Six North Shore men and women, including two with reputed blood ties to the mob, were indicted today on charges they conspired to throw the prosecution of an insurance-fraud ring, according to authorities, who say thousands of dollars changed hands in exchange for promises to lie on the stand.
David Forlizzi, 52, of West Peabody and Fred Battista, 50, of Winthrop, are accused of paying off witnesses to commit perjury or, in one case, allegedly promised Janet Vaccari, 51, cash if she kept her 29-year-old granddaughter Deana Pistone out of state and away from authorities, who wanted her to testify at their March 2012 trial, prosecutors say.
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Vaccari and Pistone, the daughter and granddaughter of reputed Boston mob associate Frank Imbruglia, and four others were indicted today on a variety of charges, including corrupting a witness and conspiracy.
Vaccari; Laura Battista, 63, of Revere; and William Penta, 49, of Salem were also indicted on counts of perjury and obstruction of justice. Fred Battista and Forlizzi, 52, the ring’s alleged mastermind, also face subornation of perjury charges.
“These defendants were involved in a scheme involving bribery and perjury that undermined the criminal justice system,” said Attorney General Martha Coakley, whose office prosecuted the original trial and brought these new indictments. “It is vital that witnesses testify truthfully under oath to maintain the integrity of the judicial process.”
Vaccari, Penta, Pistone and Laura Battista had pleaded guilty in 2008 to conspiring with Forlizzi, the owner of the Winthrop body shop, Collision Headquarters, and Fred Battista to carry out an insurance fraud scheme in which they would intentionally damage motor vehicles and then bill insurance companies for accidents that never happened.
But when Vaccari, Penta and Laura Battista took the stand, their testimony, according to the Attorney General’s office, “was in direct contradiction” to the recorded statements they gave to investigators and their guilty pleas.
But after the trial collapsed and Forlizzi and Fred Battista were found not guilty, Suffolk Superior Court Judge Regina Quinlan ordered Coakley’s office to conduct an investigation, saying in court the case “has a stench to it” and that it was a “disgrace.”
Authorities say they then uncovered that Fred Battista and Forlizzi paid thousands of dollars to Laura Battista to not testify, and when she was subsequently judicially compelled to take the stand, paid her thousands more for her to lie, saying they did not arrange the fraud nor were the involved.
Forlizzi and Battista also allegedly bribed Vaccari to lie and paid $3,275 more to hide her daughter, Pistone, out of state so she couldn’t testify, authorities say.
Penta also allegedly perjured himself — a scheme, authorities say, played out in “numerous text messages” before and during the trial.
Vaccari and Pistone had initially fought their witness roles in the case all the way to the state’s highest court, arguing their relationship to “an alleged long-time organized crime figure” made it “peculiarly dangerous” for them to testify,” stated the Supreme Judicial Court’s October 2011 ruling that compelled them to testify in the March trial.
All six are due to court Nov. 20.
