Eddie 'DeNick' Home Jailed After Bribery Schemes

Published Oct. 28, 2007

CAMDEN – An Atlantic City businessman was sentenced today to three years of
probation, which includes nine months of home confinement with electronic monitoring,
for paying bribes to two Atlantic City councilmen, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie
announced.

U.S. District Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez also ordered Edward DiNicolantonio, 71, of
Atlantic City, to pay a $5000 fine. In sentencing DiNicolantonio, Judge Rodriguez
granted the government’s motion for a downward departure due to the defendant’s
cooperation, which included providing historical information and actively introducing
undercover FBI agents to subjects of the investigation, including a corrupt public official.
Judge Rodriguez also said he considered the defendant’s advanced age and health issues
in formulating the sentence.

DiNicolantonio pleaded guilty before Judge Rodriguez on May 1, 2007, to a one-count
Information that charged him with giving corrupt payments to public officials in Atlantic
City.

At his plea hearing, DiNicolantonio admitted bribing certain Atlantic City Council
members in exchange for preferential treatment on city contracts and other business
opportunities. DiNicolantonio admitted that from 2002 until 2006 he made corrupt cash
payments totaling in excess of $45,000 to Atlantic City councilmen Craig Callaway, 48,
and Gibb Jones, 81, in return for their support for various matters occurring before the
city council.

DiNicolantonio stated that he was employed as a consultant to an insurance company that
was interested in providing risk management and other insurance services to Atlantic City
in 2002 and 2003. DiNicolantonio admitted that he met with Callaway and offered him
money in return for his support for awarding the risk management contract to the
insurance company.

Furthermore, DiNicolantonio admitted that he gave Jones cash payments and paid various
expenses on Jones’ behalf before and after soliciting Jones for the insurance contract and
other matters before council.

DiNicolantonio admitted that in late 2003 and early 2004, he offered to make corrupt
payments to Callaway in return for Callaway’s support for a developer who had hired
DiNicolantonio as a consultant for the Garwood Mills project. In 2004 and 2005
DiNicolantonio made cash payments to Callaway in return for his support in connection
with the development of the Garwood Mills site, DiNicolantonio admitted.

In determining the sentence, Judge Rodriguez consulted the advisory U.S. Sentencing
Guidelines, which provide appropriate sentencing ranges that take into account the severity and characteristics of the offense, the defendant's criminal history, if any, and
other factors.

The judge, however, was not bound by those guidelines and has wide
discretion in determining a sentence.

Christie credited Special Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the
direction of Special Agent in Charge Weysan Dun, in Newark, with the investigation into
Atlantic City corruption.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas J. Eicher and Judith H.
Germano, both of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Special Prosecutions Division in Newark.