Chad Selweski covered state and regional politics for The Macomb Daily for nearly 30 years. He contributes to Deadline Detroit and blogs at Politically Speaking.
Dino Bucci
By Chad Selweski
Dino Bucci finally met his match when faced by the feds.
The right-hand man for former Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Tony Marrocco -- the "godfather" of Macomb politics for a quarter century -- Bucci is hit with 18 criminal indictments.
Charges brought Wednesday against Bucci by federal prosecutors after an FBI and IRS investigation were not a surprise He's one of the few big fish hooked by the feds in their corruption probe of Macomb County officials over the past year,.
For more than two decades, from 1993 to 2016, Bucci never had a real job at Tony Marrocco’s office, other than as the enforcer in what appeared to be a Mafia-style operation within Marrocco’s public works office, according to the charges.
If convicted, Bucci faces up to 30 years in prison for fraud, extortion, money laundering, bribery and embezzlement.
His method of doing business, according to the feds, consisted of demanding that construction contractors contribute large sums of cash to Marrocco’s re-election campaign, plus the commissioner’s two political action committees, high-powered PACs with a statewide reach that allowed the boss to play the role of political kingmaker.
Anthony Marrocco
Yet, Bucci’s alleged activities went beyond a simple pay-to- play approach, as the public works office dealt with sewers, drains and soil erosion permits on major construction projects in fast-growing Macomb County.
Kickback Demands
Bucci demanded kickbacks (through bribes, extortion or embezzlement) when builders sought new contracts or when they came calling to get their money back on previous up-front costs, the feds say. Those who refused were threatened with being blacklisted on future construction sites, FBI investigators allege.
Bucci is also accused of engaging in petty, mob-style tactics, the FBI claims, as he forced public works employees, on county time, to perform home maintenance work on his house, as well as for the benefit of his mother and sometimes other family and friends. He also forced workers to drive his child to school.
Bucci was first hired by Marrocco after the commissioner took office in ’93, though his employment history consisted of working for the family business that rented tuxedos. Bucci worked his way up to the title of operations manager of engineering – one of the department’s highest-paid positions – though he had no college degree and no engineering experience.
A Freedom Of Information Act request revealed that Bucci’s main job was to oversee maintenance at the public works department’s office building in Clinton Township, which opened in 2008, to ensure that the plumbing, electrical, heating and cooling and boiler remained in working order. If problems were found at the 18,000-square- foot building, Bucci notified a contractor or the in-house county building trades workers about repairs that might be needed.
He was also put in charge of overseeing maintenance at the Freedom Hill County Park in Sterling Heights, which was closed for several years due to budget cuts. Beyond his $75,000 salary, he received overtime pay of up to 25 percent.
Whispered Conversations
Candice Miller
Meanwhile, the pay-to- play system engineered by Bucci for Democrat Marrocco was the subject of whisper-conversations in political circles for many years.
But it became a full-blown campaign issue in the 2016 election campaign when outgoing Republican congresswoman Candice Miller challenged Marrocco and claimed that his ethics were wanting.
Miller, with the support of Democratic County Executive Mark Hackel, asserted that Marrocco engaged in blatant donate-or-else scheming with contractors. But Miller gained information, mostly after her November ’16 election victory, that far more nefarious activities, with Bucci playing a lead role, were standard procedure at the public works office she inherited.
In a statement following Wednesday’s federal indictment, Miller revealed this: “On my first work day (in January) after taking office as public works commissioner, I arrived at the building at 8 a.m. At 8:15 a.m., I had Mr. Bucci escorted from the building.”
Last February, Bucci finally agreed to retire -- with full benefits. A federal grand jury had been busy at work probing the prior, insider dealings at the public works office.
Bucci’s legal troubles with the feds also extend to his second government job, as a trustee on the Macomb Township board. His embezzlement charges in Wednesday's indictment include a $66,000 kickback on a questionable contract to replace a portion of the Macomb Township Hall parking lot.
Sued Last Year
The township trustee also was sued last year in civil court for allegedly trying to extort $76,000 from a company when it tried to secure a refund on water and sewer fees for a development that was not constructed.
Though Bucci’s sordid past began to unravel in 2016, Macomb Township voters re-elected him as a trustee in November.
Marrocco went to Florida after losing November's election, literally tossing the excrement he left behind into Miller’s lap. A huge sinkhole that emerged on Christmas Eve in Fraser due to a sewer collapse left the new public works commissioner trying to take hold of the situation a week before she took office.
Within days, raw sewage was pouring from the sewer break into the Clinton River, on its way to Lake St. Clair. Marrocco hasn't spoken publicly about the sinkhole, the massive sewer failure or pollution.
In fact, he has not been seen since in Macomb County. Maybe the FBI will find a way to force him to return to Michigan, perhaps for an appearance in a federal courtroom.
