The Tomasso Group is a family-run conglomerate focused on the
construction
Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...
and
real estate
Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...
industries based in
New Britain, Connecticut
New Britain is a city in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. It is located approximately southwest of Hartford. According to 2020 Census, the population of the city is 74,135.
Among the southernmost of the communities encompassed wit ...
.
History
Angelo Tomasso Sr.
Angelo Tomasso immigrated to America from
Abbateggio
Abbateggio is a ''comune'' and town in the province of Pescara in the Abruzzo region of Italy.
The first documents about the village's existence date back to the 10th century.
The economy of Abbateggio is based on mixed agriculture. Livestock a ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
in 1910. Angelo served in the US Army during
WWI
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and moved to Connecticut following the end of the war.
Early history
The Tomasso Group was founded in 1923 as Angelo Tomasso, Inc with only a single
steam shovel
A steam shovel is a large steam-powered excavating machine designed for lifting and moving material such as rock and soil. It is the earliest type of power shovel or excavator. Steam shovels played a major role in public works in the 19th and e ...
to its name. Angelo bought another steam shovel each time of his four sons was born.
Early projects included
Brainard Airport in
Hartford
Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...
in 1941.
In 1949 Angelo Sr was injured in a tragic accident at the Group’s Plainville quarry and died in 1952 leaving the next generation to take over the company. All four Tomasso brothers joined the company’s leadership with
Angelo Tomasso Jr.
Angelo Tomasso Jr. (March 17, 1925 – September 18, 2015) was a businessman and philanthropist from New Britain, Connecticut.
Early life and education
Tomasso was born on March 17, 1925, to Angelo and Nazzarena (Briganti) Tomasso. His parents ...
taking over the Presidency and
George A. Tomasso becoming treasurer. After WWII the company capitalized on the growth of
Suburbia
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...
in Connecticut by building roads and highways to support the new patterns of development.
Modern history
In 1968 Tunxis Management was formed to manage the companies real estate holdings. In 1972 the core construction business Angelo Tomasso, Inc was sold to Ashland Resources. Tunxis Management remained under family ownership and within a few years the family had reconstituted the contracting business under the name TBI Construction
and the management of Angelo Jr.’s four sons.
Throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s the group benefited from a close relationship between the Tomasso family and Connecticut Governor
John G. Rowland
John Grosvenor Rowland (born May 24, 1957) is an American politician, author, and convicted felon who served as the 86th Governor of Connecticut from 1995 to 2004. He served two nonconsecutive prison terms on various corruption charges. A Repu ...
. The Group's power within state government was such that state officials feared reprisals if they crossed the Group or the family.
Recovering from near collapse in 1995 TBI received over $100 million in state contracts during Rowland's term as governor while the Group and family members gave over $500,000 to Rowland's campaigns.
On March 17, 2000 Governor Rowland declared it ''Angelo Tomasso Jr. Day.’’
In 2002 Lawrence Alibozek, former deputy chief of staff to the Governor, plead guilty to steering the contracts to the Group but declined to implicate the Governor. In 2003 Rowland was ordered to pay a $9,000 fine as punishment for paying a much lower than going rate for vacations he took at homes in Vermont and Florida owned by the Tomasso Group.
In return for this legal and illegal largess the Governor steered a series of no-bid contracts to the Group.
Rowland was forced from office after it emerged that the Tomasso Group and other state contracts had made free improvements to the Governor’s
Bantam Lake
Bantam Lake is the largest natural lake in Connecticut, covering in the towns of Morris and Litchfield. Much of the land at the northern end of the lake, including the peninsula of Marsh Point, is protected by the White Memorial Foundation and ...
“cottage” in Litchfield. The improvements included a hot tub and a cathedral ceiling.
Rowland’s birthday party and annual golf tournament were held at the Group’s Tunxis Country Club.
During Rowland's nine years in office Tomasso linked companies received at least $233 million in state contracts.
