Carl Horowitz

Corruption at Local 990 at the United Food and Commercial Workers was a family affair. Last year Barbara Ann Hayes, a bookkeeper for the Greeley, Colo. meatpackers union, pleaded guilty to embezzlement. This past June 20 her brother, Stephen Bush, a former local vice-president, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Denver on 51 counts of embezzling more than $22,000. Their father, ex-local president Ronald Bush, is now the latest casualty.

In a complaint dated June 29, federal prosecutors accused the elder Bush of diverting about $8,000 in union funds toward his own personal use, much of it related to trips to Las Vegas. Bush waived his right to be charged by a federal grand jury, and was released on bond. Local 990 no longer exists, having been disbanded by the national union. Former rank-and-file members now belong to UFCW Local 7, which covers workers at the Swift packing … Read More ➡

The U.S. Department of Labor on June 29 filed a complaint against a pair of firms based in the south suburban Chicago community of Crete, Ill., alleging they had improperly charged fees to the pension and welfare plans of six union locals.  Joseph/Anthony & Associates Inc., a plan administrator, and its president Michael Linder, were named in the suit.  Also charged were Liz/Mar and Associates Inc. and its president, Elizabeth Linder, who also is Michael Linder’s wife.  The government is seeking restitution of an unspecified amount.

 

This isn’t the first time that the male half of this aspiring power couple has been in trouble.  In January 2004 Mr. Linder was indicted by a federal grand jury in Rockford, Ill. for mismanaging the pension plans of two Ironworkers Union locals.  (Daily Southtown, 7/7).      

 

 

Pittsburgh Ex-Secretary Sentenced for Embezzlement

Sonya … Read More ➡

Barbara Bullock, president of the Washington Teachers Union (WTU) from 1994 to 2002, had very expensive tastes.  When it came to silverware, crystal, custom-tailored clothes and other personal items, only the best would do.  The problem is that she siphoned off union funds in order to pay for them, using the local’s American Express card to make $1.2 million in illegal purchases.  In all, she and top aides ripped off about $5 million in funds until their national affiliate, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), removed them from office; FBI raids soon would follow.  Bullock pleaded guilty to embezzlement in October 2003, and the following January received a nine-year prison sentence.

 

Though several other conspirators also had pleaded guilty to participating in the scam, three of her partners in crime insisted on fighting charges.  Bullock, a cooperating witness, now has come back to haunt … Read More ➡

Working in a slaughterhouse was never for the weak of heart.  It’s understandable that people who make a living that way would want to indulge in a few luxuries once in a while.  But Stephen Bush, 43, former vice-president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 990, believed that luxuries could be paid for out of the pockets of unsuspecting dues-paying members.  Now his career as an embezzler is as defunct as the local itself.  Bush was indicted on June 20 by a federal grand jury in Denver on 51 counts of embezzlement following a Department of Labor probe.

 

Labor Department officials for years had been investigating financial irregularities at the local, which at one point represented some 2,800 meat-processing plant workers in Greeley, Colo.  Certain plant employees contacted the department to initiate an investigation.  As it turned out, Bush likely used his union credit card to buy $22,514 … Read More ➡

They still call Joseph Massino “the Last Don.” But the 62-year-old boss of New York’s Bonanno crime family doesn’t have much of an organization to run anymore. Even Casablanca, the three-star restaurant in Queens that he co-owns, is now part of his past. On Thursday, June 23 a federal judge in Brooklyn, N.Y. made certain of that. “As boss of the Bonanno family, I gave the order,” said Massino. He was referring to his order to murder Gerlando Sciacia, a family captain whose body later was found in the Bronx. Massino was convicted for that crime, and for racketeering, last year. He was ordered to pay $10.3 million to the government as proceeds, a figure reduced to $9 million at the June hearing. U.S. District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis handed down two consecutive life sentences.  

This past January Massino had done something unthinkable in Mafia circles; … Read More ➡

United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners Local 1005 has a major problem on its hands: The person who runs it is under indictment. Paul Hernandez, president of the Hobart, Ind.-based local, with more than 1,100 members, was charged in federal court in May with 21 counts of theft and wire fraud. Also indicted was Kenneth Castaldi, of Elkton, Wisc., who ran the local’s apprenticeship program. At issue was the pair’s handling of an Indiana Department of Commerce training grant.

A three-member panel of the international union is set to hold a hearing on July 6 to give rank-and-file members the opportunity to voice their concerns. “We’ve been receiving complaints about (Local) 1005 from members for a long time, and they increased after Paul Hernandez was indicted,” said Tony Mroczkiewicz, the union’s Midwest District representative. Hernandez had taken over the local after Gerry Nannenga was elevated to secretary-treasurer of the Indiana-Kentucky … Read More ➡

On June 8 in U.S. District Court, Julie Messick, former treasurer for Carpenters Local 2001, was sentenced to one year of probation for embezzling union funds.  Back in February Messick had pleaded guilty following an investigation by the Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.  She already has made restitution of nearly $11,800.  (OLMS, 6/28). 

  

California Ex-Secretary Pleads Guilty to Embezzlement  

On June 20, Martha Bautista, former secretary-treasurer for Local Lodge 1528 for the Machinists union, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to embezzling union funds of an amount of more than $5,000 but less than $10,000.  But her real haul was a lot more than what she’d been charged with taking.  On May 6 Bautista had made an initial payment of $50,000 toward the $165,259.27 in restitution due to the union.  (OLMS, 6/28). 

 

Former President of NYC Union … Read More ➡

It was the largest case of pension fraud in U.S. history.  And it played a major part in how one firm in short order managed to lose $350 million, mostly in the form of union investments.  A convicted mastermind of the scheme, Barclay Grayson, now out of prison, is seeking to make amends.  He recently provided a Congressional panel with some practical advice on how to prevent repeat performances.   

 

Grayson was president of a now-defunct Portland, Ore.-based investment group, Capital Consultants LLC.  In testimony June 9 before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, he explained how he and several associates had built their company on an edifice of mail fraud, money laundering, bribery and racketeering.  That Capital Consultants (CCL) managed to operate in this manner for as long as it did, explained Grayson, was due in part to the Department of … Read More ➡