UNION CHIEF RETIRES, REPLACED BY HIS SON
Tuesday, February 14, 1989
From Herald Staff and Wire Reports
The second-ranking official of the Laborers
International Union of North America, identified by a presidential commission as having
close ties to organized crime, retired Monday and was replaced by his son.
Arthur E. Coia, the union's secretary treasurer, announced his
retirement at the union's annual Executive Council session at Bal Harbour. Arthur A. Coia,
regional manager for the Laborers in New England and eastern Canada, was immediately
tapped to succeed his father.
Both men were mentioned in the 1986 report of the
President's Commission on Organized Crime, which said the union had
"clear ties to organized crime."
The elder Coia, 75, once was indicted on racketeering charges for allegedly accepting payoffs in return for steering union insurance business to selected companies. But the case was dismissed because the charges were filed after the statute of limitations had expired