National Legal and Policy Center -- Organized Labor Accountability Project
 
UNION CORRUPTION UPDATE
 
April 1, 2002 -- Vol. 5, Issue 7

For Influential Leaders & Important Decision Makers:
Information on America's most corrupt & aggressive unions

 
HOTEL & RESTAURANT EMPLOYEES (HERE)
Buffalo Boss-Widow Pleads Guilty, Repays $144,400
Anna M. Ervolino, ex-vice president of Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Int'l Union Local 4 in Buffalo, pled guilty Mar. 22 to one count of willful and unlawful failing to disclose for a benefit plan annual report a payment to a party in interest. She and her husband, the late Frank Ervolino, ex-local president, were indicted on May 16, 2000, on multiple charges of embezzlement and conspiracy relating to the local, an associated union, and their benefit plans. The indictments alleged that  some $235,000 was stolen.

The indictments came a year after HERE's court-appointed monitor found that the couple embezzled some $491,472 from Local 4 and two other unions by allegedly working half-days, at most, and took a four-month annual vacation in Fla. as well as by other bogus salary, bonus, and loan scams. Frank was also the longtime head of the now defunct AFL-CIO Hospital & Nursing Home Council in Buffalo and the Laundry & Dry Cleaners Int'l Union, based in Pittsburgh. Anna has reportedly paid $144,470.79 in restitution to the plans. Frank died Nov. 2, without ever pleading guilty or facing trial. [DOL 3/22/02; Buffalo News 3/21/99]

Union Corruption Update is made possible by the generous contributions from readers like you. NLPC, PO Box 6821, Falls Church, VA 22040. Thank you.

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 (http://www.nlpc.org).  Also available is a union-by-union and state-by-state index of all Union Corruption Update articles.

If you have story ideas or suggestions for future editions of Union Corruption Update, please email NLPC at nlpc@nlpc.org.  Thank you.

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 union organizations. NLPC is a nonpartisan, nonprofit foundation promoting ethics and accountability in government through research, education and legal action.

Email NLPC

Union Corruption Update Article Index (by Union)

Union Corruption Update Article Index (by State)

Organized Labor Accountability Project

NLPC Home Page