Former Mayor of Niagara Falls Charged in Theft of Pension Benefits

BUFFALO, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. of the Western District of New York announced today that a Criminal Complaint was filed late yesterday in Buffalo charging Vincenzo Anello, 64, of Niagara Falls, New York, with crimes relating to his collection of certain pension benefits received from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 237. Specifically, the complaint charges the former Niagara Falls Mayor with stealing and converting to his own use monies from an employee pension fund and making false statements about the number of hours he worked as an electrician so that his pension benefits would not be suspended for working over 40 hours per month. The charges each carry a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment, a fine of $250,000, or both.

U.S. Attorney Attorney Hochul stated that the Criminal Complaint alleges that Anello collected his pension from IBEW Local 237 between March 1, 2008, and March 31, 2010, while working over 40 hours per month as an electrician. According to the Criminal Complaint, Anello perpetrated this theft by failing to submit pension fund transmittals to the union, and on those occasions when he did submit pension fund transmittals, by falsely reporting the number of hours that he worked.

The Criminal Complaint was the culmination of an investigation on the part of special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent In Charge James H. Robertson; and the United States Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Marjorie Franzman, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Region.

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.