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Among the individuals and businesses Castaldo allegedly stifted is Ballyhoo Central, a Queens advertising agency which provided programs, posters and other promotional materials for QIFF in 2007.
The president of Ballyhoo, who declined to be named for fear of retribution, said she ended up fronting the majority of the bills at the printer’s and wasn’t reimbursed or paid for her time. The month before the festival, having already shelled out several thousand dollars, she pressed Castaldo for payment.
“She gave me a sob story that she was going through a nasty divorce and her soon-to-be ex-husband had wiped out her account,” the Ballyhoo president said. “She kept saying she’ll give me a check later. ... It never happened.”
Dan Nuxoll, the program director at Rooftop Films, which provided projection equipment to the festival in 2007, had a similar story, though with a lower price tag. Nuxoll said Castaldo promised to pay half of the $2,750 fee they had agreed upon on the first day of the festival and the other half on closing night.
Nuxoll was reluctant to sign up without a down payment but finally agreed, since the festival had a legitimate-looking website, a five-year history in Queens and support from various elected officials.
The first night of the 2007 festival, Nuxoll said, Castaldo told him she had forgotten to bring a check but would pay him the following day. Each day she had another excuse, he said, and on closing night she disappeared. When he tried calling, her voicemail mailbox was full, and eventually the phone was completely disconnected, Nuxoll said.
Nuxoll said he then talked with other member’s of the festival’s supposed advisory board, but many told him they had nothing to do with the festival, and others said they were also having trouble tracking down Castaldo. Nuxoll’s assistant eventually tracked down Castaldo at a restaurant in the city where she worked.
“She said her father died and she had a nervous breakdown,” Nuxoll said.
Eventually, Nuxoll gave up, but the following year he got an email advertising the festival, so he called the number on the website, told the intern who answered the phone his story and asked for Marie. She returned the call at around 1 a.m.
“She’s furious that I called and is flipping out,” Nuxoll said. “She said: ‘Let me tell this: if you come down here tomorrow, I have some men here who are going to make you regret it.’”
The following morning, she called, apologized and said she’d work out a payment plan, but Nuxoll said the checks never came, and her phone was eventually disconnected again.
Nuxoll isn’t the only person who claims to have been verbally threatened by Castaldo.
James Hill, the head projectionist at the festival last year, says Castaldo owes him $1,000. Hill said Castaldo agreed on a price — $250 up front, and $1,000 on the final day — but she wouldn’t sign a written contract. By the end of the first two days of work, Hill says he hadn’t seen a cent of money and still didn’t have a contract, so he threatened to quit. Eventually, Castaldo signed his contract and presented him with $250 in cash, but the remaining $1,000 was never paid, hill said.
A week after the festival ended, Hill called Castaldo and threatened to contact the press if Castaldo didn’t fork over the rest of the money. Castaldo’s husband, Richard Castellano, who was sentenced to a year in prison in 2001 for scamming residents of Monticello, NY out of several thousand dollars, then allegedly called Hill.
“He gave me veiled threats,” Hill said. “He said: ‘You’re not to talk to anybody. Do you understand that?’”
Hill and Nuxoll told of numerous other “victims,” including one single mother from Erie, PA, who allegedly wired $5,000 to Castaldo and came to New York to work for QIFF, thinking she would be reimbursed and paid an additional $1,000 — only to be left high and dry for the full $6,000.
The ploys appear to be recurring this year. Kerry Wallum, who is in charge of organizing the closing night musical performances and tribute to Levon Helm, said he is owed approximately $15,000. According to Nuxoll, several big-name singers and actors slated to appear on the festival’s final evening were misled by Castaldo and are considering not showing up. That claim could not be verified at print time.
Castaldo also seems to be avoiding reporters. The Chronicle received no press releases or phone calls announcing the festival, and Castaldo did not respond to repeated calls and emails requesting interviews and information prior to opening night.
On Thursday, about an hour before the festival was set to open, Castaldo flashed a winning smile but said she had to work with her volunteers, so interviews would have to wait. About half an hour later, she said she had to pick up someone, so interviews would still have to wait.
Castaldo didn’t speak — or even appear on stage — during the festival’s opening ceremony. It is unclear whether or not her absence was planned, but in the back of the auditorium, one festival worker whispered to another that some reporters had started asking questions and Castaldo had taken off running.
The reporters, from Fox News, confirmed that when they asked Castaldo about the allegations against her, she took off down the block. They followed her for several blocks and said she denied all queries.
Later in the evening, upon request, an assistant called Castaldo and reported that the festival chief was “in meetings.” She did not reappear at the festival within the next hour and a half.
It might seem surprising that the alleged con artist would be able to pull off the same scams seven years in a row in Queens. But her self-described victims say she’s just that skilled.
“She’s good at what she does,” Nuxoll said. “She moves around a lot. ... She moves her venues each time, and she gets different supporters.”
The Ballyhoo president said she considered suing Castaldo but has not done so because she fears legal expenses would be prohibitively high.
Hill said he and several colleagues contacted the district attorney last year about pressing charges against Castaldo but were told their claims were too small for the DA to handle.
The festival is set to run through Nov. 15.
