HJ be careful if you ever come thorugh Logan Airport in Boston - this mobster is on the BOD that oversees Logan, among other things!!
"In addition, Acting Gov. Jane Swift yesterday called for Cashman to step down from his position of the Massport board of directors or she will take steps to replace him.""
Scheme-ster: Local 25 president, others indicted by feds
by Jack Sullivan and J.M. Lawrence
Friday, January 18, 2002
Teamsters president George W. Cashman, a target of a 2-1/2-year federal labor racketeering probe, was indicted yesterday along with his vice president and three trucking company owners on 179 counts of bribery and embezzlement for trying to defraud the union's health and pension funds.
In addition, a separate indictment charging another Local 25 member with racketeering and extortion connects Cashman with fugitive mob boss James J. ``Whitey'' Bulger and his imprisoned pal Stephen ``The Rifleman'' Flemmi.
Cashman, a confidant of former Govs. William F. Weld and Paul Cellucci, and Local 25 vice president William Carnes of Melrose pleaded not guilty at their arraignment and were both released on $25,000 bond. Cashman, 53, declined comment as he left the building, but his lawyer brushed off the indictments as a ``paper case.''
``This is a paper case,'' said attorney John Pappalardo, a former U.S. attorney. ``There is no violence here and no mention in the indictment of violence. More importantly, no allegation exists in the indictment of any personal monetary gain inuring to Mr. Cashman.''
Prosecutors alleged Cashman and Carnes conspired with brothers Thomas A. DiSilva of Nashua, N.H., and James P. DiSilva of Lexington and their brother-in-law William P. Belanger of Winchester to place 19 people on a list of employees to receive at least $72,000 in benefits despite the fact they did not meet eligibility.
DiSilva Transportation in Somerville and Hutchinson Industries and Manfi Leasing Corp. in Burlington, three DiSilva family-owned companies, were also named in the indictments. Prosecutors allege the companies falsely submitted the 19 names, including at least three DiSilva family members, as union employees and put them in for bogus working hours to give them eligibility.
``This case addresses significant allegations of labor racketeering's impact on hard-working Americans and on the corruption of labor-management relations,'' said Labor Department Inspector General Gordon S. Heddell. ``We intend to vigorously pursue such allegations of corruption throughout the country.''
Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Wyshak said the defendants robbed the fund of benefits belonging to qualified members.
``The loss is to the fund that has to pay benefits it normally would not have to pay,'' he said.
Other Local 25 members were also charged with or implicated in extortion, illegal gambling, drug dealing, stealing gun shipments and theft of computer equipment shipments, including one from the U.S. Navy. Cashman was named but not charged in at least one of those indictments.
In addition, Acting Gov. Jane Swift yesterday called for Cashman to step down from his position of the Massport board of directors or she will take steps to replace him.
Cashman and other Teamsters officials have been under investigation for allegedly shaking down movie producers to rent member-owned equipment, add unnecessary workers and pay undeserved overtime and expenses in exchange for labor peace, according to sources. Investigators have also been probing allegations of intimidation and assault of rival union members by Local 25 movie crew members.
While yesterday's indictment made no mention of the film industry allegations, at least 11 of the 19 people who allegedly received the illegal benefits have worked on the movie crew, according to Teamster sources.
The plum movie crew jobs, which pay $2,000 a week plus overtime and expenses, are handed out as rewards by Cashman, according to sources. Many of the crew members are ex-cons and mob associates, including at least seven who were part of a murderous armored car heist in New Hampshire where two guards were executed.
The prosecutor declined to comment on why the government contends Cashman and his codefendants extended benefits to ineligible members.
``I'm not going to speculate on why they did it,'' Wyshak said.
One of the men who allegedly received the fraudulent health benefits was John J. ``Mick'' Murray, 47, of Charlestown, who was indicted separately on 12 counts of racketeering, extortion, embezzlement and interstate transportation of stolen property.
Prosecutors charge Murray, who works at the Herald as a forklift driver, is a member of a ``loosely organized'' gang of criminals they dubbed in the indictment ``the Charlestown group.'' Many of the group members are members of Local 25, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors allege the Charlestown group was ``closely associated'' with Bulger and Flemmi. The indictment also said as part of the conspiracy, ``certain members of the Charlestown group exerted influence over IBT Local 25 president George Cashman.''
U.S. District Court Judge Joyce London Alexander rejected attorneys' arguments that the case against Cashman and Carnes was not serious enough to warrant bail but reduced the government's demand for $50,000 bail.
The government argued for the higher bail, saying the men's actions benefited men who engaged in violence, including Murray who faces extortion charges.
``These charges are not crimes of violence but do impact on other people who did commit crimes of violence,'' Wyshak told the court.
In one count, prosecutors charged Murray and former Bulger lieutenant-turned-informant Kevin Weeks shook down a South Boston bookmaker named Kevin Hayes. Weeks was not named as a defendant because has received immunity for many of his crimes, according to sources.
Murray also extorted a master key for UPS delivery trucks from another Local 25 member. Murray is charged with at least eight heists of computer equipment shipments to Marlboro-based high tech companies. One of those shipments was a batch of computers sent from the U.S. naval base in Norfolk, Vir., to Almo Corp.
One of Murray's partners in the alleged heists was Daniel Gilday, nephew of infamous cop-killer William ``Lefty'' Gilday, who is serving a life sentence for the 1970 killing of Walter Schroeder.
Bruce S. Ziskind of Cambridge, who owns a Woburn electronics company, was also indicted on three counts of conspiracy and interstate transportation of stolen property. Prosecutors allege Ziskind fenced some of the computer equipment Gilday and Murray stole as well as marking certain shipments for their value.
A fourth indictment charges Thomas C. Brennan of Tyngsboro, a convicted drug dealer and bookie, with 70 counts of conspiracy to steal good and interstate transport as well as conspiracy to distribute cocaine. Prosecutors alleged a Local 25 member who worked for UPS ran up drug and gambling debts with Brennan then settled his account by stealing packages of computer equipment and guns.
Murray, 47, and Brennan, 35, were both held without bail. Detention hearings for the two men are scheduled for next week.
Ziskind was released on $250,000 bond. The 44-year-old electronics expert has a lengthy criminal record, federal prosecutors told a judge yesterday.
U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan's office said the investigation into the union is continuing.
The investigation is being run by the Department of Labor's Office of Labor Racketeering, the Drug Enforcement Administration, state police, Everett police and the Internal Revenue Service.
Laurel J. Sweet contributed to this report. |