In 2003 group president
William A. Tomasso William A. Tomasso, also known as Billy or Bill, is an American construction executive. Tomasso along with the Peter N. Ellef, chief of staff to state governor John G. Rowland, pled guilty on charges related to fast-tracking state contracts to Toma ...
allegedly stalked and harassed a former Tomasso Group contractor and his wife. Later in 2003 the Group got into a legal battle with
Connecticut Attorney General
The Connecticut Attorney General is the state attorney general of Connecticut.
The Attorney General is elected to a four-year term. According to state statute, eligibility for the office requires being "an attorney at law of at least ten years' ...
Richard Blumenthal
Richard Blumenthal (; born February 13, 1946) is an American lawyer and politician who is the senior United States senator from Connecticut, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he is one of the wealthiest members of ...
over Blumenthal’s attempts to subpoena records for Tomasso Brothers Inc.; Tomasso Brothers Construction Co.; TBI Construction Co. LLC; Tunxis Plantation Country Club; Tunxis Management Co.; Tunxis Management Co. II; and Tenergy Water LLC.
In 2004 group president William A. Tomasso, subsidiary TBI Construction, subsidiary Tunxis Management, and Governor Rowland's Chief of Staff
Peter N. Ellef were indicted on numerous charges including fraud, racketeering, bribery, and extortion. Ellef had instructed Public Works Commissioner
Theodore R. Anson to fast track major public works contracts with the explicit purpose of awarding them to the Tomasso Group. Later in 2004 Tunxis Management lost a $400,000 state contract when they refused to disclose past gifts to public officials, a requirement which was added to all state contracts after the Tomasso corruption scandal came to light.
In 2006 William A. Tomasso and Peter N. Ellef were each sentenced to 30 months in prison. TBI admitted to improperly making business deductions for personal expenses charged by Tomasso, Ellef, and their families. In addition, they agreed to pay the IRS $366,906, as well as any civil tax-fraud penalties and interest. The lack of a trial meant that the inner workings of the racketeering scheme were not detailed in court saving the Tomasso Group significant embarrassment.
In return for Ellef’s cooperation Federal prosecutors dropped a case against Ellef’s son Peter Ellef II whose landscaping business received more than $2 million in contracts from the Tomasso Group.
In 2017 the Tomasso Group sold the Medical Arts Center at The Hartford Healthcare Cancer Institute for $30.2 million to a publicly traded
REIT
A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of commercial real estate, including office and apartment buildings, warehouses, hospitals, shopping ce ...
.
As of 2018 William A. Tomasso was the President of TBI Construction.
Tenergy Water
Tenergy Water was a subsidiary of the Tomasso Group that produced water treatment and filtration equipment. Between 1997 and 1998 Tenergy negotiated a $3 million loan from the state Department of Economic Development in return for creating 106 jobs. This loan was out of the ordinary for loans provided by the Department of Economic Development because Tomasso did not offer any collateral, all their assets already being used as collateral against loans from
Webster Bank
Webster Bank is an American commercial bank based in Stamford, Connecticut. It has 177 branches and 316 ATMs located in Connecticut; Massachusetts; Rhode Island; and Westchester County, New York.
History
Webster was founded in 1935 by Harold ...
.
The Presidency of Tenergy Water was offered to Peter N. Ellef as a bribe in 2002 but this was reconsidered because the relationship between Ellef and Tomasso was already under scrutiny. In 2004 Tenergy entered into a partnership with Christ AG and was renamed Tenergy Christ Water LLC. In 2011 Tenergy Christ was acquired by
Nalco Holding Company
Nalco Water, an Ecolab Company, is an American Naperville, Illinois-based supplier of water, energy and air improvement solutions and services for industrial and institutional markets, owned by Ecolab. The company sells various products and servic ...
and renamed Res-Kem General Water LLC.
Current operation
The group is split into three main subsidiaries: TBI Development, TBI Construction, and Tunxis Management.
