Niagara Falls Tavern To Be Forfeited

New York State Attorney General Spitzer and United States Attorney for the Western District of New York Michael A. Battle today announced that a building housing a Niagara Falls tavern and several apartments will be the subject of a civil drug forfeiture action. The site is alleged to be a distribution point for a cocaine ring.

The action follows a six-month narcotics investigation conducted by the New York State Attorney General's Organized Crime Task Force, the Niagara Falls Police Department and the New York State Police, that led to a 20-count indictment earlier this year against the owner of the Grand Inn: Ron Graci, 55; his daughter, Julie Ann Graci, 29; and employees of the bar, Brenda Bugyi, 39; and Teresa Ciccarelli, 46; and several other individuals. The indictment alleges: conspiracy, criminal possession of a controlled substance, and criminal sale of a controlled substance.

The civil forfeiture complaint further alleges that cocaine was purchased from bartenders and waitresses at the Grand Inn. The cocaine was stored inside apartments located above the bar where Graci and his daughter resided. The bartenders and waitresses would exchange cocaine for cash inside the bathroom or even across the bar. Since the January indictment, Graci has transferred ownership of the property to another of his daughters.

A federal notice of seizure and writ of entry was posted at the bar today, by the U.S. Marshall, making public a civil forfeiture complaint filed on March 11 in United States District Court for the Western District of New York. The forfeiture case is being prosecuted by Richard Kaufman, Chief of the Asset Forfeiture Unit in the U.S. Attorney's Office, with assistance from Lynn Goodman, Assistant Attorney General in Charge of Criminal Forfeiture in the New York State Attorney General's Office. The related criminal prosecution is being handled by Assistant Deputy Attorney General Patricia Carrington of the New York's Organized Crime Task Force, under the direction of Christopher Prather, the Deputy Attorney General in charge of the task force.

U.S. Attorney Battle and Attorney General Spitzer praised the joint efforts of both federal, state and local law enforcement in bringing to bear the full spectrum of tools on the problem of narcotics distribution in Western New York.

The charges are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.