New Carpenters Local 608 head Martin Devereaux was once convicted of taking bribes

BY Brian Kates

The union official put in charge of the city's troubled carpenters' union was once convicted of taking bribes from mobsters - though he was later acquitted in a retrial.

Martin Devereaux has been named to lead Carpenters Local 608 after it and 10 other unions were put under emergency supervision last week after District Council of Carpenters boss Michael Forde was indicted on federal bribery charges.

Last summer, Devereraux and Forde beat a the rap in a case charging they took bribes from a man linked to the DeCavalcante crime family, the mob that inspired the hit HBO series "The Sopranos."

The two were convicted in that case in 2004, but a Manhattan Supreme Court justice tossed the conviction because some jurors had read news accounts of the case. The pair was acquitted after a second trial in June 2008.

On Wednesday, the feds charged Forde and nine others, including two mob associates, with taking bribes to let contractors cheat workers of wages and benefits.

Devereaux, vice-president of Local 608, was named acting president late Wednesday to replace John Greaney, who is one of the defendants in the federal indictment.

Devereaux has served for years with Greaney as a district council delegate.

The move follows union bylaws, which promote the vice-president to the top slot if the president cannot serve.

The action was approved by Frank Spencer, chief of the eastern district of the International Brotherhood of Carpenters, a spokesman said.

Spencer was brought in by the International Brotherhood to supervise the district council in the wake of Forde's indictment.

Also in the shakeup, District Council president Pete Thomassen was named special assistant to Spencer in running the the tainted organization, the spokesman said.