John H. Nacrelli | |
---|---|
Mayor of Chester, Pennsylvania | |
In office 1968–1979 | |
Preceded by | James Henry Gorbey |
Succeeded by | Joseph F. Battle Jr. |
Chester City Council | |
In office 1966–1968 | |
Personal details | |
Political party | Republican |
John H. Nacrelli,also known as Jack Nacrelli,was an American politician who served as a Republican mayor of Chester,Pennsylvania,from 1968 to 1979. Nacrelli was convicted on federal bribery and racketeering charges related to his activities as mayor [1] and served two years in prison.
Nacrelli was appointed to the Chester City Council in 1966 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Garry E. Boden. He was elected for a two-year term on the council in 1967. [2]
Nacrelli was elected mayor of Chester in 1968 and served until 1979. [3]
Nacrelli was affiliated with an illegal numbers gambling operation of the Miller-Fontaine syndicate. He accepted bribes to protect the numbers racket [4] and directed the Chester Police Department to arrest numbers operators who tried to compete with the Miller-Fontaine operation. [5]
The corrupt political system set up by Nacrelli stretched beyond Chester and into Delaware County. [6]
Nacrelli was convicted of racketeering and income tax evasion for accepting $22,000 in bribes associated with the illegal gambling operation. [3] He served two years in federal prison and returned to Chester in March 1982. [5]
A few months after his release from prison,Nacrelli began working as a sales representative for JP Amusement,an illegal video poker machine business operated by Willie Smith,a known loan shark and narcotics financier and Joseph and James Iacona - the brothers of Gary Iacona,who was indicted for his involvement in the Philadelphia crime family capo Santo Idone. [5] According to testimony at the 1989 Pennsylvania Crime Commission,Nacrelli would intimidate tavern owners to remove competitive video poker machines from their establishments and replace them with JP Amusement machines. [5]
Nacrelli continued to play a role in local politics and Chester city government after his release from prison. He retained influence in the control of patronage matters and the official affairs of the Chester City Council and the Chester School District. [7]
Nacrelli was hired by Westinghouse to influence Delaware County politicians into supporting the development of the Westinghouse trash incinerator in Chester despite the objections of Willie Mae James Leake,the mayor at the time. [8] On October 25,1988,Chester City Council signed an agreement to build the Westinghouse trash incinerator in Chester with Mayor Leake abstaining. [9]
Nacrelli was married to Doris (Casey) Nacrelli and together had a son John H.,Jr. born in 1951. [10]
Chester is a city in Delaware County,Pennsylvania,United States. It is located in the Philadelphia metropolitan area on the western bank of the Delaware River between Philadelphia and Wilmington,Delaware. The population of Chester was 32,605 at the 2020 census.
The Gambino crime family is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City,within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the American Mafia. The group,which went through five bosses between 1910 and 1957,is named after Carlo Gambino,boss of the family at the time of the McClellan hearings in 1963,when the structure of organized crime first gained public attention. The group's operations extend from New York and the eastern seaboard to California. Its illicit activities include labor and construction racketeering,gambling,loansharking,extortion,money laundering,prostitution,fraud,hijacking,and fencing.
The Genovese crime family,also sometimes referred to as the Westside,is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City and New Jersey as part of the American Mafia. The Genovese family has generally maintained a varying degree of influence over many of the smaller mob families outside New York,including ties with the Philadelphia,Cleveland,Patriarca,and Buffalo crime families.
Nicholas James Mavroules was an American Democratic Party politician from Massachusetts. He served as Mayor of Peabody,Massachusetts for a decade,then represented Peabody and much of the surrounding North Shore region in the United States House of Representatives from 1979 until 1993. In 1993,he pleaded guilty to 15 counts of racketeering and extortion and later served 15 months in prison.
Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercive,fraudulent,extortionary,or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit.
