Joseph Foy

Former NYC Operating Engineers Business Agent Sentenced in Construction Scam

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Fri, 02/26/2010 - 14:07

Until seven years ago, Locals 14 and 15 of the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) had been virtually synonymous with organized crime. Union bosses, working in tandem with the Genovese and Colombo crime families, diverted millions of dollars in labor payments associated with major New York City-area construction projects into their own pockets. Now another participant in that racket has had a date with justice. On January 29, Joseph "Joey" Coriasco, a former IUOE Local 14 business agent, was sentenced to three years probation in Brooklyn federal court for his role in facilitating unlawful labor payments and mail fraud.

Brooklyn, N.Y. Contractor Sentenced for Role in Building Cost Overrun Scheme

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Wed, 04/22/2009 - 18:52

The massive scandal surrounding the renovation of New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) headquarters in Lower Manhattan continues to reverberate. The latest casualty in this union-connected ghost-worker and money-laundering scam is Constantine Vafias, 70, a Brooklyn-based construction contractor. On April 7, Vafias was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York to three years probation and ordered to pay $1 million in restitution and $100,000 in forfeiture. Those sums, substantial as they are, represent only a fraction of the total funds siphoned off into the pockets of the lead contractor, two major local unions, various shell companies and the Gambino crime family.

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