Wednesday August 5, 2009, federal authorities charged New York carpenters union leader Michael J. Forde, seven other union officials, a contractor, and contractor’s representative with 29 counts of corruption, including racketeering, fraud, bribery, and perjury. According to the charges, bribes were paid out to union leaders to allow contractors around the city to pay cash to workers at below union-rate wages and therefore avoid paying benefits.
The New York District Council of Carpenters and Joiners of America has been here before. In 1990, the union had been infiltrated by organized crime and the federal government came in, cleaned out union leadership, and established monitoring. Yet, here we are again.
Union leader Forde was hailed as a reformer in 2000, after his predecessor was indicted on corruption charges, but his tenure has been plagued by no fewer than two bribery charges-—one ending in an overturned conviction and the other in acquittal. This apparently didn’t set off any alarms for court-appointed and union-paid monitor, William Callahan, who was almost removed in 2007 for a lack of evidence he was actually doing his job—but a federal judge refused to remove him. Fast forward two years.
Last week's slew of charges is the activity the court-appointed corruption monitor is in place to prevent. Clearly the current system of corruption monitoring isn’t working.
Forde and His Team of Cheats, Crooks and Cronies are specifically charged with the following offenses:
Ct | Charge | Defendant(s) | Maximum Penalty |
1 | Racketeering Conspiracy | FORDE, GREANEY, HAYES, O'NEILL, BRENNAN | 20 years in prison; fine of the greater of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense |
2 | Racketeering | FORDE, GREANEY, HAYES, BRENNAN | 20 years in prison; fine of the greater of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense |
3 | Conspiracy (as to Contractor #1) | FORDE, GREANEY, O'NEILL, BRENNAN, OLIVIERI, CARSON, RUOCCO, STAMBERGER, VIVENZIO | 5 years in prison; fine of the greater of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense |
4 | Conspiracy (as to Contractor #2) | FORDE, GREANEY, HAYES | 5 years in prison; fine of the greater of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense |
5 | Conspiracy (as to Contractor #3) | GREANEY, HAYES | 5 years in prison; fine of the greater of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense |
6 | Conspiracy (as to Contractor #4) | GREANEY, HAYES | 5 years in prison; fine of the greater of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense |
7 | Wire Fraud and Deprivation of Honest Services (as to Contractor #1) | FORDE, GREANEY, BRENNAN, O'NEILL, CARSON, RUOCCO, STAMBERGER, VIVENZIO | 20 years in prison; fine of the greater of $1 million or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense |
8 | Wire Fraud and Deprivation of Honest Services (as to Contractor #2) | FORDE, GREANEY, HAYES | 20 years in prison; fine of the greater of $1 million or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense |
9 | Wire Fraud and Deprivation of Honest Services (as to Contractor #3) | GREANEY, HAYES | 20 years in prison; fine of the greater of $1 million or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense |
10 | Wire Fraud and Deprivation of Honest Services (as to Contractor #4) | GREANEY, HAYES | 20 years in prison; fine of $1 million or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense |
11 | Unlawful Acceptance of Payment by Labor Representative | FORDE, O'NEILL | 5 years in prison; fine of $15,000 |
12 | Unlawful Acceptance of Payment by Labor Representative | GREANEY | 5 years in prison; fine of $15,000 |
13 | Unlawful Acceptance of Payment by Labor Representative | GREANEY, HAYES | 5 years in prison; fine of $15,000 |
14 | Unlawful Payments to Labor Representatives | OLIVIERI | 5 years in prison; fine of $15,000 |
15 | Unlawful Acceptance of Payments to Labor Representative | HAYES | 5 years in prison; fine of $15,000 |
16 | Unlawful Acceptance of Payment by Labor Representative | BRENNAN | 5 years in prison; fine of $15,000 |
17 | Unlawful Acceptance of Payment by Labor Representative | VIVENZIO | 5 years in prison; fine of $15,000 |
18 | Unlawful Acceptance of Payment by Labor Representative | CARSON | 5 years in prison; fine of $15,000 |
19 | Unlawful Acceptance of Payment by Labor Representative | STAMBERGER | 5 years in prison; fine of $15,000 |
20 | Unlawful Acceptance of Payment by Labor Representative | RUOCCO | 5 years in prison; fine of $15,000 |
21 | Acceptance of Loan to Influence Operations of Employee Benefit Plan | OLIVIERI | 3 years in prison; fine of the greater of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense |
22 | Perjury | OLIVIERI | 5 years in prison; fine of $250,000 |
23 | Perjury | FORDE | 5 years in prison; fine of $250,000 |
24 | Perjury | GREANEY | 5 years in prison; fine of $250,000 |
25 | Perjury | HAYES | 5 years in prison; fine of $250,000 |
26 | Perjury | BRENNAN | 5 years in prison; fine of $250,000 |
27 | Perjury | CARSON | 5 years in prison; fine of $250,000 |
28 | False Statements | RUOCCO | 5 years in prison; fine of $250,000 |
29 | Obstruction of Justice | BRENNAN | 10 years in prison; fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense |
GREANEY, 49, of Yonkers, New York; HAYES, 38, of New York, New York; OLIVIERI, 54, of Yonkers, New York; CARSON, 49, of the Bronx, New York; RUOCCO, 49, of East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania; STAMBERGER, 52, of Brick, New Jersey; and VIVENZIO, 61, of Mahwah, New Jersey, were arrested this morning. FORDE, 54, of Woodside, New York, is expected to surrender to federal authorities later today. O'NEILL, 44, of Paramus, New Jersey, and BRENNAN, 53, of Bushkill, Pennsylvania; remain at large.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I would ask that if you would like to leave a comment that you think of Local 157 Blogspot as your online meeting hall and that you wouldn’t say anything on this site that you wouldn’t, say at a union meeting. Constructive criticism is welcome, as we all benefit from such advice. Obnoxious comments are not welcome.