LABORERS (LIUNA)
Judge, Not Boss, Names Overseers
U.S. Dist. Judge Robert Gettleman appointed a former prosecutor and
a retired Ill. S. Ct. Justice Aug. 31 to lead the effort to rid the Chicago
Laborers' Dist. Council of the Laborers' Int'l Union of No. Am. of mob
influence. Steven Miller, an 18-year veteran of the U.S. Atty.'s Office
in Chicago, was named monitor -- a quasi-prosecutor who will oversee internal
charges against bosses. Seymour F. Simon, a former jurist on both the Ill.
S. Ct. and the Ill. App. Ct., was named the adjudications officer -- a
quasi-judge who will decide bosses' punishments.
The appointments came three weeks after CLDC agreed to a Consent Decree to settle a controversial racketeering suit filed by the Dep't of Justice and LIUNA. In the suit alleged CLDC is dominated by the Chicago mafia and detailed nearly two dozen mafia members, associates and close relatives who served as bosses of CLDC's $1.5 billion in pension and benefit funds. The monitorship is scheduled to last at least two years.
Reportedly, Gettleman personally pushed for Simon, who is 84 years old and who served on the Chicago City Council and Cook County Board in the 1950s and 1960s. He still practices law with Rudnick & Wolfe. Miller reportedly is an expert in prosecuting long-unsolved homicide cases by uncovering related financial frauds. Miller has been with the Sachnoff & Weaver law firm for five years. [Chi. Trib 9/1/99]
The upshot is this appears to be a refreshing change from LIUNA's failed "internal reform effort" because in the CLDC case, a federal judge, and not the corrupt union president -- Arthur A. Coia, is calling the shots.
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