F. Francis D'Addario, a Connecticut business executive with interests in real estate, hotels, broadcasting and legal gambling, and four others were killed Wednesday when a twin-engine turbo prop plane in which they were traveling crashed in Eola, Ill., according to a company official. He was 63 years old and lived in Trumbull, Conn.

Mr. D'Addario was head of D'Addario Industries of Bridgeport, Conn., and was on his way to inspect an Illinois waste treatment plant operated by his company, according to Albert Paolini, vice president of the company.

Mr. D'Addario headed a conglomerate of 40 companies, primarily involved in construction and home heating oil distribution, with additional interests in the casino at the Claridge Hotel in Atlantic City; a jai alai fronton in Milford, Conn., and the Crossroads Shopping Mall in Bridgeport.

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"With a $150 million casino-hotel newly built and ready to open in Atlantic City, the Del E. Webb Corporation, the largest casino operator in the country, pulled out of New Jersey today under the cloud of a Federal indictment in Nevada charging criminal conspiracy. It was the first time a company had abandoned a New Jersey casino venture because of licensing problems. The Webb interest in the Claridge Hotel and the Hi-Ho Casino on the Boardwalk will be purchased by F. Francis D'Addario of Bridgeport, Conn., and others. A group headed by Mr. D'Addario is now a 50 percent partner with the Del Webb Corporation in the venture."

Dell Webb you will remember was the constuction arm that built Bugsy Siegel's Las Vegas casinos. This is from another source that was at Atlantic City at the time --

"Francis "Hi-Ho" D'Addario was the godfather of the Bridgeport family.  His legitimate business was a "cement contractor", and he got a lot of state contracts to pave highways.  He was arrested several times, but no witnesses ever lived to testify against him in court.  They are probably down with the re-bar under I-95. His right hand man was David Antoniak, who was the godfather of the Ocala, Florida family.  His enforcer was Manuel "Manny the Cuban" Cantu."


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Meanwhile The Orlando Business Journal followed the story of the collapse of Global Video, videotape duplicators.

"SunTrust, formerly SunBank, sued Global Video March 15, 1985. Global Video's partners, David Antoniak and Jerome Kurtz, put Global under Chapter 11 protection four days later on March 19 -- even though their company was thriving. "The irony is that the debtor's operations were very successful, even up to the petition date," the judge's ruling notes. "Kurtz and Antoniak intentionally killed the golden goose by draining funds from the debtor to finance their other less-successful business ventures."

Or the other possibility was the success of Global Video had been the absorbtion of funds from other more lucrative "ventures" and laundred into the Orlando market. Anyway, Global Video in Orlando FL was used in 1985 as the address for Hi Ho Broadcasting Group, owner of WVGA Valdosta GA, WDHN Donthan AL and KFWY Riverton WY.

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With Antoniak and Kurtz in hot water, their Orlando FL lawyer and seller of time share condos,  A. J. Stanton suddenly became the license holder for  "family" stations 20 in Casper (dba Channel 20) and 27 in Cheyenne (dba Heart of Wyoming), but more on that later.  AJ was originally from Montclair, New Jersey. In 1999 the FTC nailed him for offering free vacations (which actually cost the consumer $600) in order take them to his Silver Lake Resort time share for a sales pitch.

The FTC filed its actions in "Operation Trip Trap" against:

• American International Travel Services, Inc. (AITS), a Florida corporation also doing business as Magic World Tour & Travel; Silver Lake Resort, Ltd.; Alfred H. Jugo, A.J. Stanton and Lawrence S. Gilbert. According to the FTC's complaint, the defendants violated the Federal Trade Commission Act and the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) by misrepresenting the nature of the vacation packages offered and failing to disclose restrictions and conditions on the packages, including those requiring consumers to attend one--and sometimes two--sales pitch seminars for a timeshare purchase during their trip.

In addition, the defendants allegedly failed to disclose their refund policies and material aspects of a prize promotion by leading consumers to believe they had won a prize.

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