Unions & the Mob...

Labor Racketeering defined: the infiltration, domination, and/or use of a union or employee benefit plan for personal benefit by illegal, violent, or fraudulent means. [Source: US Dept. of Labor]

All-too-often, the question is asked: Aren't unions controlled by the mob?

The answer is 'No. Not usually.'

But then a headline like this comes along from the U.S. Justice Department:

Indictment Unsealed Charging Colombo Family Administration Member Theodore Persico and Seven Other Defendants

Along with details [with emphasis throughout] like this:

An eight-count indictment was unsealed this morning in Brooklyn federal court charging eight defendants – Theodore Persico, Jr., Michael Persico, Thomas Petrizzo, Edward Garofalo, Jr.,James Bombino, Louis Romeo, Alicia Dimichelle, and Mike LNU variously with racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, extortion, and embezzlement of union benefit funds. The defendants, who were arrested earlier today, are scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge James M. Orenstein, at the U.S. Courthouse, 225 Cadman Plaza East, Brooklyn, N.Y. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Sandra L. Townes.

[snip]

The indictment also charges Colombo associate Garofalo and his wife, Alicia Dimichelle, with embezzlement from the welfare benefit plan and pension benefit plan funds operated on behalf of union laborers of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 282. As described in the detention memorandum, Garofalo and Dimichelle engaged in a double-breasting scheme in which they used Colombo-controlled non-union shell companies, including DM Equipment, Big R Trucking, T&E Leasing, and Roman Sand and Stone, to circumvent Local 282 collective bargaining agreement union benefit contribution requirements.

The indictment is the latest in the U.S. Attorney Office's on-going efforts to dismantle the Colombo family. Those efforts have led in recent years to indictments and convictions of numerous members of the highest echelons of the crime family, including the 2007 conviction of former Colombo acting boss Alphonse Persico, Jr. and former Colombo administration member John DeRoss on murder in-aid-of racketeering and witness tampering charges, the 2008 conviction of Colombo captain Joseph Baudanza and others on stock fraud charges, and the 2009 indictment of former Colombo street boss Thomas Gioeli and other Colombo captains, soldiers, and associates on numerous racketeering-related murder charges and other crimes of violence.

"La Cosa Nostra continues to profit illegally in numerous sectors of our economy, allegedly including the World Trade Center construction site," stated U.S. Attorney Campbell. "Our Office is dedicated to eliminating these crime families, which take a significant economic toll." U.S. Attorney Campbell praised the outstanding investigative efforts by Special Agents of the FBI and DOL/OIG.

FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Demarest stated, "This case illustrates yet again that the mob's aim is to make money, and the means is almost always violence or the threat of violence. Historically, the FBI referred to the economic impact of mob schemes as 'the mob tax.' Our goal continues to be elimination of the mob tax." 

DOL/OIG Special Agent-in-Charge Franzman stated, "Today's RICO indictment represents a significant milestone in our efforts to eliminate the far reaching extortionate control of demolition trucking companies in New York City by the Colomboorganized crime family. Through their actions, two of the defendants allegedly caused the theft of International Brotherhood of Teamsters LU 282 employee benefit plan assets, directly impacting the welfare and retirement benefits of many union members. We are committed to working with our law enforcement partners to combat this type of labor racketeering."

Aren't unions controlled by the mob?  Well, sometimes...maybe.

SEIU Sends Investigators to another SoCal local

The Purple People Eating union, otherwise known as the Service Employee International Union, after suffering a crushing defeat last week at the hands of the NUHW (a new union formed by disgruntled SEIU activists), has sent investigators to investigate one of its locals in San Diego.

From the San Diego Union-Tribune:

International leaders of the union representing thousands of county government workers have arrived in San Diego to help sort out a dispute over management of the local group.


Andrew Stern, the international president of Service Employees International Union, appointed two personal representatives to investigate whether the local chapter wrongly paid former president Sharon-Frances Moore a six-figure severance and hired her as a consultant.


Local union officials said they welcome the investigation and help finding a new president. Moore cited personal reasons in resigning this month as president of SEIU Local 221.


