The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania has upheld an action by the state Gaming Control Board to ban a vendor from doing business with the Parx Casino in Bensalem outside Philadelphia due to the owner’s connection to a reputed mob boss.
Sonic Service Inc., a New York restaurant consultancy owned by Michael Giammarino, had signed a deal with Parx to help the casino establish an on-site pizzeria. The deal was blocked by the Gaming Control Board on the basis that Giammarino’s stepfather, John Brescio, is allegedly a captain in the Genovese crime family.
Giammarino insisted he is not associated with his relative and didn’t even know he was alleged to be a mobster. He appealed the decision to Commonwealth Court, but Judge P. Kevin Brobson upheld the board’s decision, ruling that allowing Sonic Services to serve as a vendor to Parx would “tarnish the integrity of gaming to the public.”
The connection to Brescio was uncovered after the state Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement, acting on a complaint, discovered that Giammarino is the sole beneficiary of a trust created by Brescio involving a pizzeria in New York City.
Giammarino testified to the gaming board that he doesn’t “socialize with the guy,” referring to Brescio. “I don’t have any business dealings with him; all I do is go to work and run the (pizza) business.”
The court found otherwise. “Brescio’s relationship with Giammarino… seems to present layers of business and personal connections between the two men,” Brobson wrote. “There is substantial evidence to support the (gaming) board’s finding that Giammarino and Brescio were associates at least at all times relevant to the investigation.”
