May 4, 2005

LIUNA GEB Attorney Robert Luskin

AUSA David Buvinger, Northern Illinois

 

Dear Bob:

Here is a letter I wrote to the Star Newspaper and my formal request that Robert Chianelli be charged by your office for violating the EDP and LIUNA's Ethics Code as well as ERISA fraud..

While I am confident that organized crime no longer has any direct influence in Laborers Local 2 (Matasssa's former local and Caravetta's local) (Healy doesn't influence the affairs of Local 2 directly but indirectly) or in Local 5 (Pilotto, Zeuberis, DiForti, Guzzino, Palermo, Tocco etc ), I believe that organized crime will attempt to regain control of Laborers 1001, Streets & Sanitation via Bruno Caruso's puppet, Robert Chianelli, former recording secretary removed from office via trusteeship and appointed business agent by negligent Trustee Steve Hammond, thereby assuring his eventual election as business manager in Local 1001's premature June 2005 election. Robert Chianelli received multiple statements from the Chicago Laborers Pension fund that stated his employer, Laborers local 1001,  made contributions for hours worked  that Chianelli knew he did not work. He aided and abetted a fraud upon the pension fund, depriving legitimate participants of future higher pensions by unfairly diluting the pension's assets. I want Robert Chianelli brought up on charges by the GEB Attorney . Please consider this email a formal request to the GEB attorney to bring charges against Chianelli for pension fraud, welfare fund fraud, and for associating with organized crime and promoting its interest in local 1001 by adamantly refusing to believe or even evaluate my allegations in 1996 that Bruno Caruso was a LCN associate . Chianelli was Caruso's campaign manager, answered the phone whenever I called Caruso in 1996, 1001's web master, and the husband of local 1001 clerical employee , Debbie Chianelli. Chianelli replaced Caruso when he was removed from office. Both he and his wife got jobs at 1001, making him extremely special. The trusteeship complaint alleged that Chianelli was an associate of the Elmwood Park Crew and a friend of Bobby Garrippo. I believe  new DOJ informants will confirm that allegation.

 

Jim McGough, Director
Laborers for JUSTICE
2615 W Peterson Av.
Chicago, Il 60659
773-878-1002 (tel)
773-409-1503 (fax)

Union no longer mob-controlled http://www.starnewspapers.com/star/spedit/let/012-ltr1.htm

Sunday, May 1, 2005

I am not writing to ask you to merely correct the misspelling of my name as it appeared in your recent article on the death of mobster Dominick "Tootsie Babe" Palermo. Sometimes it is better to have one's name misspelled in newspaper articles that are now available via full text search engines.

The mistaken impression, however, that one might have that the internal reform process undertaken by the Laborers International Union of North America to reform mob controlled local unions failed in the case of Chicago Heights Laborers Local 5 deserves addressing.

Sure, organized crime — La Cosa Nostra — once strongly controlled and influenced locals like Local 5 . The self-reform process under Department of Justice monitorship has eliminated, as best I can tell, any organized crime influence or corrupt practices from both Laborers Local 5, my old local, and from Laborers Local 2, my current local. Were it otherwise, I would complain loudly to the Justice or Labor departments, and anyone else that could help me eliminate it.

Local 5 agreed to voluntary supervision in 1998 and the supervisor, Joe Romano, and his assistant, Ed Sadlowski, did a tremendous job in educating the members about democratic unions and the need to adhere to the highest ethical standards in representing union members. As the director of Laborers for Justice, a reform group of members of the Laborers Union, I can state with confidence that Laborers Local 5 and Laborers Local 2 are no longer influenced or controlled by organized crime, have been reformed by internal union reform procedures, and are now democratically run, and that other unions should emulate the practices and procedures employed by both laborers locals to be fair, honest and democratic in representing their members.

I maintain a site on organized crime in Chicagoland, www.ipsn.org and the Laborers Network at www.thelaborers.net where I report corruption in labor unions and the methods used to eliminate it. Laborers Local 5 and Laborers Local 2 are two examples of reformed, democratically run unions.

I am working on eliminating corruption in other unions now that the LIUNA reform process seems to work. We will, however, remain eternally vigilant and report any corruption we detect; such is the price of liberty.

Jim McGough, director, Laborers for Justice

Laborers for JUSTICE© 1997-2005 All Rights reserved. Not for republication on the internet without permission. 
Jim McGough, Director
6304 N Francisco Av.
Chicago, Il 60659
773-878-1002 (tel)
773-409-1503 (eFax number)
laborers@comcast.net