Last week, the local’s executive board named three members to manage the union on a day-to-day basis until a successor can be named, but some union members complained that the action violated the organization’s rules.


In a Jan. 22 letter to local union officials from his Washington, D.C., headquarters, Stern said he was looking into the complaints and advised them to withhold any payments to Moore.


“I have directed my representatives to report to me within 30 days on the situation in Local 221,” he wrote. “In the meantime, I counsel the Local 221 officers and executive board not to execute or implement the challenged payments or contract at this time.”


Local 221 spokeswoman Melinda Battenberg said decisions regarding the severance and consulting agreement are internal union business that she cannot discuss publicly.


Specifically, rank-and-file members complained about a $107,000 severance package awarded to Moore and objected that she will keep working for the union as a consultant. Several people wrote to Stern to demand an investigation.

Read the rest here:

For more on the SEIU, go here, here, here and here.

We're pre-emptively tagging this for the Union Corruption Corner (just in case).

Another Union Boss Charged With Having Sticky Fingers

Sid Mannetti, former president of AFGE Local 1170 stole about $50,000, according to the Feds.

Federal prosecutors have charged a former Seattle union official with one count of embezzlement.

They say Sid Mannetti took more than $50,000 while he was president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1170 from 2006 to 2008. The union represents about 140 workers at Pacific Medical Centers in the Seattle area.

Charging papers filed in U.S. District Court on Monday say he used the union's credit card and bank account to pay for personal expenses.

Neither the local nor Mannetti's attorney, Dennis Carroll, immediately returned calls seeking comment.

For more on union indictments go here.

The Largest Union Theft in History

In yet another story for the Union Corruption Corner, the NYC Sandhogs, members of the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA) are missing $42 million from their union pensions.  Yet, the mainstream media (MSM) has barely covered this story and its side story of how vulnerable union pensions are to corruption.

As reported on David Horowtiz's NewsReal:

While the mainstream media swarmed all over Bernie Madoff, AIG and corporate billionaires, the gentlemen of the press, who are so proud of fighting for the Little Guy, were mostly out to an expense-account lunch when Melissa King allegedly made off with $42 million rightfully belonging to members of the Laborers International Union of North American (LIUNA).

In what is being called the largest union embezzlement in American history, the LIUNA Local 147 (New York) office administration was apparently unsatisfied with her meager $500,000 a year paycheck.

While the claim of queen-sized Ms. King's alleged theft of $42 million is debatable (how much did mob bosses get in "loans" from union bosses?), we'll go with it.

Union Boss Steals Money, Wins Lottery...Then Goes to Jail

A union boss steals money from his union, wins the lottery, then goes to jail...

A federal judge in Cedar Rapids has handed down a 21-month prison sentence to a man who embezzled more than $52,000 from a labor union and later won $30,000 in the Iowa State Lottery.

In passing sentence Friday U.S. District Court Chief Judge Linda Reade also ordered 40-year-old Thomas Jon Witham of Mason City to reimburse the union.

Witham pleaded guilty in September to one count of embezzlement from a labor union.

Prosecutors say the embezzlement occurred between 2002 and 2008, and noted that Witham did not attempt to repay any of the money even after he won the lottery.

Tough luck, Tom, you've made it to the Union Corruption Corner

Another Union Boss Busted for Embezzlement

According to the Associated Press, another union boss has been busted for embezzling from his union.

The former head of a union representing mailroom employees of New York-based newspapers has been charged with embezzling more than $200,000.

Wayne Mitchell was expected to surrender Friday to federal authorities in Manhattan.

Court papers accused Mitchell of embezzling the money from the Communication Workers of America Union, otherwise known as New York Mailers Union No. 6, from 2004 to 2008. The union represents mailroom employees of The New York Times, the New York Post and the Daily News, among others.

The New York Post adds:

In the complaint against Mitchell, authorities said the union boss admitted to Department of Labor investigators that he received $250,000 in unauthorized payroll checks between Oct. 1, 2004, and May 30, 2008, and that he "embezzled additional union monies by falsely claiming personal expenses as union-related bills."

Another case for the Union Corruption Corner.