FORMER MAYOR OF NIAGARA FALLS, NEW YORK CHARGED WITH
DEPRIVING CITY OF ITS RIGHT TO THE HONEST SERVICES OF A PUBLIC OFFICIAL

BUFFALO, N.Y.--A federal grand jury in Buffalo returned a four-count indictment yesterday, charging VINCENZO ANELLO, of Niagara Falls, New York with four felony counts involving his conduct in 2003-2005 as Mayor of the City of Niagara Falls, New York, and as a City Councilman, announced U.S. Attorney Terrance P. Flynn of the Western District of New York. U.S. Attorney Flynn said Anello is charged with two counts of conspiracy, which involve an alleged scheme to accept and receive a total of $40,000, from Niagara County businessman Joseph Anderson prior to and just after Anello was elected Mayor of Niagara Falls, New York in 2003. The maximum punishment for each count is twenty years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul J. Campana said the Indictment charges that Anello conspired with others to receive three checks from Joseph Anderson, the owner of Smokin Joes in Sanborn, New York. The indictment charges that Anello received the first check, for $15,000, on June 20, 2003; the second, also for $15,000, on July 30, 2003; and the third, for $10,000, on November 12, 2003, after Anello had been elected Mayor. Anello was a member of the Niagara Falls City Council while running for mayor in the summer of 2003, when he received the first two checks.

The Indictment further charges that, early in Anello's term as mayor, in March 2004, he placed before the Niagara Falls, New York City Council a proposed lease
agreement regarding the city's East Pedestrian Mall to a group that included Joseph Anderson (East Mall Entertainment, LLC), without disclosing to the City Council the $40,000 in checks Anderson had given Anello prior to and after the mayoral election the previous summer and Fall. The City Council approved the lease during its meeting on March 29, 2004, without knowing about the money Mayor Anello previously had received from Anderson. It is alleged that the failure to disclose the receipt of this money deprived the City of Niagara Falls of its right to the honest services of a public official, and that in accepting the $40,000 from Mr. Anderson, with Anderson's consent, Anello wrongfully acted under color of official right. The Indictment also alleges that as of the date Anello left office, December 31, 2007, he had not repaid any of the money he had received from Anderson in 2003, and that Anderson had not asked for it.

The Indictment was the culmination of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent In-Charge Laurie Bennett;
Daniel R. Petrole, Deputy Inspector General, United States Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General; and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, under the direction of Special Agent In-Charge Patricia J. Haynes. The evidence was presented to the Grand Jury by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul J. Campana., who will handle the trial of the case.

Mr. Anello will be arraigned on Monday, November 10, 2008, at 2:30 p.m. before Magistrate Judge Jeremiah J. McCarthy.

The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.