STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Once again, a one-time Staten Island youth athlete has alleged in an explosive lawsuit that Anthony (Tony) Sagona, a well-known and respected coach, preyed upon and “repeatedly” sexually abused him decades ago when he was a teen.
Also named as a defendant is the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), a national non-profit multi-sport event organization with which Sagona has been associated for four decades.
The plaintiff, identified under the pseudonym “Jack Doe,” alleges Sagona recruited him in 1979 or 1980 ostensibly to play on an AAU basketball team.
However, what followed was near-weekly ritual in which Sagona invited the boy to his home where he sexually abused the teen, the complaint alleges.
“Between the ages of approximately 15 and 16, plaintiff was repeatedly sexually molested and abused by Mr. Sagona, who at all relevant times, was affiliated with the AAU and served as an agent of the AAU,” the complaint contends.
“Sagona used his positions with AAU, and the power vested in him by the AAU, to gain plaintiff’s trust and confidence and to create opportunities to be alone with and abuse plaintiff,” alleges the complaint.
Sagona paid the boy “a couple hundred dollars in cash … during each encounter,” the complaint alleges.
“It’s just another example of how Coach Sagona took a good kid who was looking to play ball and sexually abused him,” said Bradley L. Rice, the plaintiff’s lawyer.
Aidan O’Connor, Sagona’s lawyer, could not immediately be reached for comment.
However, he has previously denied the sexual abuse claims against Sagona in other cases.
“These allegations can ruin someone’s reputation -- like Tony Sagona -- who has devoted his life to helping young men succeed in sports, in college and even going to the pros,” the Advance quoted O’Connor as saying.
An AAU spokeswoman said the organization doesn’t comment on pending litigation.
The suit is the seventh filed in a New York state court against Sagona since the enactment of the Child Victims Act last Aug. 14.
Six of the litigations, including this one, have been filed in state Supreme Court, St. George, according to online state court records.
The other was brought in Manhattan state Supreme Court.
Three other suits against Sagona have been filed in New Jersey for a total of 10, said Rice.
The New York suits variously list a number of baseball and basketball organization as defendants, as well as the Archdiocese of New York and several Staten Island parochial schools, an American Legion Post and others.
Only Sagona, the AAU, and its local organization, listed in court papers as “ABC Corporation,” are named defendants in the latest suit.
The Child Victims Act created a one-year window for plaintiffs of any age to sue alleged abusers regardless of when the abuse occurred.
The law also allows victims of sexual abuse to sue their alleged abuser any time before they turn 55.
The complaint alleges Sagona, who now lives in New Jersey, was affiliated with the AAU and its local Staten Island team in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
In 1979 or 1980, Sagona approached the plaintiff at a Willie Mays Sporting Goods store in the borough and recruited him for the local AAU basketball team, alleges the complaint.
Afterward, Sagona called the boy “every couple of days” and bought him concert tickets to ingratiate himself, the complaint said.
As time went on, Sagona drove the boy to New Dorp Beach, where, the complaint alleges, he told the teen he “liked” him, said the complaint. He then massaged the teen’s upper body and pleasured himself, the complaint alleges.
In the ensuing weeks, Sagona invited the boy to his home where he molested the teen in the basement “on almost a weekly basis,” alleges the complaint.
The complaint alleges the AAU knew or should have known “Sagona was a sexual predator and was sexually abusing plaintiff.”
Yet, the organization “took no steps to prevent or stop Sagona’s abuse” of the boy, contends the complaint.
The suit is the latest blow to Sagona, who, over the past 40 years, has become a respected figure within AAU basketball, an elite league for high-school ballers that’s helped propel many players to the NBA.
Sagona’s AAU-style program was heralded at one point in an NBC Sports article for taking the ethical high ground as a coach in a summer-league basketball circuit that’s come under fire in recent years.
Several of Sagona’s former players with the Jersey Shore Warriors went on to play at major universities, and, in a few cases, the NBA and other professional basketball leagues.
Some who knew Sagona and played for him over the past 20 years told the Advance they never heard or saw anything that seemed inappropriate.
Sagona is no longer affiliated with the Jersey Shore Warriors.
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