New York City’s Genovese crime family is traveling a little lighter these days. And members of United Food and Commercial Workers Locals 1D and 2D are sleeping a little more easily. On November 15, Steven Arena, a longtime Genovese soldier, was sentenced in Manhattan federal court to one year in prison and three years of supervised release for his role in racketeering conspiracies involving two now-convicted Brooklyn UFCW officials, Frank Cognetta and Vincent D’Acunto. A few weeks later, on December 4, another Genovese made man, Frank Giovinco, was convicted by a trial jury in the same court of racketeering conspiracy related to the locals. These four persons along with another Genovese wiseguy, Vincent Esposito, had been indicted in January 2018 following a probe by the FBI, the Labor Department and the NYPD.
Union Corruption Update has covered this saga several times since the indictments of two years ago. United … Read More ➡
On January 8, Douglas Dye, former unit chairman of United Auto Workers Local 12, was charged in U.S. District for the Northern District of Ohio with one count of embezzling assets from the Toledo-based union in the sum of $8,443 and one count of falsifying union records to conceal the thefts. Prosecutors allege that during June 2013-April 2016, Dye, a union electrician, received more than 50 voucher payments from the local representing unauthorized lost work time. The indictment follows an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.… 
Glenn Blicht sold out his union for a price. Now he’s on the verge of paying a different kind of price. On October 16, Justice Department officials announced that Blicht, former president of International Longshoremen’s Association Local 164, had 
On December 11, John Scarcella, former secretary-treasurer of Association of Civilian Technicians Local 125, pleaded guilty in the Circuit Court of Baltimore County, Maryland to theft of $28,010 in funds from the Middle River, Md.-based union. He then was sentenced to 18 months in jail (suspended) and three years of unsupervised probation, and was ordered to pay the remaining restitution of $22,760. Scarcella had been charged in May following an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.… 
An employer’s email system is as much private property as its computer equipment or real estate. The National Labor Relations Board once again, if belatedly, has affirmed this fact. On December 16, the board in Caesars Entertainment 
On December 5, Audonus Duplessis, former president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 2463, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to 12 months and one day in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised probation and 300 hours of community service, for transporting $11,300 worth of stolen funds from the Washington, D.C. union to a Virginia location for the purpose of buying a car. The total sum stolen, however, was in excess of $80,000. AFGE Local 2463 represents employees at the Smithsonian Institution. Duplessis had pleaded guilty last October after being indicted in June. The actions follow a probe by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.… 
On December 5, Angel Luis Garcia, former financial secretary of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1614, was charged in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey with one count of embezzlement of $117,000 in funds from the Dover (Morris County), N.J.-based union. The charge follows a probe by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.… 
John Ulrich might have called it payola, but prosecutors called it bribery. And evidence indicates they were right. On December 12, Ulrich, former vice president of the Great Neck (Long Island), N.Y.-based International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 812 and a trustee of its health plan, 
On December 3, Andretta Davis, former office secretary for Operative Plasterers and Cement Masons International Association Local 148, was charged in Fulton County Superior Court for the State of Georgia with one count of theft and three counts of forgery from the Atlanta-based union. The charges follow an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.
On November 26, Jessica Pangburn, former office manager for International Union of Operating Engineers Local 953, waived an indictment and pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico to one count of wire fraud against the Albuquerque union. The plea follows a probe by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.…