Jose Miguel Battle Sr. was a policeman and Cuban exile who served in the unsuccessful Bay of Pigs Invasion to overthrow the communist Cuban government under Fidel Castro in 1961. He later became the nominal leader and founder of The Corporation,also known as the Cuban Mafia,and he invested in the gambling industry in the United States and Peru. He was eventually convicted of racketeering and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The New Orleans crime family,also known as the Marcello crime family or the New Orleans Mafia,was an Italian-American Mafia crime family based in New Orleans,Louisiana. The family had a history of criminal activity dating back to the late nineteenth century. These activities included racketeering,extortion,gambling,prostitution,narcotics distribution,money laundering,loan sharking,fencing of stolen goods,and murder. Operating along the Gulf Coast,with its main criminal activity centered in the New Orleans area,the organization reached its height of influence under bosses Silvestro Carollo and Carlos Marcello.
The Pittsburgh crime family,also known as the LaRocca crime family or the Pittsburgh Mafia,was an Italian-American Mafia crime family based in Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania. The LaRocca family is one of the original twenty-six Mafia families in the United States. The boss and last known "made" member of the family,Thomas "Sonny" Ciancutti,died in 2021.
Mario "The Shadow" Gigante was an American mobster in New York City who served as a caporegime for the Genovese crime family. He was the elder brother of late family boss Vincent "The Chin" Gigante.
The Philadelphia crime family,also known as the Bruno–Scarfo crime family,the Philadelphia–Atlantic City crime family,the Philadelphia Mafia,the Philly Mafia,or the Philadelphia–South Jersey Mafia,is an Italian-American Mafia crime family based in Philadelphia,Pennsylvania. Formed and based in South Philadelphia,the criminal organization primarily operates in Philadelphia and the Greater Philadelphia metropolitan area,including South Jersey. The family is notorious for its violence,its succession of violent bosses,and multiple mob wars.
The "Naples waste management crisis" is a series of events surrounding the lack of waste collection and illegal toxic waste dumping in and around the Province of Naples,Campania,Italy,beginning in the 1980s. In 1994,Campania formally declared a state of emergency,ending in 2008,however,the crisis has had negative effects on the environment and on human health,specifically in an area that became known as the triangle of death. Due to the burning of accumulated toxic wastes in overfilled landfills and the streets,Naples's surrounding areas became known as the "Land of pyres". The crisis is largely attributed to government failure to efficiently waste manage,as well as the illegal waste disposal by the Camorra criminal organization.
Marco "The Mover" D'Amico was a Chicago mobster and consigliere of the Chicago Outfit crime organization. He admitted his role in the Chicago Outfit in federal court in 1995.
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Barbara Bohannan-Sheppard is an American politician who served as mayor of Chester,Pennsylvania from 1992 to 1995. Bohannan-Sheppard was the first Democrat to be elected mayor of Chester in almost a century and the second female and second African-American mayor of Chester.
Joseph F. Battle Jr. was an American politician and judge who served as Republican mayor of Chester,Pennsylvania,from 1979 to 1986 and judge on the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas from 1987 to 1999.
The Delaware Valley Resource Recovery Facility is a trash incineration plant located in Chester,Pennsylvania. The waste-to-energy plant,which incinerates waste to generate power,was built and operated by Westinghouse from 1991 to 1997. It is currently operated by Covanta. a Morristown,New Jersey–based publicly traded industrial waste company,and has been criticized for the level of pollution it produces. The plant has the largest capacity of any waste-to-energy plant in the United States.
Greyhound Electronics,Inc.,was an American manufacturer of traditional and electronic amusement games based in Toms River,New Jersey. The company flourished in the 1980s and 1990s as a manufacturer and seller of arcade games,skill cranes and background music players,as well as various other amusement devices. The company's grey-market selling of its amusement-only video poker machines—illegally modified to pay out vouchers to customers—in the northeast and in California became known after its co-owners were arrested in 1990 on charges of racketeering,conspiracy and promotion of gambling.