BY
Brian Kates
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
A Genovese soldier who ran the city's largest contractor association was found guilty of perjury on Wednesday in a case that showed the mob's grip on construction.
A Manhattan federal jury took only four hours to reach its verdict against
Joseph Olivieri, former head of the
Wall-Ceiling Association, a group of 165 carpentry contractors.
He was the last of nine construction powerhouses to face judgment in a racketeering
indictment that saw city carpenters union boss
Michael Forde and seven others plead guilty. Olivieri faces five years behind bars when sentenced Jan. 21.
Testimony painted Olivieri as the mob's go-to guy in city construction unions.
Also a trustee of the carpenters union benefit funds, he was charged with lying in a sworn deposition in a related case that he had no relationship with Genovese capo
Louis Moscatiello or corrupt contractor
James Murray, owner of On Park Contracting.
The perjured testimony came in 2007 as the feds were fighting to continue court-ordered corruption monitoring of the carpenters union.
Witness after witness testified that Olivieri, 55, carried Moscatiello's orders to Forde and other union bigwigs on the take.
Olivieri, who still faces possible prosecution on four other counts, is free on a $500,000 personal recognizance bond.