Archdiocese should have been aware of D & P’s mob ties

The Phoenix/Stanislav Goluvchuk

Josephine DiFronzo is the president of D & P Construction — but law enforcement officials say her husband Peter and his brother John, alleged Chicago mob leaders, are pulling the company’s strings from behind the scenes.

That’s nothing new.

A quick and simple Google search for “D & P + Mafia” could tell you as much.
Here’s something else Google can tell you: the recent Loyola Phoenix article about a D & P garbage dumpster being used to remove debris from the construction site for the new St. Joseph Seminary on Loyola Ave. east of Sheridan Rd. wasn’t the first story written about the archdiocese using the waste removal and trucking company’s services.

A 2005 Chicago Sun-Times story reported D & P’s connections to “made men.” Reporters approached the archdiocese and inquired about a D & P dumpster on site at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church near Orleans and Division in Old Town, but according to that article, “Neither the contractor overseeing a project to convert an old rectory into a parish center nor the archdiocese’s construction office apparently was aware of D & P’s history.” An archdiocese spokesperson was quoted, saying that the contractor agreed to remove the dumpster and hire a different firm, and commented that, “We don’t micromanage our projects to the extent we would know who’s doing the waste hauling.”

“We’re not making any judgments about this company,” the spokesperson said.

I should note that Henry Brothers Construction, who is actually building the seminary, is the company that hired D & P as a contractor. The co-owner of Henry Brothers claimed in last week’s article that he had no knowledge of allegations of mob ties, didn’t know the owners of D & P and had never met them. He added that his company has been working with D & P “for a few years,” and that the company “provides a good service at a very competitive price.”

Yet, even if the archdiocese didn’t hire D & P directly, the fact remains that waste receptacles from a possibly shady company were being used, ironically, at a seminary construction site across the street from a university rooted in the Jesuit tradition of social justice.

D & P’s involvement is an awkward situation for the archdiocese to explain. Although, I’m only assuming it’s awkward because we never actually got an explanation. However, two things we can read into are the speedy removal of the D & P dumpster at the archdiocese’s request after a Phoenix reporter called to inquire, and the lack of a response to those inquiries.

This situation suggests that the archdiocese has a problem saying, “Sorry, we messed up.” They apparently also have problems staying clear of D & P, which the FBI claims has paid and intimidated its way to securing contracts.

To be clear, I’m not alleging that the archdiocese is in cahoots with godfathers. Despite history repeating itself in the form of D & P dumpsters on archdiocese construction sites, that doesn’t necessarily indicate a mob conspiracy. Wow, that’d be a story. Just think …

I will offer this constructive criticism: Whatever it takes, the archdiocese should stay away from D & P and make sure contractors can clear a simple Google search before something potentially embarrassing slips through the cracks.