Public Employee Press

Killer of Local 376 member gets off easy

Sometimes, the scales of justice are off-balance. On March 1, in a courtroom packed with family, friends and co-workers of the late Nicky Antico, Justice Leonard P. Rienzi sentenced his killer to 2 1/3 to 7 years in prison.

Vincent Ventafredda, 27, was at the wheel of a speeding SUV that crashed into the work crew on Staten Island’s Slossen Avenue on the evening of Sept. 22, 2005. While two men recovered from their injuries, Antico, a member of Construction Laborers, Highway Repairers & Watershed Maintainers Local 376, was fatally injured.

Antico’s death at the hands of a hit-and-run driver deprived his daughter, Arianna, of a father, his wife, Anna, of a loving husband, and his family, of a beloved brother.

Local 376 officers and members have followed the case every step of the way, from the hospital vigil to the courtroom on March 1.

Local 376 President Gene DeMartino discussed the sentence. The short term Ventafredda is expected to serve left him with a question: “Had our members not been in there from the very first day and throughout the whole process, would the court have handed down an even lighter sentence?”

After its official investigation, the state Labor Department’s Public Employee Safety and Health Bureau cited the city Dept. of Transportation for violating Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards in the use of flagging, traffic signs and barricades at the work site. PESH had noted the lack of a Traffic Control Plan for the site and the lack of “proper signs or setups of traffic control devices to deter things of this nature from happening.”

DOT has appealed against the PESH citations to the Industrial Board of Appeals, “which is typically a lengthy process,” said Lisa Baum of DC 37’s Safety and Health Dept.

“We’ve been fighting for years in our safety and health committee to get the proper setups,” said Local 376 Treasurer Thomas Kattou. “Now the local is looking into the problem on a statewide basis. State Sen. Diane Savino has been very responsive. We want to set up a task force that will address safety concerns in the construction industry,” said Kattou.

— Jane LaTour