On the Stand

Did Donovan see ghosts?

Not since Watergate has any Cabinet member endured as many accusations and as much legal scrutiny as Secretary of Labor Raymond Donovan. Almost from the moment the former New Jersey construction executive arrived in Washington in 1981 for his confirmation hearings, he has been pressed to explain alleged links with the Mafia. Donovan has resolutely denied any dealings with organized crime. Last year a special federal prosecutor concluded a nine-month inquiry with the report that there was "insufficient credible evidence" to indict Donovan.

That might have ended the matter, but it did not. This fall Donovan's name cropped up during the trials of two Mafia gunmen convicted of killing a witness who had cooperated with the special prosecutor. Last week Donovan was more explicitly linked to a criminal case. This time the Labor Secretary was subpoenaed to appear at a federal court in New York City as a defense witness for two Mob-connected union officials who dealt for years with Donovan's Schiavone Construction Co.

The two are Louis Sanzo and Amadio Petito, the former president and secretary-treasurer of a blasters' union local. Both are charged with lying to the special prosecutor's grand jury when they denied any knowledge of fictitious "no-shows" or "ghost" workers on the Schiavone payroll. One such Schiavone ghost worker testified against Sanzo and Petito. A former blasters' union bookkeeper who took the stand last week said that Sanzo had cashed paychecks made out to no-shows. The defense claims that the no-show scheme was really a matter of "other-shows": to conceal extra income one hardhat would work under a colleague's name.

A ruling by Federal District Court Judge Mark Costantino forced the Secretary to appear at the Brooklyn trial. So, just after lunch on Friday, Donovan strode toward the witness stand, smiling and nodding at the courtroom crowd. Petito's lawyer asked Donovan if he had known about any no-show payoff scheme or if he had encouraged Sanzo and Petito to lie. "Absolutely not," replied Donovan confidently.

Prosecutor Laura Brevetti began the cross-examination by asking straightforwardly if Schiavone had ever paid ghost workers. "I do not know," Donovan said.

Brevetti: You don't know . . . ?

Donovan: I don't know it of my own knowledge.

Brevetti: Did you come to learn that as a fact?

Donovan: I'm not certain, frankly.

Then she quoted from Donovan's very different testimony to the special prosecutor's grand jury in 1982 ("Some people apparently were paid who were never there"). Donovan seemed to waffle. "I've read a lot of documents and been to a lot of places since then," he explained. "If I testified to that [in 1982], then that is accurate."

In the course of his 35 minutes of testimony, however, Donovan said he did not think that Schiavone paid no-show workers: "In my opinion it didn't happen." If the jury agrees, Petito and Sanzo figure to be acquitted. But if the jury believes the two union officials lied about the no-shows, the men stand to be convicted of perjury. By implication, a guilty verdict would also challenge Donovan's testimony that he did not believe the scheme existed. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.