Ex-ISC employee pleads guilty to extortion conspiracy

By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

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William Kilgannon, a former International Speedway Corp. employee, has pleaded guilty to one count of extortion conspiracy in association with the failed attempt to put a race track on Staten Island.

Kilgannon will be sentenced Oct. 9 in U.S. District Court in New York, according to court records.

Kilgannon and one of the people he supervised, Todd Polakoff, were among 62 people indicted in February as part of a wide-ranging, 80-count federal indictment that targeted alleged Mafia members, including three high-ranking members of the Gambino crime family.

Kilgannon and Polakoff were former employees of ISC subsidiary North American Testing Co., which handles design and construction for ISC.

Polakoff worked for NATC between November 2005 and December 2006 as a project manager on the Staten Island development project. Kilgannon worked as director of construction for NATC from May 2005 to December 2006 and was Polakoff's supervisor, according to ISC.

The proposed track site required large quantities of dirt fill, thus requiring trucking contracts that were controlled by the Gambino family, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release issued at the time of the indictment. According to The Associated Press, those charged in the indictment allegedly forced the owner of a cement business to give $9,000 to the two workers affiliated with ISC.

Kilgannon pleaded guilty last week to the count accusing him of accepting the $9,000 check. Polakoff has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.

ISC spokesman Wes Harris said the company had no comment. Kilgannon's attorney did not respond to an email request for comment.