Next stop on the Long Island Rail Road for this former union honcho: Prison!
Joseph Rutigliano, a former LIRR union president and railroad-retiree consultant, was sentenced Friday to eight years behind bars for being a major operator in the notorious $1 billion “gravy train” scheme.
“My client was railroaded!” barked Rutigliano’s lawyer, Joseph Ryan, outside the courthouse after the sentencing.
Ryan said he is appealing Rutigliano’s conviction by a Manhattan federal jury in August to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
Rutigliano, 66, of Holtsville, LI, was found guilty of mail fraud, wire fraud, health-care fraud and making-false-statement charges.
Rutigliano, along with Dr. Peter Lesniewski and railroad-retiree consultant Marie Baran, were the first to stand trial for the long-running scheme, which the FBI busted in 2011. Lesniewski and Baran were found guilty on similar charges but have yet to be sentenced.
Rutligiano was charged with using his clout as an LIRR insider to help hundreds of LIRR employees receive sham disability payments by faking career-ending physical ailments.
The feds claim that Rutigliano routinely charged $1,000 to help the scammers prepare “cookie-cutter” applications filled with lies, with Rutigliano even cutting and pasting out portions of his own phony disability papers for clients to use.
They also say Rutigliano collected $409,000 in benefits himself after he retired early, claiming that he couldn’t even grip a pen — but then went on to become a regular golfer.
Before his sentencing, the former union hotshot told Judge Victor Marrero, “I respect the court system, and I have every confidence that someday I will be vindicated.”
Twenty-seven people have pleaded guilty in the case, which extends to the late 1990s, and are cooperating with the feds in a bid for leniency. Two others were found guilty by a jury in October.
Rutigliano must report to prison March 17, but Ryan said he has filed legal papers seeking a stay until his appeal is decided.
He had plenty of supporters in court — mostly union workers — some of whom could be heard mumbling and dropping F-bombs as the sentencing was read.