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By Jerry Lynott jlynott@timesleader.com
Business Writer
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SCRANTON – The team of Robert Cordaro and A.J. Munchak promised good government when they took office in 2004, but a 40-count federal indictment returned against them Tuesday alleged they ran a criminal racket during their tenure as majority commissioners in Lackawanna County and pocketed at least $450,000 in cash and gifts in return for awarding contracts.

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U.S. Attorney Dennis C. Pfannenschmidt speaks during a press conference, flanked by FBI’s Janice Fedarcyk, special agent in charge, and Troy Stemen, acting special agent in charge, about indictments against former Lackawanna County commissioner Robert Cordaro and current Commissioner A.J. Munchak at the federal courthouse in Scranton Tuesday.

S.John Wilkin photos/The Times Leader

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Janice Fedarcyk, FBI special agent in charge, speaks Tuesday as U.S. Attorney Dennis C. Pfannenschmidt listens.

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Cordaro, who was voted out of office in 2007, and Munchak, a sitting commissioner, face a litany of charges including racketeering, honest services fraud, extortion, bribery and tax evasion.

Cordaro alone faces money laundering and conspiracy charges.

Each man could spend hundreds of years in prison and be fined multimillions of dollars if convicted and given the maximum sentences. The government said it will seek forfeiture of the proceeds of the alleged criminal activity the two men engaged in. They will be issued summonses to appear in U.S. District Court, Scranton, to answer the indictment.

Munchak, 63, of Scranton, said the charges are untrue and promised a fight.

“I plan to vigorously defend myself against these allegations, and I am confident that after a full hearing of the facts, the truth will prevail and I will be found innocent,” he said.

Cordaro’s attorney, William Costopoulos, said he anticipated the filing of charges.

“He absolutely denies the allegations in the indictment,” Costopoulos said. “He has maintained his innocence from day one. We are not happy this indictment has been brought, but we fully intend to address the charges in a court of law.”

Much of the 56-page filing centered on Cordaro, 49, of Dunmore, who was singled out as the recipient of most of the money for the awarding of contracts from unnamed companies for work on the Lackawanna County Courthouse, an intermodal transportation center in Scranton, a cellular phone tower at the county 911 center and at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport.

Cordaro also allegedly received gifts that included tickets to a Major League Baseball playoff game and a trip to Monte Carlo.

He and Munchak are accused of filing false campaign finance reports and false income tax returns that did not include the illegal payments made to them, and engaging in a racketeering enterprise to enrich themselves.

By failing to provide honest services to the citizens of Lackawanna County, the two accused men violated a sacred trust that comes with holding public office, said Janice Fedarcyk, the FBI special agent in charge of the investigation.

“The defendants in this case, as the indictment alleges, sold the oath of their offices to the highest bidders,” she said.

The indictment marked a turn in the ongoing public corruption probe. Federal authorities have focused their attention on Luzerne County, where 23 people, including three judges and a county commissioner, have been charged since early 2009. Most of those charged were Democrats. Cordaro and Munchak ran as a Republican team.

At an afternoon press conference to announce the indictment, U.S. Attorney Dennis Pfannenschmidt said the investigation began out of the Charles Costanzo case in 2007.

The indictment identified Costanzo as a friend of Cordaro and the owner of company that was awarded a contract to administer the Workers’ Compensation Fund for Lackawanna County.

A federal jury convicted Costanzo last year on charges related to the misappropriation of more than $600,000 of Lackawanna County funds. Some of the money paid for Cordaro’s trip to the Playboy Mansion in California, according to the indictment.

Pfannenschmidt promised to take the investigation wherever it leads.

“I would say this, that one thing I want to make sure I make clear to everyone is that the commitment of this office to rooting out public corruption and achieving justice shouldn’t be doubted by anyone. We intend to pursue it,” he said.

Jerry Lynott, a Times Leader staff writer, can be contacted at 570 829-7237.