Carpenters' Union Leader and 9 Others Indicted
Michael Forde, the executive secretary-treasurer of the New York District Council of Carpenters and Joiners of America, and nine other union officials and contractors have been indicted on racketeering, bribery, fraud and perjury charges:
The 29-count indictment was unsealed in Federal District Court in Manhattan hours after a predawn roundup in which many of the officials were arrested on their way to work. It charges that in exchange for bribes valued at about $1 million, they helped corrupt contractors steal millions of dollars more from the union and its benefit funds by allowing contractors to pay members cash wages below union scale without benefits, hire illegal aliens and nonunion workers and skip contributions to the union's benefit funds.
Among the others indicted is Joseph Oliveri, a benefit funds trustee and executive director of the Association of Wall, Ceiling and Carpentry Industries of New York, and Rashbaum writes:
F.B.I. reports and law enforcement officials say Mr. Oliveri has a long history of ties to the Genovese crime family, the powerful Mafia clan that for generations has held sway over the union. But while the indictment makes only passing mention of another Genovese family figure, it does not charge that organized crime wielded any influence over the district council. But several law enforcement officials said the investigation was continuing.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/05/carpenters-union-head-and-9-others-charged-in-corruption-scheme/?hp
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