New L.I. Priest Shocker
Convicted Rev. Says Monsignor Paid To Hush Up Abuse

By Brian Harmon
(NY) Daily News
January 4, 2003

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/story/48587p-45681c.html

A Long Island priest and lifelong pal of former Mayor Rudy Giuliani used church insurance money to buy silence from boys who had accused him of sexual abuse, a disgraced priest claims in a sworn statement.

The charge was made in a bombshell deposition by the Rev. Michael Hands - who himself was convicted of sodomizing a 13-year-old Northport, L.I., boy.

[Photo Caption - Michael Hands.]

Hands charges that Msgr. Alan Placa, 57, reached secret settlements with victims that avoided any mention of sexual misconduct - and said instead that the issue involved a drunken driving claim against Placa.

"[Placa] was the man who had the authority on some level to take $50,000 . . . that he could get this from the diocese, from their insurance department, and use that to pay off someone who had claimed that they were victimized by him," said Hands. "The settlement itself would say that the issue did not involve sexual misconduct. He very shrewdly covered that up."

Hands, 36, is cooperating with corruption investigations against Diocese of Rockville Centre leadership in Suffolk and Nassau counties.

His 138-page statement will be used in a civil lawsuit against the diocese, said Michael Dowd, a lawyer with more than 100 clients who say they were sexually attacked by pedophile priests.

Placa could not be reached for comment yesterday. A diocesan representative said officials would not comment on Hands' deposition.

For more than a decade, Placa was in charge of investigating sexual misconduct accusations against diocese clergy.

Last summer, he was suspended after Bishop William Murphy - who came to Long Island from Boston - learned that Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota was investigating two sex abuse claims against Placa.

But the embattled monsignor was given a one-day reprieve in September to officiate at the funeral for Giuliani's mother, Helen.

Placa and Giuliani forged a friendship during childhood and later attended Manhattan College together.

Hands, who was convicted of sodomy, had his sentencing delayed for months as he has continued to assist the Suffolk grand jury investigation.

He also says in the deposition that church leaders implored him not reveal that he was molested as a youngster by Msgr. Charles Ribaudo.

Hands said church officials told him Ribaudo - a popular priest in Oyster Bay - was considered a hot commodity because he brought in a tremendous amount of money to the Catholic Church.

Besides alleging a massive sex abuse coverup, Hands went into great detail about widespread homosexuality among priests and inside seminaries.

He estimated that "seven out of 10 seminarians were gay" and said a Baltimore seminary was nicknamed the "Pink Palace" because it was "the Mecca of gay seminary life."