Case Closed

A Scotch verdict for Donovan

The investigation of Secretary of Labor Raymond Donovan came to an unsatisfying end last week. Less than a month after reopening his inquiry, Special Prosecutor Leon Silverman closed the case, saying, “I have been unable to corroborate the allegations made against him with sufficient credible evidence.” But the prosecutor’s exoneration of Donovan was something like the Scotch verdict of “not proven.” Said Silverman: “I was, and I continue to be, concerned by the sheer number of allegations.”

Among those allegations were numerous claims that the former part owner of New Jersey’s Schiavone Construction Co. had consorted with Mafia figures, conspired in illegal activities and engaged in improper fund raising for President Reagan’s 1980 campaign. Phase 2 of the inquiry began just seven weeks after Silverman had closed the books for lack of enough evidence to warrant an indictment. New accusations were raised that Donovan had met with known mobsters to arrange no-show jobs for Mafiosi at Schiavone work sites. Donovan consistently denied all the allegations, last week branding them “groundless charges made by nameless accusers.”

Not all of the Secretary’s accusers were anonymous. The names of two witnesses were disclosed in the report released by Silverman at the end of Phase 1: William Masselli, a Genovese crime-family member who headed a firm that subcontracted for Schiavone, and his son Nat. Shortly after the investigation was reopened, Nat Masselli was murdered in New York City. TIME has learned that William Masselli shares the view of some police officials that his son was murdered because the report fingered him as a Government witness. Others are convinced that he was slain by fellow mobsters in a business dispute. Nat Masselli was the second Donovan witness murdered during the probe. In June, Fred Furino, a Mafia bagman who was alleged to have received payoffs from Schiavone, was found dead in the trunk of a car in Manhattan.

Many questions remain unanswered. Silverman explained that he did not pursue some leads indicating improper operations by the Schiavone company because he did not see a direct link to Donovan. Said Silverman: “My mandate was to investigate the Secretary.”