MACHINISTS (IAM)
Boston Boss Got $30,000 in "No Show Payments"
Anthony J. Frizzi, ex-boss of Int'l Ass'n of Mach. Local S25, pled
guilty Apr. 3 to soliciting and accepting illegal payments from an employer
who had entered into a collective bargaining agreement with the S. Boston
local.
Frizzi played a key role for Local S25 in negotiating a 1995 contract with Boston Ship Repair, Inc. Frizzi then represented Local S25 in its dealings with BSR. In 1996, Frizzi informed BSR that he wanted to be placed on its payroll, even though he wouldn't perform any work and was receiving a union salary. BSR agreed, in the belief that doing so would help to ensure favorable labor relations.
Asst. U.S. Atty. Mark W. Pearlstein said, Frizzi knew that it was illegal for him to be paid by BSR under these circumstances. Frizzi allegedly attempted to conceal his receipt of these payments by providing BSR with his son's social security number for payroll purposes. Pearlstein said, "Frizzi...received $30,826 in 'no show payments' from [BSR], a company whose employees were represented by the Union which Frizzi led. Federal Labor Law strictly prohibits the solicitation and receipt of such payments, in order to ensure the loyalty of Union officials and to prevent Union officials from extorting tribute from employers." Frizzi faces up to 5 years' imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. [USAO D. Mass., Media Release 3/24, 4/3/00]
TEAMSTERS (IBT)
Hoffa on the Hill: End DOJ Consent Decree
Int'l Bhd. of Teamsters boss James P. Hoffa
told Congress that his union is no longer under the influence of organized
crime and should be rid of government control. "Our union today is one
of the cleanest of any now on the labor scene," Hoffa told the Rep. Peter
Hoekstra (R-Mich.) and the Edu. & Workforce Com.'s Oversight &
Investigations Subcom. "Organized crime has been eliminated. There are
no people who have a connection with organized crime in the union today
and we are ever-vigilant of that and we want to make sure it stays that
way." The Dep't of Justice's supervision since 1989 has cost IBT
about $88 million.
Hoffa said IBT is ready to file a racketeering suit against those involved in the 1996 scheme to swap IBT political contributions for donations to Ron Carey's campaign. "We have drafted a RICO suit, and it's ready to go," said Hoffa. Rumors of such a suit have been circulating for months.
Prior to the hearing Hoekstra said "foot dragging" by DOJ may require him to reopen hearings into the IBT scandal. "For all intents and purposes it appears that [DOJ's] investigation is over. ...We bowed to [DOJ's] requests. We didn't pursue things in which we had a high degree of interest under the assumption [DOJ] would act vigorously. They didn't." [Det. News 3/24, 3/29/00, BNA 3/29/00]
IRB Wants Civil Charges Against Three New York Bosses
After placing IBT Local 806 trusteeship in early
Mar., IBT's Independent Review Bd. recommended that three bosses face
civil union corruption charges. IRB,in late Mar., recommended civil charges
against the Garden City, N.Y.-based local's ousted bosses Donald Calagna,
Ivan Cerina and Anthony DeStefano. The three now face an IBT hearing and
could be expelled from the union and/or face fines. FBI and Dep't of Labor
may also investigate the allegations. Calagna, Local 806's top boss until
IRB removed him, allegedly embezzled $69,400 in unauthorized bonuses and
salary increases from 1996-99. [Newsday 3/29/00]
LABORERS (LIUNA)
Trusteeship Sought for Pittsburgh Local
Why it's taken five years is unclear, but the failed
"internal reform effort" of the Laborers' Int'l Union of N. Am. wants
a trusteeship imposed on Local 1058 in Pittsburgh because of alleged ties
to organized crime. No officers or executive board members of Local 1058
face criminal or union disciplinary charges. In his intra-union complaint
dated Mar. 21, the ethically-challenged "in-house prosecutor," Robert
D. Luskin, stated that Local 1058 bosses have had personal, family
and business connections with Pittsburgh's La Cosa Nostra for 30 years.
Luskin has run the failed "internal reform effort" since 1995, and it has
reportedly cost LIUNA over $35 million.
Local 1058 retained ex-U.S. Atty. Frederick W. Thieman and ex-Asst. U.S. Atty. Stephen R. Kaufman. Thieman said accusations are mostly vague allegations against individuals who are being tarred with mob associations that stem from actions of their older and often long-dead relatives.
