Zaccaro Guilty Plea in Property Deal Expected

John A. Zaccaro, the husband of former Democratic vice presidential nominee Geraldine A. Ferraro, is scheduled to appear in a Manhattan criminal court today to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge involving a real estate transaction, according to sources familiar with the case.

A grand jury in Manhattan last week voted sealed indictments of Zaccaro, a New York real estate broker, and several others, including some of his business associates.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office had been investigating two real estate transactions involving Zaccaro since September. While Dist. Atty. Robert M. Morgenthau had no comment Sunday on the case, others familiar with the complex inquiry said one of the charges facing Zaccaro involves filing a false financial statement in connection with a loan application he made.

In the loan application--which was eventually turned down--Zaccaro allegedly inflated his and his family’s net worth far beyond figures that Ferraro reported to the Federal Election Commission when she served in Congress representing the borough of Queens. She did not seek reelection after being chosen as former Vice President Walter F. Mondale’s running mate.

The family’s current plans, which may change at the last minute, call for Ferraro not to accompany her husband to court, sources close to the family said Sunday. Instead, Zaccaro will surrender to authorities alone.

Sources indicated that the charges Zaccaro faces stem from a two-pronged investigation involving a questionable loan granted by a New York credit union and a separate real estate deal in Queens in which a loan application to Prudential-Bache Securities was falsified. By pleading guilty to one charge, it is understood that Zaccaro would likely not be prosecuted on the other charges. It is not known which of the charges Zaccaro is expected to plead guilty to.

Findings to Be Disclosed

Morgenthau will make public the results of his investigation at a news conference before Zaccaro enters his plea in court, sources said.

His scheduled court appearance is the culmination of delicate negotiations between his lawyers and representatives of the district attorney. The lawyers met on at least two occasions with prosecutors to discuss the potential charges.

Several options faced the family when they learned of the indictment last week. One was for Zaccaro to plead not guilty and go to trial. Some family members were said to believe the strain and publicity of a trial would be unacceptable, especially after the intense scrutiny of the election campaign. They argued that entering a guilty plea on one charge would quickly resolve Zaccaro’s troubles.

Lucrative Contract

Since the resounding defeat of the Democratic presidential ticket, Ferraro has signed a lucrative contract for her autobiography, which is scheduled to be published this fall.

Bantam Books paid more than $800,000 for the autobiography. There were fears that the strain of her husband’s trial would distract from her writing efforts, it is understood. Ferraro has promised to be candid in writing about her experiences as the first woman vice presidential nominee of a major American political party and about the scrutiny given her family’s finances.

Since her return to the family’s Tudor-style house in the affluent enclave of Forest Hills Gardens in Queens, Ferraro has been frequently mentioned as a potential opponent to Republican Sen. Alfonse M. D’Amato in 1986--speculation the former congresswoman has done nothing to discourage.

Some prominent New York politicians said Sunday that her husband’s scheduled court appearance and expected guilty plea could be a major blow to Ferraro’s ambitions.

“Obviously, she’s damaged,” said a veteran political operative with ties to the state Democratic Party. “It’s not a help to her. It doesn’t do anything to cleanse her image.”

The same source pointed out that Zaccaro’s decision to plead guilty to one misdemeanor charge could well be an exercise in political damage control. But he added that whether such strategy works could well depend on whether other defendants indicted with Zaccaro would seek trials.

A $550,000 Loan

One of the transactions the grand jury considered before returning the indictments was a $550,000 loan in September, 1983, from the credit union of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to John DeLorenzo, a real estate associate of Zaccaro. The authority operates bridges, tunnels and airports in the New York-New Jersey metropolitan region.

DeLorenzo used the money as part of a down payment to buy a Manhattan apartment building. The co-brokers in the $4.9-million sale were Zaccaro and Ronald Harnisch, the former counsel to the credit union. It was understood that Harnisch had cooperated with the district attorney’s office during its investigation.

Zaccaro and Harnisch were to have split a $100,000 commission, according to a lawyer for the seller of the building.

The loan came under scrutiny because credit union rules state that loans are only to be made to Port Authority employees and their relatives. When federal auditors discovered that the $550,000 loan was not made to a Port Authority employee or relative, they promptly notified the authority’s top officials, who referred the matter to Morgenthau, triggering the investigation.

At one point, when it appeared that DeLorenzo would default on the credit union loan, Zaccaro paid the interest on it until DeLorenzo could repay the principal.

The district attorney’s investigators also considered a transaction in which a corporation formed by Zaccaro and two associates acted as a broker for DeLorenzo in the attempted purchase of an apartment complex in Queens. The corporation went to Prudential-Bache Securities for financing.

The grand jury also looked into whether documents submitted to Prudential-Bache Securities were falsified to show the purchase price of the complex of five apartment buildings as $15.5 million instead of the actual asking price of $11.9 million. The higher figure could have been used to support a request for a bigger loan from Prudential-Bache Securities.

Zaccaro’s lawyers claimed during the investigation that their client did not know who had falsified the document.