Roofers (RWAW)

On April 26, Michael Thompson, former business manager of Local 49 of the United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers, was indicted in U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon for entering false information in financial records of the Portland-based union. The indictment follows a probe by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.

When a professional investor renowned for his prowess manages to lose around $50 billion, it’s safe to assume his clients were as moneyed as they were naïve.  And Bernard Madoff always made sure to court the top tier of investors, here and abroad.  Among his trusting institutional victims were Bank Medici of Austria, HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Sterling Equities, Yeshiva University, Mortimer B. Zuckerman Charitable Reminder Trust, and Royal Dutch Shell.  Among prominent individuals burned were Larry King, Richard Spring, Steven Spielberg, Kevin Bacon, Henry Kaufman, Norman Braman and Zsa Zsa Gabor.  Less known perhaps is that organized labor – a good part of it anyway – got taken to the cleaners, too.  Benefit funds of major construction unions in upstate New York, especially in and around Syracuse, suddenly have found their treasuries nearly depleted.  The losses, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars, ought to raise serious doubts about the ability of fiduciaries throughout organized labor to manage assets competently.

On July 28, Darrell Pendergrass, former president of International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 699, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia to one year in prison and three years probation for embezzling union funds.  He also will have to pay $70,336 in restitution plus any back taxes.  Pendergrass previously made restitution in the amount of $53,000.  He pleaded guilty in April to embezzlement and tax evasion.  The sentencing follows a joint investigation by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards and the IRS.  (OLMS, 8/18/08).    

North Carolina Office Manager Indicted for Embezzlement

Anthony “Tony Muscles” Guardino was a pretty imposing fellow.  But when it came to New York’s Genovese crime family, not to mention the opposite sex, he more than met his match.  The boss of New York City’s Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers Local 8 was sentenced on February 6 in Manhattan State Supreme Court, following his conviction by jury trial in December.  He was handed prison terms ranging from 28 months to seven years for most of his dozen convictions.  Over an 18-month period, Guardino ran a labor “protection” racket on behalf of the Genovese family at various construction sites, shaking down contractors for more than $2 million.  Testimony at the trial provided a close look at the Mafia, in love and in war.