The complaint states every local boss since the 1960s has been appointed by people with ties to the mob and all appointees have run for reelection unopposed. It further states Joseph Laquatra, Local 1058's business manager, was hand-picked by his predecessor, Thomas Pecora, and John S. Larocca. Sr., the late LCN boss. It states Laquatra and others (including local president L. Dennis Martire and recording secretary Gerald Pecora, Jr.) often met with Larocca at his car wash business. Gerald Pecora's great-uncle, the late Joseph "Jo Jo" Pecora, controlled gambling in W. Va. until his death in 1991. John Larocca, Jr., has been vice president of the local since 1983.
It also states Laquatra has been responsible for appointing most current bosses such as secretary-treasurer Joseph Frydrych and board members Philip Ameris and Michael Laquatra. Reportedly, Ameris is a son of the late Jimmy "The Greek" Ameris, Jr., who reportedly was a LCN associate. Also named in the complaint is Mark Machi, a federal convict who resigned from the executive board last year after a dispute with Laquatra.
Local 1058 called the charges a "dangerous effort" by LIUNA and the government to deny workers their right to free speech. LIUNA's "in-house judge" said he will decide within two months if a trustee should be appointed. [Pitt. Trib.-Rev. 3/28/00, Pitt. Post-Gazette 3/29/00]
This all led the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review to insightfully editorialize on Apr. 1: "Luskin told the Trib this week that there is 'nothing unique' in his effort to determine if Local 1058's officers should be removed. It's 'just a further step in a long-running practice aimed at nationwide eradication of the organized crime influence from [LIUNA].' But if that's the case, why is the government-sanctioned internal investigator merely seeking removal from office? If such massive organized crime ties are suspected, why isn't prosecution on the table? No Local 1058 officers or board members face criminal charges that we know of. But the complaint for trusteeship clearly alleges a pattern of criminal association that should be the purview of a federal grand jury, not the independent investigator in a deal that smacks of Clinton justice and not the American system of justice."
CARPENTERS (UBC)
Michigan Boss Grilled on Campaign Cash
The FBI has stepped-up its probe of corruption in Warren, Mich., with
at least two councilmen testifying in Mar. before a federal grand jury.
One of the councilmen in question, Bill Barnwell, is also an organizer
for the Mich. Reg. Council of Carpenters. Barnwell told the Detroit News
that he was asked about a range of subjects from campaign contributions
to ticket fixing. He said he was grilled about union campaign contributions.
"They didn't accuse me of anything. They insinuated," he said. The probe
is looking into allegations of police corruption, bid rigging and campaign-finance
abuses in Warren government. [Det. News 3/26/00]
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR (DOL)
Rosy Anti-Corruption Picture Painted
The Dep't of Labor's Office of Inspector General's agenda for FY2001
includes probes of financial transactions linked to the loss of pension
plan assets, as the agency continues to focus on an area that has resulted
in 29 currently ongoing investigations involving $1.5 billion in pension
assets, reported Patricia Dalton, DOL's acting IG, to the House Appropriations
Subcommittee on Labor, HHS & Education on Mar. 28.
These transactions involve individuals who provide services to pension and benefit plans. OIG plans to continue its emphasis on investigating union bosses and others who either have ties to organized crime or who "siphon excessive fees and/or commissions from union pension plans," Dalton told the subcommittee.
In the area of health benefit plans, the agency is targeting fraudulent health insurance schemes operated by what Dalton termed "bogus labor unions." The groups were allegedly formed for the purpose of selling the fraudulent health insurance and escaping state regulation not to conduct legitimate union services. "The influence and control by traditional and non-traditional organized crime figures in the workplace continues to have an adverse impact on the U.S. economy," Dalton said.
OIG will continue to probes in the garment, maritime, and construction industries, Dalton said. During FY1999, OIG's efforts to combat organized crime and labor racketeering involved completion of 54 employee benefit plan cases, involving over $19.4 million and 67 convictions. Twenty-eight cases were completed in the area of labor-management relations, involving $1.5 million in criminal monetary penalties and 35 convictions. [BNA 3/29/00]
STEELWORKERS (USWA)
Union Attendance Rule Struck Down
The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held Mar. 23. that the United
Steelworkers of Am.'s rule limiting eligibility for office to members who
have attended at least eight local monthly meetings within two years was
unreasonable and invalid. USWA failed to show that the rule, which disqualified
92% of the 3,000 members of Local 1011 in E. Chicago, Ind., was not burdensome
or supported by compelling need, Judge Richard A. Posner ruled.
