Word: dealing
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Those are documentable facts. But almost every other statement that can be made in the case of Coia, the union and the feds is open to question. Did Justice make a deal because of Coia's White House connections? Or because that seemed a quicker and more effective way of getting rid of the thugs? Though there is no evidence of a White House-engineered fix, the Laborers' lavish donations to the Democratic Party and Coia's frequent appearances at the White House--as well as deputy chief of staff Harold Ickes' past life as a lawyer for the Laborers...
Already the deal is a cause celebre in law enforcement. The unprecedented agreement dismayed some investigators in the field, who had spent years building the case against the union. Justice Department prosecutor Paul Coffey, who closed the deal, says he understands these misgivings and admits that "the jury is still out." But, he adds, "if we are not satisfied that [the union] is doing a job as good as or better than a court-appointed officer would," Justice might move for a takeover after...
...union members and some federal prosecutors and FBI agents outside Washington--this dream team has mostly moved against Coia's rivals within the union. And some of the targeted mobsters still have jobs in the Laborers' health and safety or political-action committee funds, beyond the reach of the deal...
...government's contention that the union really is being cleansed got a boost Friday when Luskin and Gow moved to expel 28 suspected mobsters and associates from Local 210 in Buffalo, New York, and bar them from ever resuming membership. Under the Justice-Laborers deal, the expulsions can be contested before a union legal officer, and then another official can be designated to hear appeals. If the expulsions hold up, however, they will accomplish something that has eluded the government for three decades: breaking Mob control of Local...
...government case: though the Justice-Laborers pact has been denounced as a sweetheart deal, it was justified. A suit seeking to put the Laborers under government control could have dragged through the courts for years. Even then, it is not certain that Coia would have been ousted. "It is not a crime to be controlled by the Mob," prosecutor Coffey points out. To convict Coia under federal racketeering statutes, the government would have to prove that he committed two felonies as part of a criminal conspiracy. So far, "we don't have enough evidence," says an FBI agent...