Posted on 08/11/2005 9:24:52 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
BOSTON - State police searched the offices of the Big Dig's largest concrete supplier in June and found evidence of faked records that hid the poor quality of concrete delivered for the massive highway project, Attorney General Tom Reilly said.
The state is working with the FBI and the U.S. Attorney to prosecute the case. "We got the records that we were looking for and the information we were looking for," Reilly told The Boston Globe in a story published Thursday.
Lawyers for Aggregate Industries said the company stood by the quality of the concrete it supplied.
"Aggregate Industries never delivered to a contractor that worked for the state of Massachusetts on the Central Artery or to the state directly any concrete that did not meet the specifications called for in the contract, nor was any concrete delivered to the site which failed to meet the strength specifications called for by the state," said attorney R. Robert Popeo.
Reilly said there was no reason to believe the project's structural integrity or safety was compromised. He noted that the concrete in question would have been delivered at least five years ago and any problems would probably have appeared by now.
Inspectors for the Big Dig randomly tested concrete batches at the plants, making sure the material had the right mix of stone, water, chemicals, sand and cement, and the correct consistency and strength. After trucks carried the concrete to construction sites, another inspector randomly tested material to make sure it was properly mixed and not more than 90 minutes old.
Hundreds of thousands of such deliveries were made over the 14 years of heavy construction on the Big Dig.
"The concrete on the Big Dig passed every single quality-control test," said Tracy A. Miner, another attorney for Aggregate Industries.
Reilly said the raids at Aggregate properties in Peabody, Saugus and Everett turned up evidence that the company had falsified paperwork to make it appear that old or rejected concrete had been freshly poured.
Reilly said there was no reason to suspect a connection to the hundreds of leaks discovered in the highway tunnels that take vehicles under Boston. That investigation is being conducted separately.
The allegations about concrete strength stemmed from a whistleblower suit filed in May in Suffolk Superior Court. A Suffolk County grand jury is hearing evidence in the case, and Aggregate officials have also appeared before a federal grand jury sitting in Worcester.
A spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan declined to comment on specific allegations against Aggregate Industries, but said the office is looking into "all aspects of the Big Dig."
No evidence to date implicates project overseers Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, Reilly said.
Aggregate provided 60 percent of the concrete used to build the Big Dig, according to the highway project's Web site.
Aggregate Industries was acquired this year by Holcim Ltd., a Swiss company with U.S. headquarters in Maryland.
___
On the Net:
Big Dig: http://www.masspike.com/bigdig
Aggregate: http://www.aggregate.com
Shoddy work from the Socialist state.
Sort of like housing in the Soviet Union.
Didn't take long - here are donations to Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Michael E. Capuano, United States Representative (D), by a AI insider.
This is HUGH! Are you SERIES?? I need to put my BEEBER on STUNED! I'm shocked, shocked I tell ya! LMAO!!!!
Former Aggregate Industries executives sentenced for obstruction of justice
Date: April, 07 2005
Type: Investigation
Summary: Boston, MA. Two former high-level executives at Aggregate Industries, formerly known as Bardon Trimount, a contracting company located in Saugus, Massachusetts, were sentenced late yesterday in federal court for witness tampering in connection with a federal grand jury investigation.
United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan; Kenneth W. Kaiser, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New England; and Theodore L. Doherty, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of the Inspector General, Office of Investigations, announced that WILLIAM COWHIG, age 68, of 14 Silverbridge Road, Topsfield, Massachusetts, and LUIGI IULIANO, age 48, of 9 Seneca Road, Winchester, Massachusetts, were each sentenced by U.S. District Judge Rya Zobel to 1 year of probation, the first 6 months of which are to be served in home confinement with electronic monitoring, and a $10,000 fine.
On January 10, 2005, COWHIG pleaded guilty to one felony count of witness tampering and IULIANO pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of witness tampering.
Aggregate Industries, Inc., a contracting company headquartered in Saugus, Massachusetts, is one of the largest suppliers of road construction products including aggregate (crushed stone), ready-mix concrete and bituminous concrete (asphalt), in Massachusetts for use in public and private construction projects.
The company formerly operated under the name of Bardon Trimount Corporation until late 2000 or early 2001 when it changed its name to Aggregate Industries, Inc. During the time of the offenses, COWHIG was an Executive Vice President at Bardon Trimount and IULIANO was the General Manager of Sales for Bardon Trimount's aggregate, bituminous and ready mix products, as well as their soil remediation and recycling projects.
At the earlier plea hearing, the prosecutor told the Court that, had the case proceeded to trial, the evidence would have proven that the owner and President of a family-owned company that produced and supplied aggregate products to customers in eastern Massachusetts, was cooperating with the federal government in an ongoing investigation concerning a bid rigging scheme involving Bardon Trimount, COWHIG and IULIANO.
The Cooperating Witness ("CW") had been a competitor of Bardon Trimount for many years, bidding on numerous aggregate contracts that Bardon Trimount also bid on. Also at certain time the CW was a supplier to Bardon Trimount.