"The requirement is paternalistic," Posner stated. "Union members should be capable of deciding for themselves whether a candidate for union office who had not attended eight, or five, or for that matter any meetings within the past two years should by virtue of his poor performance forfeit the electorate's consideration." He held that under the Landrum-Griffin Act, all members in good standing are eligible to run for office subject to "reasonable qualifications uniformly imposed." [BNA 3/28/00]
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ADDITIONAL BRIEFS NOT INCLUDED ON THE FAX EDITION OF THIS UNION CORRUPTION UPDATE:
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ELECTRICAL WORKERS (IBEW)
North Carolina Grand Jury Indicts Ten on Mail Fraud Charges
U.S. Atty. Janice M. Cole announced that a federal grand jury indicted
nine individuals on Mar. 21 with two counts each of mail fraud, in connection
with their applications for membership with the Journeyman Inside Wireman
classification in the Int'l Bhd. of Electrical Workers Local 495, in Wilmington,
N.C. If convicted, each could receive a maximum sentence of
10 years imprisonment, a fine of $500,000, and a supervised release term
of three years. The accused are Jamie Bailey, Richard D. Daniels,
Bradley S. Darnell, Michael J. Fitzpatrick, Ralph J. Lykins, John C. Martin,
Raymond Mead, David A. Petty and Jeremy M. Puckett. Additionally,
Robert A. Parsons was charged with one count of mail fraud, and if convicted,
faces a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and
three years of supervised release. [USAO E.D.N.C., Media Release 3/24/00]
LONGSHOREMEN (ILA)
Fifth South Carolina Unionist Indicted for Port Riot
Another man has been charged in connection with the Jan.
20 waterfront riot in Charleston, S.C. Peter Washington, Jr., was charged
Apr. 4, making him the fifth person to be indicted by the Charleston County
Grand Jury for alleged roles in a protest by the Int'l Longshoremen's Ass'n
that turned violent. Washington was indicted on charges of rioting,
conspiracy to riot and assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature,
Asst. S.C. Atty. Gen. Brad Cranshaw said.
Washington is accused of swinging a "baton" - like a policeman's nightstick - and striking a helmeted Charleston policeman over the head. The officer, who was only slightly injured, helped to identify Washington. Videotapes and photos taken at the scene have been instrumental in identifying suspects.
Several hundred police manned a port entrance during the melee, where protesters tossed bottles and other debris and were met with tear gas and anti-riot guns firing beanbag-like shots. In Feb., the grand jury indicted four longshoremen on rioting and conspiracy charges. Ten people went to hospitals after the riot, which took place during a union protest of a shipping line's use of non-union labor. Cranshaw said the investigation is continuing. [Post & Courier (Charleston, S.C.) 4/5/00]
POLICE UNIONS
Rival Los Angeles Unions Swap Allegations of Wrongdoing
The union representing most sheriff's deputies sued an upstart rival
today, claiming "false and defamatory accusations" were made to boost the
younger union's membership numbers. The Ass'n for L.A. Deputy Sheriffs
(ALADS) accused the L.A. Sheriffs Prof'l Ass'n (LASPA) of spreading rumors
that the ALADS has been investigated by the FBI. ALADS's suit in
L.A. Superior Ct. states that no such investigation has taken place.
ALADS, which has been in existence for 30 years, is the official salary negotiator for the department's non-supervisory sworn officers. Since its incorporation in June 1999, LASPA has been attempting to oust ALADS. LASPA began as an ALADS dissent group. "This (drive) began after we were kicked out of ALADS," said LASPA President Alex Villanueza. "We had a profound disagreement. They don't believe in the democratic process or being held accountable for how they spend the money, and we obviously disagree."
The crux of the suit revolves around a e-mail allegedly sent by LASPA Vice President Scott McKenzie to nearly all 6,000 ALADS members. In it, ALADS official say McKenzie -- writing under the assumed name "John Doesky" -- claimed federal investigators were looking into charges of "racketeering, tax evasion, illegal campaign contributions, bribery of public officials" and other crimes. All this was done, the suit states, to embarrass ALADS, thereby increasing the rival union's membership.
Villanueza declined to comment on the specific allegations in the suit, saying he would prefer to have the organization's attorney, Dennis Moss, look at them first. [City News Serv. 3/27/00]
SERVICE EMPLOYEES (SEIU) / ELECTIONS & POLITICS
SEIU Local Breaks New York Lobbying Record
In Dec. 1999, N.Y. Gov. George Pataki (R) and Dennis Rivera,
head of an "immensely" powerful Service Employees Int'l Union Local 1199,
hammered out the details of a multibillion-dollar plan to drastically change
health care in N.Y. Rivera had spent millions of dollars on advertisements
-more than any other lobbying force in state history -to generate public
support for his issue and to ensure that he would have a prominent place
at the table, though the Legislature would have to agree to any deal.
