FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                   CRM
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1994                                   (202) 616-2771
                                                         TDD (202) 514-1888


           FORMER PANAMA CANAL COMMISSIONER OFFICER IS SENTENCED

     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Federal District Judge Joanna Seybert of
Brooklyn, N.Y. has sentenced Gerard Lavecchia, the former Chief
Contracting Officer for the Panama Canal Commission, a U.S.
Agency that operates the Panama Canal, to 27 months imprisonment
for extortion and kickbacks, the U.S. Department of Justice
announced today. 
     In a court proceeding on Friday, September 23, Judge Seybert
also ordered that Levecchia pay $347,000 restitution to the
Panama Canal Commission, although the Judge may adjust that
amount after receiving submissions from both parties on this
issue.
     Earlier this year Lavecchia pleaded guilty to one count of
racketeering and one count of evading incomes taxes.  
     Gerard P. Lavecchia was the Chief of the PCC's Logistical
Support Division from 1986 until he resigned in May of 1990.  In
that position Lavecchia had authority to award, supervise, and
terminate contracts for the Panama Canal Commission.  Lavecchia
previously admitted that he used his authority to commit a
pattern of racketeering acts.  Lavecchia admitted he solicited
and received more than $200,000 in extortion payments and
kickbacks from three contractors that did business with the
Panama Canal Commission.
     The racketeering charges to which Lavecchia pleaded guilty
alleged that he threatened to terminate contracts if the
contractors did not meet his demands.  Lavecchia also devised a
scheme to defraud a Miami contractor in the out of $25,000 for
non-existent security services in Panama.
     The case was investigated by the Miami Division of the FBI,
the Inspector General of the Panama Canal Commission, and the
Criminal Investigative Division of the IRS.  The case was
prosecuted by Thomas N. Burrows and Lynn C. Mattucci, Senior
Trial Attorneys of the Public Integrity Section of the Criminal
Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

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