Tunxis Country Club
The Tomasso Group is the owner of the 45 hole Tunxis Country Club located on the east bank of the
Farmington River
The Farmington River is a river, U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 in length along its main stem, located in northwest Connecticut with major tributaries ex ...
in
Farmington, Connecticut
Farmington is a town in Hartford County in the Farmington Valley area of central Connecticut in the United States. The population was 26,712 at the 2020 census. It sits 10 miles west of Hartford at the hub of major I-84 interchanges, 20 miles s ...
. Originally named Tunxis Plantation Country Club it has been under Tomasso family management for four generations. The on-site restaurant Tunxis Tavern reopened in 2018 following renovations. The current Head Gold Pro is Angelo Fiducia who has worked his entire career from caddy to pro at Tunxis. As part of a kickback agreement the son of Peter Ellef, Peter Ellef II, sold
christmas trees
A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, or an artificial tree of similar appearance, associated with the celebration of Christmas. The custom was further developed in early modern G ...
from the Club each holiday season for a number of years.
Major projects
Construction
* Brainard Airport (original construction)
* Main parking garage at
Bradley International Airport
Bradley International Airport is a public international airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, United States. Owned and operated by the Connecticut Airport Authority, it is the second-largest airport in New England.
The airport is about halfw ...
*
Connecticut Natural Gas
Connecticut Natural Gas (CNG) is a natural gas distribution company that delivers natural gas and energy services to residential, commercial, and industrial customers in the Greater Hartford area and Greenwich, Connecticut areas. CNG is a subsidi ...
headquarters, East Hartford
*
Connecticut Juvenile Training School
The Connecticut Juvenile Training School (CJTS) was a juvenile prison in Middletown, Connecticut that operated under the Connecticut Department of Children and Families from 2001 to 2018. Established in proximity to the Connecticut Valley Hos ...
, Middletown
*
ConnectiCare
EmblemHealth is one of the United States' largest nonprofit health plans. It is headquartered at 55 Water Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City. It is a multi-billion company with over 3 million members.
EmblemHealth was created in 2006 thr ...
HQ and Operations Center, Farmington
* The Superior Court and Center for Juvenile Matters, Bridgeport
* Waterbury Performing Arts Magnet School, Waterbury
* Government Center Garage, New Britain
Renovations
![City Hall, New Britain CT](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/City_Hall%2C_New_Britain_CT.jpg)
*
Palace Theater, Waterbury
*
St. Thomas Seminary
St. Thomas Seminary, located in Bloomfield, Connecticut, is a minor seminary for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford. The current rector is the Most Reverend Christie A. Macaluso.
History
St. Thomas Seminary was founded in 1897 by Bish ...
, Bloomfield
* New Britain City Hall, New Britain
* Gates Building, New Britain
* Connecticut Building on the Avenue of States at
The Big E
The Big E, formally known as The Eastern States Exposition, and billed as "New England's Great State fair", is the largest agricultural event on the eastern seaboard and the fifth-largest fair in the nation. The Big E is inclusive of all six of ...
, Springfield, MA
*
Long Lane School
Long Lane School was a prison for juvenile inmates in Middletown, Connecticut. Historically a prison for delinquent girls, it underwent various name changes, was acquired by the state in 1924, and began housing boys in 1972. Prior to its 2003 clos ...
, Middletown
*
Connecticut Lottery Corporation
The Connecticut Lottery Corporation, also called the CT Lottery, is the official lottery in Connecticut. It was created in 1971 by then-Gov. Thomas Meskill, who signed Public Act No. 865. The first tickets were sold on February 15, 1972. The Conne ...
headquarters, Rocky Hill
External links
* Tomasso Group project list (incomplete)
* Tunxis Management website
* Tunxis Country Club homepage
* State of Connecticut v. William A. Tomasso et al.
References
{{reflist
Companies based in Hartford County, Connecticut
Crime in Connecticut
Privately held companies based in Connecticut
Construction and civil engineering companies of the United States