POLICE UNION
Kickback Scheme sends 4 to Prison
The former head of the NYC transit police union and top union lawyers
were sentenced to prison on Jun. 30 for their roles in a kickback scheme
involving millions of dollars in union funds. Ronald Reale, the former
union boss, was sentenced to 7 years, and Richard Hartman, a leading negotiator
for the union, was sentenced to 5 years. They were convicted for a racketeering
conspiracy that involved the payment of more than $400,000 in bribes to
transit union officers in return for more than $2 million in union money
paid to the law firm of Lysaght & Kramer, which represented the transit
union and other local police unions. The former sole partners in the law
firm, James J. Lysaght and Peter Kramer were sentenced to 27 months each.
Although the charges involved the transit police union, the lawyers and
Hartman had also worked for the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, which
represented officers in the City Police Department, and were instrumental
in winning a series of lucrative contracts from the city.
Federal prosecutors subpoenaed 10 years of financial records last year
from the PBA as part of a widening investigation into allegations of corruption.
U.S. District Court Judge Deborah A. Batts said that Reale had "shamelessly
abused" a "position of authority and trust for his own corrupt gains and
those of others." And she called Hartman "an architect of several of the
kickback schemes," which increased his business as well as "contributed
to the corruption of the labor negotiation process." Reale & Hartman
had also been convicted of trying to defraud the city's Campaign Finance
Board of matching funds during Reale's 1993 campaign for public advocate.
U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White, said the convictions and sentences "are a
warning to those individuals who corrupt the election system or steal from
union members that they will be prosecuted and, if convicted, sentenced
to lengthy prison terms." She said the investigation was continuing. [NY
Times 07/01/98]
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Union Corruption Update is part of NLPC's Organized Labor Accountability
Project which is investigating and exposing corruption in the Teamsters,
LIUNA, AFL-CIO and many other labor organizations. NLPC is a nonpartisan,
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through research, education and legal action.
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