FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 9, 1999
CONTACT: Dan Rene, 703-847-3088 or drene@nlpc.org

Washington - The National Legal and Policy Center, a union corruption watchdog, condemned today's  $100,000 punishment of Laborers' International Union of North America general president Arthur A. Coia by LIUNA's "in-house prosecutor" Robert D. Luskin.

"Anything short of removing Coia from office - without any golden parachutes  is unconscionable," said NLPC Chairman Ken Boehm. "However, the result should come as no surprise to critics who understand Robert Luskin’s own ethics problems." Luskin forfeited $245,000 to the federal government in May 1998 for his "willful blindness" in accepting money-laundering profits from an alleged associate of the Patriarca crime family in New England.

"Today's virtual exoneration of Coia would have unimaginable when the Department of Justice issued is draft-RICO complaint in 1994. It strikes at the heart of DOJ's 40 years of fighting against corrupt unions." said Boehm. "It goes to show anything is possible in Washington when you have good connections.”

"This slap on the wrist further demonstrates that DOJ was wrong to put its faith in the idea that LIUNA could reform itself," added Boehm. "DOJ needs to admit its mistake, take over the union and institute real reforms - especially ousting Coia."

Department of Justice's 1994 draft racketeering complaint describes what's at stake:
 

"LIUNA at all levels, including the general presidency, have been chosen, subject to the approval of, and have been controlled by, various members and associates of organized crime. Four consecutive General Presidents of LIUNA, [including] Arthur Armand Coia (1993-present), have associated with, and been controlled and influenced by, organized crime figures. Consequently, the rights of the members of the union to control the affairs of the union have been systematically abused. Those union members who opposed this corrupt state of affairs [at all]levels, have been intimidated into silence by violence, threats or violence, economic coercion, and by the known ties of corrupt local, district, regional, and international officials of the union with organized crime."

NLPC's Organized Labor Accountability Project is investigating and exposing corruption and abuses in the Teamsters, LIUNA, AFL-CIO and other labor organizations.  NLPC publishes the Union Corruption Update every two weeks. NLPC is a nonpartisan, nonprofit foundation promoting ethics and accountability in government through research, education and legal action.  NLPC was a plaintiff in the lawsuit which succeeded in opening the records of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Health Care Task Force.  Please visit www.nlpc.org.

Organized Labor Accountability Project

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