On Mar. 30, the price tag for lobbying effort by the Healthcare Education Project, of which Local 1199 was the largest member, was revealed: almost $15 million, enough to make Local 1199 and its allies the state's biggest lobbying spenders ever-by 10-fold. All told, lobbyists on both sides of the health care debate spent $17.8 million, almost a quarter of the $ 71.9 million spent by all state advocates last year, according to figures released by the state's Temporary Commission on Lobbying. Only a year before, New York Life Ins. Co. became the first lobbyist to break the $1 million barrier.
"We make no apologies; we're proud we spent the money for all we achieved, " said Ken Sunshine, Rivera's spokesman. "We would have spent more." [Newsday, N.Y. Post 3/31/00]
TEAMSTERS (IBT)
Tables Turned on Investigators of New York Local
Seven years ago, N.Y. State investigators cut a deal with an air freight
company, Amerford Int'l Corp., they had caught working with the mob: forfeit
$2.5 million said to have passed through the hands of the Mafia and avoid
the embarrassment of criminal charges. Amerford had been caught, by both
the federal government and the state attorney general's office, firing
more than twenty shipping clerks at Kennedy Int'l Airport and handing the
money from the saved wages to the Luchese crime family. The forfeiture
agreement called for the state's Organized Crime Task Force to distribute
the money to the clerks who had been wrongly fired.
But on Mar. 30, U.S. Dist. Judge Eugene H. Nickerson ruled that the att'y gen. at the time, Dennis C. Vacco, had apparently violated the agreement by funneling about $1.5 million of the forfeited money into the task force's coffers. And, according to the Nickerson, that money was never accounted for and remains missing. "The dismissal of criminal charges here was contingent upon a $2.5 million payment," stated Nickerson. "The task force apparently intended all along to keep $1.5 million of that sum for itself."
The task force did return nearly $365,000 to some of the workers who had lost their jobs. But in 1998, the Int'l Bhd. of Teamsters Local 851, which represented the shipping clerks, complained in a lawsuit that the task force had stopped making payments and had kept about $1.5 million. Nickerson said the federal government could not force the AG's office to repay the money. Instead he encouraged Local 851 to try to reclaim the $1.5 million from the former head of the task force and from Vacco. Current AG Eliot L. Spitzer's spokesman, said that despite Nickerson's ruling, "Our position is that the task force had the legal authority to retain the funds."
The ruling offered a "scathing" appraisal of the Organized Crime Task Force and its leaders, who sought to stave off the IBT's lawsuit under the Eleventh Amendment, which provides some protections for state officials who become the subject of litigation. Vacco and his staff, Nickerson wrote, demonstrated "a cavalier attitude toward the rule of law." Not only had the task force kept more than $1 million that should have gone to a group of shipping clerks, it also hid the fact that money had been set aside for the workers in the first place, Nickerson wrote. "There is plausible evidence," he wrote, that state officials "affirmatively concealed the existence of the task force agreement and the forfeiture fund."
Reportedly, the task force paid about $365,000 to clerks who worked for Local 851, about $50,000 to the local's pension fund and about $650,000 to a state-run substance abuse program, which received the money under state law governing forfeitures. The location of the remaining money is unclear, Nickerson said, although officials have said "the task force retained an unspecified amount to cover its expenses."
Ronald E. DePetris, who was named Local 851's trustee after its ties to organized crime were revealed, could pursue Vacco and George Quinlan, the former head of the task force and still a member of the attorney general's staff, in federal court. Or he could pursue the attorney general's office as a whole in State Supreme Court. DePetris said he intends "to fully pursue all options." But he added, "We're obviously pleased with the decision insofar as it clearly held that the state officials acted illegally and without any authority under state law."
Local 851's troubles began in 1990 when the authorities launched an investigation of the connection between organized crime, Anthony Razza, the local's former secretary-treasurer, and air-freight shippers at Kennedy, which an ex-U.S. Attorney once called "the mob's private candy store." In Apr. 1994, they pled guilty to racketeering charges, in essence, for turning a blind eye to Amerford's decision to fire the shipping clerks and hand some of their salaries over to the mob. Razza served a 21-month prison term. Amerford, now known as Thyssen Haniel Logistics Inc., was never charged in the case. [N.Y. Times 4/1/00]
Shooting Believed Tied to West Virginia Strike
With an IBT strike at Coke Consolidated plant in Huntington, W. Va.
in its third week, three of the bottler's delivery trucks were shot at
on Mar. 31 near Charleston, W. Va.. The 18-wheelers, driven by management
employees filling in for strikers, were on an entrance ramp to I-64 less
than one mile from one of Charlotte-based bottler's facilities. The vehicles
were disabled by the shots, but no one was injured.
