Labor Racketeering
The FBI defines "labor
racketeering" as the domination, manipulation, and control of a labor
movement which affects related businesses and industries. This domination
may result in the denial of workers' rights and sometimes inflicts economic
loss on the worker, business, industry, insurer, or consumer.
The historical involvement
of the La Cosa Nostra (LCN) in Labor Racketeering has been thoroughly documented.
More than one-third of the 58 LCN members arrested in 1957 at the Apalachin
conference listed their employment as "labor" or "labor-management
relations." Three major United States Senate investigations have documented
LCN involvement in Labor Racketeering. One of these, the McClellan Committee,
in the late-1950s found systemic racketeering in both the International Brotherhood
of Teamsters (Teamsters) and the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees
International Union (HEREIU). In 1986, the President's Council on Organized
Crime reported that the Independent Laborers Association (ILA), the Teamsters,
HEREIU, and the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA) were
dominated by organized crime. In the early-1980s, former Gambino Family Boss
Paul Castellano was overheard saying, "Our job is to run the unions." Labor
Racketeering has become one of the LCN's fundamental sources of profit, national
power, and influence.
FBI investigations over
the years have clearly demonstrated that labor racketeering costs the American
public millions of dollars each year through increased labor costs that are
eventually passed on to consumers. These investigations have shown that labor
racketeers attempt to control of health, welfare and pension plans by offering "sweetheart" contracts,
peaceful labor relations, and relaxed work rules to companies, or by rigging
union elections. These funds represent an enormous opportunity for labor
racketeers. There are approximately 75,000 union locals in the United States
and many of these locals maintain more than one benefit fund. For example,
in the mid-1980s, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters controlled more
than 1,000 funds, with total assets of more than nine billion dollars.
FBI investigations of
labor law violations occur primarily in cities that traditionally possess
a strong industrial base and strong labor unions, e.g., New York, Buffalo,
Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia. This is due to the increased
opportunities for organized crime to infiltrate unions, and the large presence
of organized crime figures in these areas.
The FBI utilizes all
of its investigative techniques to investigate labor law violations. We continue
to gather evidence of labor violations through electronic surveillance, undercover
operations, confidential sources, and victim interviews. Also, in addition
to the criminal provisions of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization
(RICO) Statute, the FBI utilizes various other criminal labor statutes and
the civil provisions of the RICO statute to combat Labor Racketeering.
The civil provisions
of the RICO statute have proven to be very powerful weapons against LCN involvement
in labor unions. Consent decrees under these provisions are often more productive
because they attack the entire corrupt entity instead of imprisoning individuals
who can easily be replaced with other organized crime members or associates.
This is most effective when there is long-term, systemic corruption at virtually
every level of a labor union by criminal organizations. A civil RICO complaint
and subsequent consent decree can restore democracy to a corrupt union by
imposing civil remedies designed to eliminate such corruption and deter its
re-emergence.
The best example of the
efficiency of the civil RICO process is found in the case of the International
Brotherhood of Teamsters, which, for the past several decades, has been substantially
controlled by the LCN. Four of the past eight Teamster presidents have been
criminally indicted. However, the historic LCN control persisted. With the
initiation of the "Liberatus" Teamsters civil RICO case in 1988,
the civil process has been largely successful at removing the extensive LCN
influence from this 1.4 million member union.
The FBI works closely
with the Department of Labor, Office of Labor Racketeering and with the U.S.
Attorney's offices in investigating violations of labor law.