Gross prepared for prison term [Niagara Gazette, Niagara Falls, N.Y.]

Jan. 06--NIAGARA FALLS -- A host of the Niagara Region's famous and infamous are asking a federal judge to give Falls contractor and convicted felon John Gross a break later today.

Gross, 75, will be sentenced in U.S. District Court in Buffalo this afternoon for his guilty to plea to single counts of mail fraud and aiding in the preparation of a false tax return. The apparently popular plumbing contractor will be making his second trip through the federal prison system and while he faces a maximum penalty of 23 years in prison and a $500,000 fine, Gross is expected to receive between a 21/2- and 3-year prison term.

In a filing with U.S. District Court Judge Richard Arcara, Gross' defense attorney Herbert Greenman said his client has a "checkered" legal past and has "committed crimes," but that he has also "performed exceptional charitable and benevolent good works in the past."

"The question, squarely put," Greenman wrote, "is 'Who is John Gross?' We ask the court to consider his better side when determining an appropriate sentence."

Federal prosecutors were quick to reply to the question Greenman posed. In his own court filing, Assistant United States Attorney J.P. Kennedy wrote, "John Gross is someone who refuses to play by the rules." Kennedy also noted that Gross' bookkeeper, in an interview with FBI agents said that Gross "can't change his ways" because "he does not know any different."

Gross' lawyer said he believes "greed" was why Gross engaged in a bid-rigging scheme and filed a false tax return.

"Much of the money was used to infuse additional life into a company which operated in a relatively poor community," Greenman wrote. "That provides little solace to Mr. Gross. There is never a good reason to break the law."

Greenman also told Arcara that Gross "has expressed sincere remorse for his crimes" and understands "that the old ways of doing business are over."

However, Kennedy claims that the FBI has uncovered new evidence that Gross has continued to do business as he had prior to law enforcement raids on his businesses in July 2009 and his arrest in June. Kennedy writes that around Dec. 29, he received reports that since 2009, Gross "has continued to receive cash and personal checks as payment for services rendered by (his company)."

"The checks and currency received by (Gross) are presumably retained by (him) and are not reported ... as income to the business," Kennedy said. "This conduct is, of course, identical to that conduct which resulted in (Gross') plea to a tax (fraud) count."

Gross's defense submitted more than 50 letters to Arcara, testifying to their client's "good character." Included among them are letters from former Niagara Falls Schools Superintendent Carmen Granto, Town of Lewiston Supervisor Steve Reiter, Niagara County Legislator Chairman William Ross, former car dealer John Gambino, George Edwards of Edwards Jewelers, a North Tonawanda elementary school principal, a pediatric doctor, and the executives of half a dozen local charities.

There are, however, also letters of support from embattled SPCA of Niagara Executive Director John Faso, businessman James "Harry" Williams, who had been a target of federal law enforcement in the past, insurance agent Frank Accardo and Niagara Street Business Association Coordinator Ron Anderluh.

In his filing with the court, Kennedy takes aim at Anderluh's letter, charging that "Gross either committed crimes or attempted to commit crimes based on his relationship with at least some of those who wrote letters on his behalf."

Specifically, Kennedy charges that when Anderluh was the manager of the Summit Mall he hired Gross' company to do work in vacant space that was not being rented. Kennedy says Anderluh's replacement as mall manager "estimated that the work done by Gross, at Anderluh's direction, totaled a couple of million dollars."

Gross's lawyers called Kennedy's claims "conjecture and surmise."

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