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RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act)

$100 Plus Story

  • On the Mob-controlled waterfront: at the Waterfront Commission's public hearings
     
  • New Independent Investigator Appointed as Former Leader Convicted in The New York Carpenters District Council

    Ace reporter Tom Robbins' Village Voice article (see next page) deftly sums up the sordid history of Michael Forde's corrupt career. While under the influence of cocaine, drugs, and booze, he brazenly avoided ouster as the top officer of the huge Carpenters union until he pled guilty in July 2010. Back in 1998 and again in 2002, Forde was fined for violating the union's job referral rules. Designed to give first priority to out of work members, Federal Judge Charles S. Haight wrote that Forde's conduct "was dishonorable and revealed his personal contempt" for the job referral system.

UDR Story

  • Dual power in the NYC Carpenters Union



    Throughout the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, in all of the United States, there remains one last remnant of union democracy, and that's in the New York City District Council of Carpenters. International President Douglas McCarron would like to eradicate this vestige so that the 22,000- member unit can be forced into the authoritarian mold of unionism he has successfully devised for his union everywhere else. 

  • Resisting attack from the right; fighting the mob
    Facing the most outright attack since President Reagan broke the air traffic controllers association, unions are responding with an unusual display of labor power. Reagan destroyed the union, but he stopped short of challenging the fundamental right of unions to represent workers. The new assault goes further as the anti-union right seeks to end or drastically curb the very principle of collective bargaining itself.
     
  • Court officer's plan to clean up NYC Carpenters
    In December, in his report to the judge on the first six months of his court-appointed stewardship--70 pages loaded with a mountain of explanatory attachments--Review Officer Dennis Walsh makes a convincing case that he will really try to clean up the corruption-ravaged New York City Carpenters District Council. The effort has been a long time in coming. 
     
  • After 20 years, federal prosecutors convince the judge -- Drastic new move vs. NYC Carpenters corruption

    In June, upon application of Federal prosecutors, Judge Charles Haight appointed a new Review Officer to monitor the New York City Carpenters District Council and invested him with sweeping powers in the hope of ridding the union of corruption and restoring democracy.

  • Moving slowly while opportunity knocks at IUOE L. 14

    It was back in July 2008 that the government settled its civil RICO lawsuit against International Union of Operating Engineers Local 14, the 1,600-member union of heavy construction equipment and crane operators in New York City. The government charged that Local 14 had been dominated by organized crime; the consent decree that settled the case provides for two court-appointed monitors armed with wide-ranging powers to eradicate corruption, establish a fair job referral system, require fair elections, and promote union democracy.

  • A formidable force for reform in the ILA

    The International Longshoremen's Association is definitely evolving, but into what? This is one of the four unions that, over the years, had been cited in government investigatory reports as most heavily infiltrated by organized crime: the scene of payoffs and murder so graphically portrayed in On the Waterfront. It is still the object of a stalled federal RICO suit. But things are happening that could never have happened before.

  • Action and inaction in the Operating Engineers

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    Think of a town that's plagued by deaths, arson, and robberies, and yet the mayor and police don't seem to have the time or inclination to do anything about it because they are preoccupied by a campaign to stop residents from cluttering up the streets by passing out unauthorized handbills. That act of imagination could prepare you for these events in the International Union of Operating Engineers:

    Local 150: Take the 22,000-member Local 150 which represents operators of heavy construction equipment in Illinois, Iowa, and Indiana.

  • Can the AFL-CIO avoid a RICO suit in ATU L. 1181?

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