'stormtroopers?' Ins, Advocate Differ On 
Immigrants' Treatment 
Roundup Of 137 At Scranton Meat-packing 
Plant Was `outlandish,' Volunteer Says. Not So, 
Says An Ins Director.

Activist `outraged' By Racist Posters 
The Fliers Contain Verbal Attacks On Black People And Bear The Address Of The 
`aryan Racial Loyalist Party.'

By P. DOUGLAS FILAROSKI; Times Leader Staff Writer
 Thursday, December 15, 1994 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 2A 





WILKES-BARRE -- Cathy Huk sees all kinds of weird stuff as a magistrate's
assistant in downtown Wilkes-Barre. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But when her boss, District Justice Michael Collins, had to dismiss 16
citations against Mike Giarratano this week, even Huk did a double-take. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "That one surprised me, too," she said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Giarratano, who made news after being arrested at a recent City Council
meeting, doesn't own the dangerously rundown Davis Place triple-block city
officials thought he did. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The property made city officials' Top 10 "nuisance housing" list, and
building citations and health-code citations for violations against the
property piled up. Giarratano paid $300 in fines and went to jail for two days
for not paying other fines. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But on Monday, Giarratano's lawyer showed Collins an important piece of
paper -- a deed. And it didn't contain Mike Giarratano's name. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Instead, it listed his father, Dick Giarratano of Norwich, Conn., and Nancy
and Samuel Wolfe III of Wilkes-Barre as owners. Samuel Wolfe said Wednesday he
has since sold his interest in the property to Dick Giarratano. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The deed apparently was enough for Collins to find Mike Giarratano innocent
of several violations related to the badly leaking roof that plagued residents
of the Davis Place property. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 More than a dozen residents of five housing units were forced to relocate
when the city condemned the housing last month. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Mike Giarratano had been a focal point of furor after he boldly showed up
for a council meeting where residents railed against rundown housing,
including his father's. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 In the ensuing days, news reports of the city's resolve and of Mike
Giarratano's arrest sparked a small flurry of demolitions and repairs by other
owners of rundown properties, city officials said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 From talking with tenants, and later with Giarratano himself, officials
mistakenly identified Mike Giarratano as the building's owner, city Building
Inspector Phil Koval said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Giarratano never said he wasn't the owner, Koval said. "If the man had any
discrepancies with it, he could have always come forward to say so." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Koval said he never checked the deed or records in the city's tax office,
both of which show Dick Giarratano as the owner. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Mike Giarratano claimed he was the owner at the Nov. 29 council meeting.
After his arrest, he remained jailed until making bail on Dec. 1, Huk said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Neither Mike nor Dick Giarratano could be reached by phone Wednesday.
Knocks on the door of a Main Street home in Ashley that Mike Giarratano lists
as his residence went unanswered. It is not known if the city will attempt to
cite Dick Giarratano for the violations. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Huk said the court also will try to locate Mike Giarratano. "I've got to
refund him this $300 he paid on the one fine," she said. "He's got that
coming." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Deed Exonerates Arrested Landlord 
Mike Giarratano Paid $300 In Fines And Went To Jail 
Because Of Some 
Rundown Property The City 
Thought He Owned. Now, Papers Surface Showing His 
Father Is The Actual 
Owner

Deed Exonerates Arrested Landlord Mike Giarratano Paid $300 In Fines And Went To Jail Because Of Some Rundown Property The City Thought He Owned. Now, Papers Surface Showing His Father Is The Actual Owner