In early April, 2002, the CW received a subpoena to testify before a federal Grand Jury. Following receipt of the subpoena, the CW met individually with COWHIG and IULIANO to let them know. Under the supervision of investigating agents, the CW tape recorded his conversations with COWHIG and IULIANO.
On April 11 and 12, 2002, IULIANO intentionally harassed the CW in an attempt to dissuade the CW from testifying before a federal Grand Jury. Among other things, IULIANO told the CW on April 11, 2002 while discussing the CW's impending Grand Jury testimony, "Well my first reaction would be to hire nobody and play dumb and say what are you looking for? And I would just bring your, your ah, your bids. You know, what you bid, what you actually bid. Don't bring them any of the paperwork."
And in a second conversation on April 12, 2002, IULIANO told the CW, "But, if you are evasive and as vague or just, you know, don't, don't offer any more than what they ask. And even what they ask, tell them half..."
The CW also had conversations with COWHIG about the Grand Jury subpoena. On April 17, 2002, COWHIG told the CW that, "... if they, under oath, ask you what, have you talked to anybody about this?... You're gonna have to, you'll deny it right out of the box." In a second conversation on April 19, 2002, COWHIG told the CW, "There's nothing in my books, I don't keep records on bids. So there's nothing they can find on me if they decide to subpoena me. And I would die before I mentioned anything. They'd have to pull my f**n' nails out."
The case was investigated by Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Transportation, Office of the Inspector General, Office of Investigations. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Allison Burroughs and Jonathan Mitchell in Sullivan's Economic Crimes Unit.
Link: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/ma/presspage/April2005/Cowhig-William-sentencing.htm
"Time to drill some cores from the structures"
Last thing you want to do is start coring 50 inch slump(poured) concrete.
LMAO!!! These buffoons should have left it the way it was, things were much smoother then, can't even find your way in and out of the freakin' airport, signs missing or backwards, unbelieveable and traffic is STILL backed up, worse now than before! I live/work on the South Shore - I could not stand being in that traffic day in and day out, I'd be suicidal!
Tracy A. Miner, you mean ex-FBI Agent and convicted mobster John Connolly's former lawyer? Hmmmmmmm. What a coincidence!
Not if you call it a car wash.
........When Congress originally approved construction of the project, it was to cost $2.5 billion and be completed by 1998. According to the audit, the project’s total cost could reach a staggering $13.6 billion – $2.8 billion more than projected just six months ago. When money for the Big Dig was debated on the Senate floor in 1991, Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) stated, “There is no intention of repeating or coming back for additional resources.......”
http://www.taxpayer.net/TCS/wastebasket/transportation/4-12-00.htm
Since I just realized that Aggregate Industries had changed their name from Bardon Trimount, it is now easier to see the donations to Democrat politicans.
True, but not entirely fair. I'm sure it didn't hurt Pink Floyd, Celluch, or Sky Pilot Swift---all GOPers.
The concrete was mixed and sat in the truck for four or five hours spinning, waiting to be poured, some of the construction workers were on talk radio this morning taking about how the concrete was harder than it should have been when they were pouring it, therfore, not getting into the places it should have been. This project is a joke and continues to be a joke, money is missing, BIG money, uncle teddy hiccup knows about it and refuses to investigate or have someone investigate, wonder where the money is, eh teddy??? Traffic is worse now then before this insane madness started. Only people profiting from this mess are the construction workers, fly over MA near the airport and look down, all the swimming pools have the same tile as in the tunnel, coincidence??? I think not.
Construction quality has always been worst in the communist countries.......especially poor concrete quality.
I don't know this to be the case, but I suspect that they had an onsite production facility to make the concrete.
Union influence = Democrats and corruption
Not if you call it a car wash.
Is it too late to make it the Kerry/Kennedy Underground Ferry?
CORRUPTION in Mass????
What a novel idea!
In the land where Scuba-Teddy commits manslaughter and gets off scott free? Corruption?
Really?
/sar
The cables used on the Brooklyn Bridge did not meet specification either. They failed tests for "residual torsion", the tendency of a cable when removed from the spool and laid flat to begin to curl up, like a garden hose.
The contractor had a batch of high quality good cable which he imported from England, and presented for test. Between the warehouse and the site, the good cable was off loaded from the carts and the inferior product substituted. Something like half the bridge had been completed before the scam was discovered.
They also ran out of money and stopped digging the footings. The original plan called for footings resting on bedrock on the bottom of the East River. They knew the depth of the clay over the bedrock from test borings. The clay hundreds of feet below the surface was as hard a stone, it required blasting. Roebling Fils decided it would support the bridge as well as bedrock and stopped digging (the first rule of holes...). Lucky guess.
Design margins were a lot wider in those days. The Tacoma Narrows illustrates the effect of highly reduced design margins. Construction these days is closer to the Tacoma Narrows model than the Brooklyn Bridge.
I can't wait to hear what Howie says about this today - should be good!
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