A federal prosecutor lamented the loss of treasures meant for public enjoyment and blamed that on four accused Lackawanna County men as their trial opened today in Scranton.
In his opening statement, Assistant U.S. Attorney James Buchanan portrayed Nicholas Dombek, Damien Boland and brothers Alfred and Joseph Atsus as thieves who stole valuables from their owners and the public in burglaries they planned or carried out at museums and other sites in six states and Washington, D.C.
“Christy Mathewson, Yogi Berra, Ben Hogan, Czar Nicholas II, Roger Maris, Tiffany Jewelers,” Buchanan said. “They’re all icons of sport, icons of history and objects associated with other icons."
Memorabilia related to all were "stolen by a burly crew that include these four defendants,” he said.
The targets included three in Lackawanna County. The theft ring stole a vintage jersey worn by Mathewson, a Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher, and two of his player contracts, from Keystone College in LaPlume Twp.; paintings by Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollock from the Everhart Museum in Scranton and a Tiffany Lamp from the Lackawanna Historical Society in Scranton.
The ring also took 16 World Series and other championship rings from Yogi Berra Museum, which honors the Hall of Fame baseball catcher, in New Jersey; the United States Golf Association Museum in New York, where Hall of Fame golfer Hogan’s valuable sportsman of the year belt was stolen; and a valuable Faberge bowl and ladle stolen from a harness racing museum in upstate New York. Long ago, the czar donated it to a harness racing enthusiast, Buchanan said.
“They were not hidden in a vault,” Buchanan told jurors. “They were not in a rich man’s home ... they were there for all ... until they were taken, until they were hidden, until some of them were melted down.”
Dombek is accused of melting down many of the stolen rings, trophies and other valuables, sometimes after removing their gems. The ring sold them in New York City for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Buchanan ran through many details of the two decades of thefts, but also how authorities cracked the case after years of mystery.
In 2018 or 2019, he said police pulled over for drunken driving Thomas Trotta, who actually carried out most of the burglaries and began to cooperate, Buchanan said. They matched his DNA to blood found at crime scenes, he said.
Trotta has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing, but has agreed to testify.
“Ladies and gentlemen, Thomas Trotta is a thief and a burglar and, from 1999 to 2019, he did it with these defendants,” Buchanan said, pointing the tables where the four sat with their lawyers.
“He (Trotta) has been their friend since childhood.”
Instead of letting the world continue to see the treasures, “they wanted them for themselves,” he said. “They wanted cash in their pockets.”
Buchanan said Trotta would testify because he best knew the conspiracy.
In the first of four expected openings by defense lawyers, attorney Gino Bartolai thrust at Trotta’s credibility.
“Thomas Trotta, Thomas Trotta, Thomas Trotta,” Bartolai said. “It took the government (Buchanan) 20 minutes to mention Trotta in their opening statement.”
“He’s a thief, he’s a burglar, he’s a scoundrel,” Bartolai said.
"He’s also a liar, someone who left “a trail of lies and dishonesty,” he told jurors.
“We know who did it and the government will admit that,” Bartolai said. “Thomas Trotta is the one who did it.”
The trial is expected to resume Tuesday afternoon with opening statements by the other defense lawyers.
