Chicago Sun-Times: 16th Charged in Hired Truck Scandal

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http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/hired25.html

"A trucking company manager was charged Tuesday with getting $6.6 million in city hauling work by giving campaign contributions and cash to officials and falsely claiming his firm was eligible for jobs set aside for women-owned businesses.

John Cannatello, 59, became the 16th person charged in Chicago's burgeoning Hired Truck Scandal. He appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael T. Mason on two counts of mail fraud and was released on his own recognizance pending a court date later. He declined to talk to reporters.

Investigators said in a 29-page affidavit filed along with the charges that Cannatello's GNA Trucking Inc. was one of the 10 companies to receive the most money, a total of $5.8 million in seven years, from the scandal-plagued Hired Truck Program.

They said Cannatello also received $800,000 by claiming that GNA was operated by a woman-- and therefore eligible for work set aside for female-run businesses-- even though he was in charge and made the key day-to-day decisions."