Admitted extortionists from Beachwood, Middletown sentenced

The shore men who admitted wrenching thousands from the pockets of contractors seeking approvals for a project in Hudson County head to multiple-year prison terms.

James Castaldo, 60, of Beachwood, was sentenced to 51 months, and Gerard Pica, 66, of Middletown, was given 35 months today in Newark, according to the office of New Jersey U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman.

Both had pleaded guilty to counts of conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right. Each was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release and to jointly pay restitution amounting to $53,861.

Pica worked as an environmental scientist for the Hudson County Incinerator Authority (HCIA), and, with another employee, held an influential spot in determining which contractors would provide soil and fill material for a nine-hole public golf course in Jersey City's Lincoln Park West. Castaldo headed Renda Enterprises, LLC, which dealt in recycled waste and related materials.

According to investigators, Pica, Castaldo and others worked out a plan to extract payments from contractors in exchange for their help in getting approvals, between August 2010 and November 2011.

Pica admitted forcing a Bayonne recycling business operator to pay $2 per cubic yard for approvals for Class B materials, including crushed stone, and that he divided the payments with Castaldo and his HCIA coworker. He told authorities that he got a partial payment for his share, about $6,600, in December 2010.

Pica further admitted producing a fake invoice through a separate company he owned, to accept a $6,000 check from Renda Enterprises, a sum that represented part of the payment extorted from the Bayonne recycler.

Castaldo admitted meeting with Pica and an environmental consulting firm owner, in early 2011, to work out payments for permission to bring about 2,600 cubic yards of soil and fill material to the development site.

He told authorities that Renda Enterprises received more than $8,600 in two payments in July of that year.