Alleged Insider Was Truly Wired

An electrician who installed a security system at an office of Grand Metropolitan in Washington was charged with his accountant friend Wednesday with insider trading on Grand Met’s 1988 bid for Pillsbury Co.

Robert Falbo, a contractor now living in Carlsbad, Calif., is accused of stealing confidential corporate information about the merger and passing it on to his longtime accountant friend, Anthony Capricuso, of Paramus, N.J.

The indictment alleged the men made $400,000 in illegal trading profits.

The indictment charged that Falbo, 50, obtained inside information about the confidential merger talks in August, 1988, through his wife, Theresa, 49, an executive secretary at Grand Met’s former headquarters in Montvale, N.J., and through his own work at Grand Met.