The Better Payoff

To Mario Montuoro, cash payoffs usually mean trouble. His accusation that Raymond Donovan was present when a $2,000 bribe was paid to a union leader is at the heart of a special prosecutor's investigation of the Labor Secretary and has prompted Donovan to call him a "damnable, contemptible liar." Montuoro's testimony about misuse of union funds led to the conviction of his union's president on tax evasion charges, cost him his job and reportedly caused a Mafia contract to be put out on his life. All told, his crusade against labor union corruption has pushed him into a $25,000 debt, and his unemployment benefits will run out this week. But last week Montuoro found himself on the receiving end of a payoff, and one worth celebrating: he won $2.5 million in the New York State lottery. "Somebody up there likes me," he exulted.

The street-savvy Montuoro, 48, is a former construction worker who in the past has been convicted of firearms and narcotics charges. Fifteen years before he rode to the 65th floor of the World Trade Center to meet with lottery officials, he was 80 ft. below ground, blasting the foundation hole for that very same building. Montuoro does not want to forsake his hardscrabble heritage. He plans to remain in The Bronx ("If the people in my neighborhood were good enough to have me when I was poor, they'll be good enough to have me when I'm rich") and use part of his money to establish a fund to help those fighting union corruption. Says he: "I've paid for my crimes. Now I want those union officials to pay for their crimes." He also plans to pay back the welfare benefits he received, reimburse friends who loaned him money and buy a bicycle and a canopy bed for his stepchildren. And, of course, buy another lottery ticket. He is on a lucky streak: last week a judge ordered the new millionaire reinstated, with back pay, in the union job from which he had been ousted.