
Ambro made the usual court jester out of himself by writing
two articles showing how Vecchio changed the locks on the Building Department
so Bonerba could not sneak back into it.
These are the hard facts as time and the criminal process will
eventually tell. Has Bonerba reported
all his income on his state tax returns?
Check out People v. Weinberg
from the New York Court of Appeals -- “all income from whatever source derived.” Turning to convicted felon, Robert
Fitzpatrick, he has been a generous contributor to Vecchio for years. So has Frank Esposito through his
corporations.
For the third week in a row, Mr. Ambro,
there is not a word about your mentor and boss, Supervisor Patrick
Vecchio. He is at the center of
Smithtown’s corruption. Years ago in
the Police Department, they didn’t call him “Pat the Rat” for nothing. You can run but you can’t hide. And where are the Democrats? Their last contribution was and is
Councilwoman Patricia Biancaniello -- Vecchio’s, McCarthy’s and Wehrheim’s
folly. What happened to the good
government she ran on? She got on the
Town Board through “Bait-&-Switch” election petition chicanery – thanks to
Democrat and Independence Party backroom deals -- and worked her way to public
distemper, slamming doors, pounding on walls, calling an innocent secretary a
liar and then cackling untruths to a citizen's queries on and off
camera. Alas, alas, alas. And where are
William P. Ellis’s Republicans? They
are lining up for jail cells or cemetery plots, whichever comes first. And the Conservative Party? The Working
Families Party?
If I were a builder-developer in
Smithtown I would insist that Planning Director Frank DeRubeis meet with me and
my colleagues for a long discussion in a closed room. We would discuss the concept of equal treatment for all, as in, “equal
protection of the laws.” Let us take a
page out of your book, Ambro. Two town
board meetings ago, you and DeRubeis went into the Building Department right
after the meeting. The next day
appeared your cropped story about the illegal Montclair Avenue site that got
short-circuited when Vecchio, McCarthy and Wehrheim sensed the sheriff was on
their case. If DeRubeis had time to
waste on giving Ambro all that was needed for a story at the behest
of, and on orders from Vecchio, DeRubeis must give equal time to builders and
developers and applicants who also want consideration. Right now, DeRubeis’s
word – like the credibility of Deputy Planning Director David Flynn, Zoning Board
Chairwoman Adrian Giananedeo and Planning Board Chairman Robert Martin – is as
good as someone's bad check. Many
have played handball with it on the way back from Smithtown Banks.
Yours
truly,
Lawrence N. Gray, Esq.