Archdiocese should have been aware of D & P’s mob ties
Archdiocese should have been aware of D & P’s mob ties
aemmanuel@luc.edu
Josephine DiFronzo is the president of D & P Construction —
but law enforcement officials say her husband Peter and his brother
John, alleged Chicago mob leaders, are pulling the company’s
strings from behind the scenes.
A quick and simple Google search for “D & P + Mafia” could
tell you as much.Here’s something else Google can tell you: Last week’s Phoenix
article about a D & P garbage dumpster being used to remove
debris from the construction site for the new St. Joseph Seminary
on Loyola Ave. east of Sheridan Rd. wasn’t the first story written
about the archdiocese using the waste removal and trucking
company’s services.A 2005 Chicago Sun-Times story reported D & P’s
connections to “made men.” Reporters approached the archdiocese and
inquired about a D & P dumpster on site at St. Joseph’s
Catholic Church near Orleans and Division in Old Town, but
according to that article, “Neither the contractor overseeing a
project to convert an old rectory into a parish center nor the
archdiocese’s construction office apparently was aware of D &
P’s history.” An archdiocese spokesperson was quoted, saying that
the contractor agreed to remove the dumpster and hire a different
firm, and commented that, “We don’t micromanage our projects to the
extent we would know who’s doing the waste hauling.”“We’re not making any judgments about this company,” the
spokesperson said.I should note that Henry Brothers Construction, who is actually
building the seminary, is the company that hired D & P as a
contractor. The co-owner of Henry Brothers claimed in last week’s
article that he had no knowledge of allegations of mob ties, didn’t
know the owners of D & P and had never met them. He added that
his company has been working with D & P “for a few years,” and
that the company “provides a good service at a very competitive
price.”Yet, even if the archdiocese didn’t hire D & P directly, the
fact remains that waste receptacles from a possibly shady company
were being used, ironically, at a seminary construction site across
the street from a university rooted in the Jesuit tradition of
social justice.D & P’s involvement is an awkward situation for the
archdiocese to explain. Although, I’m only assuming it’s awkward
because we never actually got an explanation. However, two things
we can read into are the speedy removal of the D & P dumpster
at the archdiocese’s request after a Phoenix reporter called to
inquire, and the lack of a response to those inquiries.This situation suggests that the archdiocese has a problem
saying, “Sorry, we messed up.” They apparently also have problems
staying clear of D & P, which the FBI claims has paid and
intimidated its way to securing contracts.To be clear, I’m not alleging that the archdiocese is in cahoots
with godfathers. Despite history repeating itself in the form of D
& P dumpsters on archdiocese construction sites, that doesn’t
necessarily indicate a mob conspiracy. Wow, that’d be a story. Just
think …I will offer this constructive criticism: Whatever it takes, the
archdiocese should stay away from D & P and make sure
contractors can clear a simple Google search before something
potentially embarrassing slips through the cracks.
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