Beachwood, Middletown extortion suspects plead guilty

A onetime employee of the Hudson County Improvement Authority (HCIA) from Middletown and a waste hauler from Beachwood face up to 20 years in prison apiece for rigging contracts tied to a project in Jersey City and forcing contractors to pay for inclusion.

In a Newark federal courtroom, Gerard Pica, 65, of Middletown, and James Castaldo, 60, of Beachwood, each pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right, according to the office of New Jersey U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman.

At their scheduled February 23 sentencing, they also risk fines as high as $250,000, or twice the gross gain or loss. They're jointly ordered to forfeit $53,861.

Pica was an environmental scientist for the HCIA, which oversaw development of a nine-hole golf course at Lincoln Park West in Jersey City, called the LPW project in court papers. Castaldo ran Renda Enterprises LLC, which provided and brokered interstate transport of recycled materials and related solid waste.

The project required several hundred thousand cubic yards of soil, fill and crushed stone for the site and for road bedding during construction. Authorities said that a colleague of Pica's also had influence over contractor selection.

Investigators said that from August 2010 through November 2011, Pica, Castaldo and others took payments from hopeful contractors in exchange for help from Pica and his co-worker for approals.

Pica admitted arranging payments from a Bayonne recycling plant operator in return for work on the project, authorities said. Part of the deal was $2.00 per cubic yard of material, paid to Castaldo, to be divided among Castaldo, Pica and his co-worker.

Pica admitted collecting a partial payment of $6,000 from the contractor, supplemented by $6,000 from Castaldo's company in the form of a fraudulent invoice, authorities said.

Castaldo admitted working out a payoff deal with Pica and the owner of an environmental consulting firm for authorization to dump more than 2,600 cubic yards of soil at the site, totaling more than $8,600, authorities said.