"It looks like they intentionally fired at the vehicles and not at the drivers," said Special Agent Steven Viglianco of the FBI's Charleston office, which is investigating with the state police.Viglianco said there are no suspects, but investigators are "certainly considering" that the shootings could be related to the strike. There are 38 Teamsters from the Huntington facility on strike. Teamsters from five other facilities also are striking in support, for a total of 215 striking workers.
Coke Consolidated is offering a $50,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in the shooting. "We are appalled by this deplorable action and blatant disregard for human life and safety," said a Coke Consolidated spokesman. "We are calling upon the Teamsters to join us in guaranteeing the safety of all of our employees and the public at large." [Charlotte Observer 4/1/00]
PLUMBERS & PIPE FITTERS (UA)
Internal Dispute Turns Almost Deadly in Pennsylvania
Thomas E. Eaton of Clarendon, Pa. was accused Mar. 30 of an attempted
poison gas attack reportedly tied to a dispute with United Ass'n of Journeymen
& Apprentices of the Plumbing & Pipe Fitting Industry Local 47
in Monaca, Pa. Federal agents said Eaton, who worked as a pipefitter, tried
to pipe a tankful of deadly chlorine gas into the home of Michael Lacey
in Beaver, Pa., in the early hours of Dec. 7, 1998. The family of four
survived only because Lacey's 13-year-old son awoke with a scratchy throat
at 2 a.m. and roused his mother.
Eaton didn't like the way his job assignments were being handled by Lacey, Local 47's business manager. So he took a large, rusting tank of chlorine and ran a hose from it through an open vent into the Lacey home while the family slept, authorities charged. Eaton was charged by a federal grand jury with using a chemical weapon and other offenses. If convicted of the charges in the indictment, he faces a maximum penalty of life in prison and $750,000 in fines. [Pitt. Post-Gazette 3/31/00]
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR (DOL)
Independent Counsel Fails to Indict Herman, Probe Ended
Independent Counsel Ralph I. Lancaster ended Apr. 5 the two-year
probe of allegations that Labor Secretary Alexis M. Herman engaged
in improper conduct while working at the White House. He will not seek
an indictment against her. The action by Lancaster essentially clears Herman
of the charges of influence-peddling that have hovered over most of her
tenure at the helm of DOL.
Herman's attorney W. Neil Eggleston (who is also the "in-house appellate judge for the Laborers' Union's failed "internal reform effort") said the labor secretary cooperated with Lancaster. Eggleston, of Howrey & Simon, commended Lancaster for conducting the investigation "with the highest levels of professionalism."
Lancaster, a partner with the Portland, Maine, law firm Pierce Atwood, was sworn in as independent counsel May 26, 1998, shortly after Atty. Gen. Janet Reno asked for a probe of Herman in the wake of charges that she was involved in illegal campaign contributions to the DNC while heading the White House Office of Public Liaison and that she had sought to benefit a company in which she had a financial interest. Reno's request came as a result of a DOJ investigation prompted in Jan. 1998 when Laurent Yene, a Cameroon businessman residing in the U.S., said he gave Herman money in exchange for favors for his clients, including help in obtaining a FCC license. In applying for appointment of an independent counsel, Reno said, "While I cannot conclusively determine at this time that Yene's allegations are credible, much of the detail of the story he has told has been corroborated, though none of it clearly inculpates Herman."
Herman from the outset denied the charges, which spanned a period during which she served as White House public liaison, immediately prior to her nomination to the post of labor secretary in late 1996. Herman was deputy chair and chief of staff at the DNC from 1989 to 1991.
The only indictment Lancaster obtained during the course of his investigation was handed down Feb. 16 against Abdul Rahman, a foreign national, for allegedly funneling illegal foreign contributions to the Democratic Party through two U.S. citizens, sisters Vanessa and Caryliss Weaver. It accused Rahman, who was out of the country at the time it was issued, of providing $150,000 in illegal contributions to the Democrats and causing false campaign finance reports to be filed with the FEC regarding an additional $50,000 in contributions.
Vanessa Weaver, a close friend of Herman's, co-owned a company with Yene in which Herman had a financial interest while serving as public liaison. In seeking appointment of the independent counsel, Reno asked for a probe of whether Herman improperly sought to benefit that company. Yene had charged that Herman encouraged Weaver to solicit campaign contributions from her clients and that these contributions were intended to help facilitate favorable resolution of issues the clients had pending before government agencies.
The Weaver's attorney, E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr., said he was specifically
told Apr. 5 by Lancaster that the "situation is the same for the Weavers
as for the secretary." The investigation has been concluded, Barcella said,
and there will be no charges. [BNA 4/6/00]
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