Union Leaders on
Trial for Racketeering
and Extortion Plead
Guilty
By DAVID STABA,
NYTimes on the Web, August 2, 2006
BUFFALO, Aug. 1 — For more
than three decades, leaders of a powerful union used violence and intimidation
against contractors, independent workers and even members of other unions to
control the construction industry in the Niagara Falls area, according to
federal prosecutors, strangling economic development in the process.
On Tuesday, prosecutors declared victory in their long-running war against the
union, Local 91 of the Laborers’ International Union of North America, when
three of its former officials abruptly pleaded guilty to racketeering charges
and a fourth to extortion. Their pleas came in the third week of a federal
trial that was expected to last as long as two months and followed vivid
testimony of intimidation and violence.
“This has been the most significant F.B.I. criminal investigation in western New
York in the past 20 years,” said Laurie Bennett, special agent in charge of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation’s office here. “I say that because of the
widespread violence and the significant and devastating economic loss to the
community.”
The local’s former president, Mark Congi, along with Albert Celeste, an
assistant business agent, and Paul Bellreng, a steward and picket captain, each
admitted to engaging in a racketeering conspiracy. Joel Cicero, the
local’s former training director, pleaded guilty to using his position on the
Niagara Falls Bridge Commission to extort jobs for the union local.
Witnesses in the first days of the trial described threats against themselves
and their relatives, slashed tires, vandalism at construction sites and, in one
case, explosives thrown through the window of an apartment where nonunion
workers from New Jersey were sleeping.
“It wasn’t only the implied threat that you played by the rules of Local 91 or
you didn’t do business at all, but there have been documented cases of physical
violence, damage to property and intimidation,” Superintendent John R. Chella of
the Niagara Falls Police said at a news conference on Tuesday. “The
message was clearly sent — either play the game, or pay the price.”
On Thursday, Goran Stevanovich, who was a nonunion worker at an asbestos-removal
project in the spring of 1997, described how Local 91 pickets threw steel pipes
and other objects at him and his co-workers and shouted threats. He
testified that the most chilling one came from Mr. Bellreng.
“ ‘Do you ever ask yourself where are Alexander and Daniella right now?’ ” Mr.
Stevanovich quoted Mr. Bellreng as asking him, referring to his two young
children.
Several weeks later, Mr. Bellreng said, “Goran, don’t worry. I’m coming
tonight to take your head off,” Mr. Stevanovich testified.
That night, two bricks with explosives taped to them crashed through windows at
the apartment where Mr. Stevanovich and three others were sleeping. One
landed about a foot from his head, with the explosion causing permanent hearing
loss in his right ear and burning his bedding, he testified. Four union
members later admitted to involvement in the attack, which they said took place
on Mr. Congi’s orders. Those union members had agreed to testify against
the four union officials.
Mr. Stevanovich testified that the next day, Mr. