Laborers union
works with feds
to shed mob ties

A civil racketeering lawsuit unsealed by
federal authorities Thursday alleged the
Laborers Union's Chicago District Council
has been dominated for three decades by
the Chicago Outfit and lists a veritable
who's who of mobsters-Tony Accardo,
Joey Aiuppa and Joey Lombardo Sr. among
them--who corrupted the union.

The filing lays out in unusual detail the
roles played by nearly two dozen organized
crime members, their associates and close
relatives who served as officers of the
district council or who supervised some of the
union's $1.5 billion in pension and benefit
funds The council is an umbrella group of
Chicago-area laborers locals, with members
ranging from construction workers to
stonecutters to asbestos removers.

Among the revelations was an allegation
that Fred Roti, a former Chicago alderman
who was convicted of racketeering and
extortion in 1993 is a full-fledged member
for the mob,

On the same day the lawsuit was publicly
unveiled, union and government officials
disclosed they have agreed to settle it under
a consent decree that calls for the appointment
of a court-approved monitor with expanded 
powers to continue the effort to rid the organization 
of mob influence. A federal judge must still 
approve the arrangement

.

Suit filed Wednesday. Delegates voted 34-11 to accept consent decree which allows for elections within 6 months to a year. The same delegates that breached their fiduciary duties will be allowed to run for office without having to face an election in their locals. 85% of delegates elected in uncontested elections. Lazzaretto hasn't had a contested election in 152 in decades. He inherited the "property" from his uncle.

If delegates didn't vote to accept, Bloch would have been fired He told them that another trustee would come in and accept the offer and not ask for a vote. Let us not call that "democratic"

Union is now under the tighter control of organized crime puppet, Arthur Coia, who was acquitted the week earlier of charges of associating with organized crime figure, Raymond Patriarca, jr.

Coia not charged with associating with organized crime figure Dominick LoPreato, Coia's golfing buddy and confidante. Dominic now in prison for offenses Coia's crack investigator(TrainI) acquitted LoPreato of before indictments came down.

Organized crime is very effective in putting its own people in charge of investigations they don't want to see investigated thoroughly.

These delegates will still be allowed to run for office after failing to recognize the obvious.

Members don't get to vote on collective bargaining agreements.- a democratic practice Bloch will not install

Members were never told in one mailing by Bloch of reasons for trusteeship. This is reform?

Luskin as head of the ABA RICO committee should have known that the RICO complaint against the teamsters would last for ten years. Started in 1989, it will go past 2001.

There is a budgetary limitation of $35,000/mo to cover costs of monitor and investigations officer. Both will be paid at least $17,500-leaving no money for mailings to members to keep them informed unless court grants additional money. A lawyer billing $200/hr will bill $32,000/mo for 160 hours. Is the monitor going to be paid less than some trustees?

Not one delegate to the district council admitted knowing organized crime controlled the district council. Not one delegate ever complained to DOL/DOJ.

Most locals do not have contested elections. Most delegates do not know what a contested election is. Lazzaretto ( Coia's point man per Fino) hasn't experienced a contested election in 152

Officers wee removed by trusteeship process not because Bloch removed them. Local members were never told about contract negotiations. 80% did not even know they might go out on strike in 1998

Every prior contract was for three years. Typical.

They had to adopt an ethical code to ward off a RICO suit. See Luskin's explanation in appellate court brief on why EDP adopted.. LIUNA locals are not hiring halls. Members find their own work.

U.S. Atty. Scott Lassar called the agreement
an unprecedented cooperative effort between the 
one of the nation's -largest unions. Delegates 
representing the 21 locals  and 19,000 members 
in the Chicago  district council voted by a
3-1 ratio Wednesday to approve
the consent decree, joining the
Laborers' International Union of
North America and the Justice
Department in the mob-busting
efforts, Lassar said.

Robert Bloch, trustee of the district  council 
and a Chicago labor lawyer, applauded the vote 
and said it showed the district council's 
commitment  to democratic practices."

The announcement came in a conference room in 
the Dirksen Federal Courthouse in the midst
of "an electrical power shutdown"

As a result of the union's long-term ,endemic 
mob influence, officials said the rights of rank-and-file 
union members were  subverted, democratic practices
were ignored,-and charges of  organized crime 
control went uninvestigated.

Since 1995, the Justice Department has been 
overseeing Internal efforts  by the International 
union to ferret out mob power. A year and a half ago, 
as part of that work, the international took over 
control of the  district council. But under federal law ,
that trusteeship could have faced a legal challenge. 
To avoid a possible. legal morass, government and 
union officials agreed to the consent decree to extend
the trusteeship under court authority.

