Paving Company Owner Admits Bribing Oyster Bay Official

OYSTER BAY COVE, NY — The owner of a prominent Long Island Paving company has pleaded guilty to bribing an Oyster Bay commissioner to help build a senior housing complex.

Elia "Aly" Lizza, 72, of Oyster Bay Cove, pleaded guilty Thursday to a felony bribery charge, prosecutors said. He is scheduled to be sentenced April 16 and must pay $350,000 to settle a civil forfeiture case.

Furthermore, Carlo Lizza & Sons Paving, a now-defunct paving company owned by Elia Lizza, also pleaded guilty to a felony bribery charge.

Prosecutors recommended Lizza serve one to three years in prison and conditioned that any plea deal include prison time. However, Lizza reached an agreement with the court in which he pleaded guilty to the indictment in exchange for a commitment from the judge to avoid prison. The Nassau district attorney's office said it objected to the deal.

Originally, the indictment included more than two hundred counts. But with the 2017 death of Frederick Ippolito, the Town of Oyster Bay's planning and development commissioner, all but 40 were dismissed, prosecutors said.

Madeline Singas, the district attorney, said in a statement the case "exposed a shocking betrayal of the public trust at the highest levels of Oyster Bay's leadership."

"This complex and lengthy investigation uncovered a massive bribery scheme that laid bare how Town government worked for the rich and politically connected and left hardworking taxpayers behind," she said. "Thanks to our prosecutors, this crooked enterprise is out of business, and Aly Lizza and former Supervisor John Venditto are convicted felons."

From 2009 to 2016, Lizza and his wife, Marisa Lizza, wrote roughly $1.6 million in personal checks to Ippolito, the indictment said.

The payments to Ippolito were made for his role in negotiating future payments of more than $20 million dollars to Elia Lizza from the developer of Cantiague Common, a $150 million senior housing complex, prosecutors said. Ippolito also controlled the oversight of the developer's rezoning application and site plan approval. The town board had to sign off on plans to rezone the property from industrial to residential use and Ippolito wielded significant influence over real estate development.

To further facilitate the development, Ippolito negotiated the sale of a nearby Hicksville property —where the paving company ran an asphalt plant — to the Town of Oyster Bay. The town refused to approve the re-zoning because the asphalt plant would be too close to the senior housing complex.

Ippolito used town workers and resources to strike deals between Lizza and other family members, prosecutors said. Ippolito and former Supervisor John Venditto also advocated to the town board on behalf of Lizza, and hid Ippolito's own financial interest in the project.

On Dec. 18, 2012, the town board conditionally granted the rezoning application.

Ippolito failed to report his payments from the Lizza family, as well as other payments that pre-dated his town employment, to the IRS, prosecutors said, and he was indicted in 2015.

Ippolito pleaded guilty in 2016 to federal tax evasion charges for tax year 2008 and was sentenced to more than two years in prison. Venditto pleaded guilty to felony corruption and a misdemeanor charge of official misconduct last year. Cases against Antetomaso and Marisa Lizza remain open. Ippolito died in 2017.

See also:

• Lizza Paving Company Banned From Bidding On Nassau Contracts