TEAMSTERS (IBT)
Hawaiian Teamsters Indicted for Arson
Two prominent members of Teamsters Local 996 in Honolulu were indicted
by a federal grand jury Feb. 17 for arson. Joseph "Joe Boy" P. Tavares,
Jr., was charged with conspiracy to commit arson and two counts of arson
and faces 25 years in prison. George E. Cambra was charged with conspiracy
to commit arson and faces 5 years. Cambra is also the owner of George Cambra
Movie Production Trucks, Inc., and the arson resulted from an internal
union fight when union rivals referred a Hollywood film crew to Cambra's
competitors: Mokulua Consultants, Inc., and Auto Mastics, Inc. Cambra reportedly
agreed to give Tavares 10% of his future earnings if Tavares would set
fire to the trucks employed in the hostile referral. On Jun. 10, 1991,
Tavares reportedly set fires to the competitor's trucks causing $241,500
in damage. Cambra later allegedly paid Tavares at least $1,500 for his
services. The fires immediately forced Auto Mastics out of business and
contributed to Mokulua's closing in 1997. [Honolulu Advertiser & Honolulu
Star-Bulletin 2/18/99]
In addition to the unions and organizations covered in this Union Corruption Update,readers can look forward to news and information on other corrupt and abusive unions in future editions.
All back issues of the Union Corruption Update can be viewed at NLPC's website (www.nlpc.org). Also available is a union by union index of all Union Corruption Update articles.
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Union Corruption Update is part of NLPC's Organized Labor Accountability Project which is investigating and exposing corruption and extremism in the Teamsters, LIUNA, AFL-CIO and many other union organizations. NLPC is a nonpartisan, nonprofit foundation promoting ethics and accountability in government through research, education and legal action.
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