Copyright 1992 The New York Times Company  
The New York Times
  View Related Topics 
September 11, 1992, Friday, Late Edition - Final
SECTION: Section B; Page 1; Column 5; Metropolitan Desk

LENGTH: 638 words

HEADLINE: Five Charged With Looting Pension Fund

BYLINE: By RONALD SULLIVAN

BODY:
Three top officials of a construction union and two reputed members of the Genovese crime family were charged yesterday with turning the union "into a racketeering enterprise" through kickbacks and a fraudulent real-estate deal that looted nearly $20 million from the union's pension fund.

One of the officials, Frank Lupo, the 45-year-old president of the Mason Tenders District Council of Greater New York, was charged with arranging real-estate loans for a reputed mob member, who in turn sold property to the union at inflated prices, said Otto G. Obermaier, the United States Attorney for the Southern District.

The other officials, Carmine Mandragona, the 55-year-old president of Local 13 in Queens, and Vincent Minucci, 56, whose title was not disclosed, took kickbacks from contractors for helping to arrange the placement of nonunion workers at various construction sites, the Federal authorities said. Nonunion workers are usually paid less than union workers.

The three officials were indicted in what the authorities said was the latest in a series of law-enforcement actions against the construction industry and its labor unions, which the Justice Department contends are riddled with Mafia-dominated corruption and labor racketeering.

The officials were charged along with Ron Miceli, 40, and Charles Trentacosta, 32, both of whom were described by the authorities as members of the Genovese crime family.

If convicted, the defendants, all of whom have been arrested and await arraignment, face prison terms ranging from 65 to 90 years and fines of as much as $3 million each.

The indictments say the officials allowed the union's $200 million pension fund to be plundered by the reputed members of the Genovese crime family. The district council, which represents general laborers at construction sites, is affiliated with the Laborers International Union of North America.

Some of the charges centered on Local 13, which prosecutors said has been controlled by organized crime for many years. In 1988, the local's president, Joseph Cervone, was convicted in Brooklyn of union racketeering charges involving kickbacks and embezzlement. But most of the charges centered on the district council and Mr. Lupo, who prosecutors said was appointed the council's president by the Genovese crime family.

One of the indictments gave the following account of the scheme. Mr. Lupo and other reputed crime figures in the union approved a loan of nearly $16 million from the pension fund in 1990 to Mr. Miceli.

He then used part of the loan to buy a 12-story building at 32-36 West 18th Street for $7,450,000. The remainder of the loan was used to buy a 50-foot yacht, luxury cars and numerous businesses. Mr. Miceli eventually sold the building to the union for $24 million.

After the union spent $4.5 million on renovations, the building was appraised at $5 million. Asked how much the union lost, prosecutors said about $19 million but did not provide any details about how they arrived at the figure.
 
Laborers Union May Be Sued

Mr. Obermaier said the indictments represented the seventh time construction unions in New York were charged with racketeering and other crimes since 1990.

He also said civil racketeering complaints had previously been filed against five unions in the crackdown against organized-crime influence in unions.

Donald North, a special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, indicated that the laborers union would soon be the target of a civil racketeering suit, which prosecutors have used to take over corrupt unions.

"We just don't want to come back two years from now with more criminal indictments," Mr. North said.

Mr. Obermaier, the United States Attorney, declined to comment on whether such a suit would be filed against the Mason Tenders union.