On May 5, a federal grand jury returned a six-count indictment against two union officials and a building contractor in an embezzlement scheme against Local 148 of the Novelty and Production Workers Union in Jersey City, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.
The indictment alleges that between 1992 and 2001, Joseph Nardone, Jr., 49, of Bayonne, the Welfare and Pension Fund Administrator for Local 148 and the Local's recently removed President, and Stanley Rothman, 67, a building contractor now residing in Boynton Beach, Fla., conspired with each other and others to embezzle more than $350,000 in welfare and union funds through a multi-faceted fraud scheme. The indictment also charges Peter Hasho, 67, of Long Island, President of Local 713 of the International Brotherhood of Trade Unions, located in Albertson, N.Y.
On May 13, Stephen Arena, former president of Novelty and Production Workers Local 148, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the State of New Jersey to six months in prison and six months of home confinement for embezzling funds from the Jersey City local. He and the union's former secretary-treasurer, David Caivano, had been arrested and indicted in October 2010 for stealing a combined more than $375,000 during July 2005-March 2010. Arena pleaded guilty in May 2012. He already has made full restitution in the amount of $193,000, though the court ordered him to pay a $5,000 fine on top of that. As for Caivano, he pleaded guilty this January and was sentenced in March. The actions follow a probe by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Inspector General and Office of Labor-Management Standards.
On March 21, David Caivano, former secretary-treasurer of International Union of Allied Novelty and Production Workers Local 148, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the State of New Jersey to three years of probation for receiving unauthorized loans from the Jersey City-based union. He pleaded guilty in January. Caivano, along with former Local 148 President Stephen Arena, had been arrested and indicted in September 2010 for embezzling a combined more than $375,000 over nearly a half-decade. In addition to serving his sentence, Caivano must make restitution in the amount of $110,000. The actions follow an investigation by the Labor Department's Office of Inspector General and Office of Labor-Management Standards.
Stephen Arena and David Caivano made sure nobody would look while they looted their union's general and benefit funds. In the end, federal prosecutors are doing the looking. On Tuesday, September 21, Arena and Caivano, respectively, president and secretary-treasurer of Local 148 of the International Union of Allied Novelty and Production Workers, 
