Feds sue Longshoremen's union, alleging mob rule

BY ANTHONY M. DESTEFANO
STAFF WRITER

July 7, 2005

Federal officials filed a massive civil racketeering lawsuit against the International Longshoremen's Association Wednesday aimed at taking back the union and the docks from the grip of organized crime.

In an 83-page complaint filed in federal court in Brooklyn, the government sued the union, scores of its officials and a number of reputed organized crime figures in an effort to unlock the organization, which represents 45,000 dock workers around the country, from the influence and control of the mob.

Among those sued were union president John Bower, secretary-treasurer Robert E. Gleason, and dozens of others involved in the union and its health and welfare funds. One employer association and various International Longshoremen's Association benefit funds also were named as defendants.

The lawsuit is seeking the appointment of a trustee, which is a common tactic in civil racketeering cases brought against other unions, including locals of the longshoremen's union. It also seeks court orders barring certain union officials and mobsters from involvement in the labor organization.

Allegations that the mob has been in the thick of the waterfront have been around for decades, and they became part of popular culture since the 1950s film "On the Waterfront," starring Marlon Brando. To highlight the real-life mob connections alleged with the union, the complaint lists three reputed Gambino crime family members as defendants: former boss Peter Gotti and captains Jerome Brancato and Anthony Ciccone. All three men were convicted in 2003 on racketeering charges that alleged the Gambino family held sway over the docks.

Several other men with reputed mob ties were also named co-conspirators in the complaint but not sued. They are imprisoned Genovese crime boss Vincent "The Chin" Gigante and reputed acting crime family boss Ernest Muscarella, as well as Gigante's son Andrew.

The complaint contains a litany of criminal cases that involved allegations of Gambino and Genovese crime family control over the affairs of the longshoremen. In the recent case of Gotti, the brother of the late mob boss John Gotti, prosecutors introduced evidence that some of the defendants schemed with union officials to get a contract for a pharmacy company controlled by a mob associate. There was also evidence that Gotti, Ciccone and Brancato laundered money from waterfront rackets, the complaint stated.

According to court records, federal prosecutors are currently pursuing criminal cases against three union officials -- Albert Cernadas, Harold J. Daggett and Arthur Coffey -- as well as reputed Genovese crime family captain Lawrence Ricci for extortion and fraud conspiracies. Cernadas, Daggett and Coffey are also named as defendants in the civil racketeering lawsuit.

International Longshoremen's Association officials could not be reached for comment late Wednesday.

Wednesday's court filings disclosed that Bowers makes $413,556 a year in compensation and Gleason $383,012.