Copyright 1993 Newsday, Inc.  
Newsday (New York)
January 8, 1993, Friday, CITY EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 33
Other Edition: Nassau and Suffolk Pg. 21

LENGTH: 268 words

HEADLINE: Ex-Union Boss Guilty;
Faces up to 20 years on $ 27M rackets count

BYLINE: By Kenneth C. Crowe. STAFF WRITER

BODY:
The ex-president of the New York Mason Tenders District Council yesterday pleaded guilty to a labor racketeering charge accusing him of helping mob associates to loot $ 27 million from the construction union's pension fund.

Frank Lupo, who wasn't scheduled to go to trial until Sept. 23, made the surprise guilty plea before U.S. District Court Judge John E. Sprizzo yesterday afternoon in Manhattan.

The scheme to fleece the pension fund, the biggest ripoff of a union fund in a single deal, according to federal authorities, was uncovered by a New York Newsday investigation in July, 1991, after union sources complained that the pension fund was buying real estate in Manhattan and Brooklyn at inflated prices.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Orin S. Snyder said in court yesterday that Lupo refused to cooperate with the authorities as part of his deal to plead guilty to a single racketeering conspiracy count, instead of facing trial on the 34 charges in the original indictment.

Jeffrey Hoffman, a partner in the law firm representing Lupo, said, "It is not a cooperation deal. Absolutely 100 percent no cooperation." Hoffman said that Lupo is expected to get somewhat less than the 20-year maximum penalty the charge carries when he is sentenced in March. He also will be spared the civil forfeiture provisions of the law - meaning he will not face the potential loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars in real estate and union salaries and benefits.

Lupo, 45, of Massapequa, L.I., quit as the $ 391,000-a-year president of the district council at the time of his indictment in September.