PENNSYLVANIA
Philly.com
The arrest of a priest leads a reporter to investigate a mobster and a governor.
MATT BIRKBECK, THE QUIET DON
POSTED: Monday, October 7, 2013
The following is reprinted from ‘The Quiet Don’ by Matt Birkbeck by arrangement with Berkley, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
Chapter 1
Two Pennsylvania State Police troopers sat inside an unmarked car waiting for the go-ahead to do something they had never done before, arrest a Catholic priest for lying to a grand jury.
It was early January 2008, and the troopers, Rich Weinstock and Dave Swartz, had been waiting for nearly an hour with the engine off, the cold morning air laying a thin frost on the windows.
The Rev. Joseph Sica was inside the St. Mary of the Assumption Church monastery, likely having breakfast. He usually left just before 9 a.m. for Mercy Hospital, where he was the resident chaplain, and the troopers had planned to arrest him before he left for work. When the call finally came, just after 8:30 a.m., the troopers exited the car and walked briskly to Sica’s front door. He lived in an apartment at the monastery, which was just outside of Scranton, and after several knocks, the door opened and there stood the burly priest, somewhat surprised that he had two guests so early in the morning.
“Father Joseph Sica, I’m Trooper Weinstock, this is Detective Swartz. We are with the Pennsylvania State Police and we have a warrant for your arrest.”
Sica was stunned. He had seen the troopers before, during the grand jury hearings in Harrisburg the previous summer. But he was just a witness and not the target of the investigation. When Sica asked why he was being arrested, he was told he was being charged with perjury.
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