Union Corruption Update

Since 1997, NLPC has become a high-profile and credible source for information about America’s labor unions through our publication Union Corruption Update.

The newsletter has been referenced in many other media outlets including the New York Times, Chicago Tribune and National Journal.

NW Indiana Iron Workers Bosses Plead Guilty to Assaults

Posted on by Carl Horowitz

Thomas Williamson Sr. and Jeffrey Veach had a traditional, “old school” approach to putting union workers on the payroll. That approach may win them a stiff prison sentence. On January 24, Williamson and Veach, respectively, member and president of the Portage, Ind.-based International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers Local 395, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana to one count of extortion conspiracy related to violent physical assaults committed four years earlier against nonunion workers at a construction site in Dyer, Ind. The pair had been arrested and charged in August 2018 following an investigation by the FBI, the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Inspector General and the Dyer Police Department.

Union Corruption Update described this organized thuggery and its context several days after the arrests. Back on January 6, 2016, Local 395 member Thomas Williamson paid a visit to the … Read More ➡

Treasurer of Painters Local in Ohio Pleads Guilty to Embezzlement

Posted on by Carl Horowitz

On January 23, Shannon Pemberton, former treasurer of International Union of Painters and Allied Trades Local 238, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky to one count of embezzling $6,403 in funds from the Cincinnati union. The alleged offenses occurred in neighboring Kentucky. He had been indicted in October. The actions follow a probe by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.… Read More ➡

Indiana AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer Pleads Guilty; Sentenced

Posted on by Carl Horowitz

On January 14, Eleanor Harvey, former secretary-treasurer of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3826, pleaded guilty in Marion County, Indiana Superior Court to one count of theft of union funds in an amount of between $750 and $50,000. She then was sentenced to a year of home confinement (suspended) and a year of probation, and was ordered to pay $18,800 in restitution and attend an anti-conversion class. Harvey had been charged last August following a joint investigation by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards and the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office.… Read More ➡

Insurance Executive in New Jersey Sentenced for Role in $6.6M Scam

Posted on by Carl Horowitz

Lawrence Ackerman isn’t going to spend too much time behind bars, but his business career deservedly is over. On January 15, Ackerman, founder of two fake health insurance brokerages, was sentenced in Trenton, N.J. federal court to six months in prison and six months of home confinement for his role in a $6.6 million fraud scheme. He also was ordered to pay $1 million in restitution to the welfare fund of United Auto Workers Local 2326, now based in South River, N.J. Ackerman had pleaded guilty in December 2018 after being indicted in January 2017. His partner in crime, former union president Sergio Acosta, was sentenced a little over a year ago to three years of home confinement, and ordered to pay $32,000. The actions follow a probe by the Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards, Office of Inspector General and Employee Benefits Security Administration.

Lawrence Ackerman, now 55, a … Read More ➡

Top Ten Union Corruption Stories of the Year

Posted on by Carl Horowitz

Perhaps more than usual, corruption stories in 2019 involved the overlapping worlds of unions and politics. In Chicago, former Teamster boss John T. Coli Sr., whose ability to cut deals with City Hall and the Illinois legislature for years went virtually unchallenged, pleaded guilty in July to shaking down a television studio owner. One of his allies, State Senator Tom Cullerton, was hit with multiple embezzlement charges. In Boston, two city officials were convicted of putting the squeeze on a concert promoter on behalf of a Theatrical Employees local. In Philadelphia, an Electrical Workers business manager and seven other persons, including a city councilman, were indicted in January for embezzlement, wire fraud and bribery; a contractor and a fundraiser subsequently pleaded guilty.

The overlap of union and government interests was especially marked in the public sector. Unions, still smarting from the Supreme Court’s Janus ruling in 2018, … Read More ➡

Feds Cite Former UAW Presidents for Racketeering; File New Charges against Ex-Regional Boss

Posted on by Carl Horowitz

It’s official: The United Auto Workers has been declared a racket. On January 6, recently departed UAW President Gary Jones (in photo) and his immediate predecessor, Dennis Williams, were cited, albeit under assumed names, in Detroit federal court as participants in a racketeering enterprise. The designation was part of a new charge against Vance Pearson, former director of a major regional affiliate and a member of the union’s international executive board, of embezzlement conspiracy. U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider had been hinting at such action these last few months. Jones had resigned his post under pressure in November. The actions follow a joint probe by the FBI, the IRS and the Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards and Office of Inspector General.

Union Corruption Update more than once has covered this scandal, the details of which provide a hard look into how the Detroit-based union, with around 400,000 active members, … Read More ➡

Genovese Mobster Sentenced for Brooklyn UFCW Racketeering, Another Convicted

Posted on by Carl Horowitz

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 ➡

UAW Official in Ohio Indicted for Embezzlement

Posted on by Carl Horowitz

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.… Read More ➡

NYC-Area Longshoremen President Pleads Guilty to Extracting Bribes

Posted on by Carl Horowitz

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 pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court two days earlier to demanding and accepting about $150,000 in bribes over several years from a representative of an employer in exchange for the union backing away from filing arbitration complaints against the company. He had been arrested and charged in July. As part of the plea deal, Blicht must forfeit $150,000 and pay restitution. He faces up to five years in prison. The employer representative already had pleaded guilty. The actions follow a joint probe by the FBI, the IRS and U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Inspector General and Employee Benefits Security Administration.

Union Corruption Update had reported on this story last summer. Glenn … Read More ➡

Civilian Technicians Secretary-Treasurer in Maryland Pleads Guilty; Sentenced

Posted on by Carl Horowitz

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.… Read More ➡