The Freedom Tower

The embattled Freedom Tower construction project has taken a new twist in the pages of European newspapers with Scotland  on Sunday today reporting a bribe scandal has hit the Ground Zero project.

The new scandal, the newspaper said, surrounds accusations of corruption linked to one of the main contractors.

“The row centers on Dino Tomassetti’s construction empire, which is working at Ground Zero, where a glance reveals his company’s Laquila cranes, heavy equipment, trucks and crews. His oldest son’s vehicles will deliver concrete for the foundation of the Freedom Tower, the most symbolic of the five skyscrapers planned to replace the iconic building destroyed in the September 11 terrorist attacks. His daughter’s company will deliver the steel rods that strengthen the concrete walls.

But Tomassetti, the 79-year-old patriarch, is barred from setting foot on the 16-acre site. He is under indictment, accused of making thousands of dollars in illegal payoffs to union officials over a 10-year period.

Federal prosecutors and testimony have linked him to organized crime, and his companies have been banned from obtaining city contracts.

One Laquila company was fined for its part in a scheme organized by a member of the Gambino crime organization to dump construction debris illegally in New Jersey. But none of this means his family will be on the sidelines when it comes to constructing the city’s tallest tower and one of the world’s most eagerly awaited buildings.

The central contract for excavation and foundation work, which is worth tens of millions of dollars, was awarded to his youngest son, Dino Tomassetti Jr, 27, whose job until recently was chauffeuring his father from site to site.