The cleanup of the laborers union has dragged on 
longer than expected, but officials said it is important 
to make sure mob influence  is eradicated from the 
unions leadership.

"When we started this Process five years ago, we 
probably  hoped that we were going to be fighting 
the :Persian Gulf War,  and instead we're fighting 
World War L" said Robert Luskin,  a Washington 
attorney who is overseeing reform efforts within the
 laborers union. "Progress is slow."

"The people who have controlled elements of this 
union for a long time  have not given up and walked 
away without a fight," Luskin told reporters.  But "the 
object here is to guarantee longterm change.

The civil racketeering lawsuit alleges  that reform 
efforts largely have removed  mob influence from 
the district council but, that the. Outfit still controls
  key  positions in several of the union's locals.'

Under the consent decree, the court-appointed 
monitor  would be given expanded  powers to 
investigate mob influence and corruption in  the 
union, including authority  to subpoena records 
and compel testimony from witnesses.

In addition. the FBI would-be able to share  
confidential information about mobsters  and
suspected criminal activities with the monitor.  
Currently, grand Jury secrecy  rules and privacy
prohibitions  bar the FBI from releasing such
sensitive details, officials said.

At hearings held by the laborers union in 1997, 
evidence  clearly established that,  for at least 
30 years leaders of the Chicago district council
had "strong, pervasive ties"  to mob bosses, 
according to the lawsuit

The district council has proven to be a 'safe haven' 
for the employment of organized  crime figures, 
associates and their relatives," the lawsuit said.

Since the mid-1970 not a single contested election 
of officers has been held,  authorities said, and all 
principal officers of the district council have been  
members  or associates of the Chicago Outfit or 
their relatives.

The lawsuit describes in detail the roles of 21 outfit 
members or associates  over the years in the 
affairs of 'the International union and the district 
council

It refers to them as "co-conspirators" and none 
was charged in the suit with criminal activity.

Among them, the lawsuit states, are four alleged 
mobsters who held district council  offices when 
the trusteeship took effect last year: vice president 
John Matassa, Jr.,  reputed boss of the Outfit -North 
Side Crew;. President Bruno Caruso, son of the
late  Frank Caruso, boss of the mob's 26th street crew; secretary,treasurer1 Joseph A. Lombardo jr., son of  
Joseph "The Clown" Lombardo, a former mob street
crew boss; and sergeant-at-arms  Leo Caruso, 
an alleged  mob associate and Caruso's cousin.

Also listed as influential in the  union were Accardo 
and Aiuppa, both longtime bosses  of the Chicago  
Outfit and Lombardo Sr.

In Roti's 1993 trial, Prosecutors had  alleged the 
1st Ward worked closely with Pat Marcy, a  mob 
powerbroker who died before he  could be brought 
to trial. But  no one had accused Roti of being a 
"made" member of  the mob -until  this week In 
the lawsuit

Roti was sentenced to 4 years in prison. He was 
released from  prison in 1997.

According to the lawsuit, Roti was  a key patronage 
boss and a "fixer" for the Chicago Outfit. Roti  
could not be reached Thursday.

It also alleged that John Serpico, a former powerful 
figure in the  laborers union who was indicted  last 
week in federal court on racketeering and fraud 
charges , was a longtime  organized crime associate.

Near the end of his union duties,  Thursday's suit 
alleged, Serpico,  president of Local 8,  "transferred" 
85 percent of the  local's membership to Central  
States  Joint Board, which

Since taking over as trustee of the Chicago district 
council in February 1998, Bloch has removed all 
of the council's former officers, worked closely with 
locals to institute reform policies and, for the first
time with direct participation of all the locals, 
negotiated a 3 year labor contract for the 21 locals, 
authorities said.

The union has adopted an ethics and disciplinary 
code, instituted reforms in how it assigns members 
to work and changed its contracting procedures.

The union has also placed locals in Chicago, Buffalo, 
and New York City under trusteeship, and a number 
of local and international union officers have been hit 
with internal union charges.

We feel the international has made great strides in 
reforming itself," Lassar said.

But the lawyers brought in to help carry out the 
reforms emphasized that the key to success is 
winning the cooperation of the union leadership in 
the effort to rid it of mob influence.

The consent decree is a key step in that direction, 
they said.

In the end you can prosecute as many people 
as you want but that does not change the culture 
of an organization", Bloch said.