Hard-Drinking Union Official Admits He's A Racketeer

Hard-Drinking Hayes.

By Jerry Capeci

A hard-drinking carpenters union official followed the lead of his union president and six other corrupt officials last week and pleaded guilty to selling out union workers in a huge labor racketeering scheme that has been run for decades by the Genovese crime family.

Brian Hayes, who allegedly took cash bribes from contractors and cemented his relationship with them “over drinks in Irish pubs” around the city, agreed to a deal that is expected to mean a 30-to-37 month stretch behind bars.

Hayes, 39, an elected official of Local 608, was also a business agent for the District Council of the Carpenters Union that oversees 11 Locals. He is scheduled to be sentenced in December by Manhattan Federal Judge Victor Marrero.

Among the racketeering charges he admitted, was accepting cash bribes from 1998 through 2004 from Turbo Construction, a now-defunct Manhattan firm, whose owner, Terrance Buckley, is one of several government witnesses who were slated to detail their alcohol-fueled corrupt activities over the years.

Hayes also pleaded guilty to obstructing justice by giving false testimony during a civil case stemming from numerous reported violations of a 1994 agreement by District Council officials to clean up their act and end their long-running illicit dealings with the Genovese crime family.

Former District Council President Martin Forde, and ousted Local 608 President John Greaney – a Hayes drinking buddy who was also prepared to testify about their liquor-driven deals – head the list of other union officials who have pleaded guilty in the case.

Joseph (Joe Rudy) Olivieri, a contractor who allegedly served as a liaison between the corrupt union officials and the mob since the 1990s, is the only defendant whose case is still pending. Olivieiri, 56, is scheduled for trial in October on several labor racketeering charges, including perjury, and the taking and giving of illegal payoffs.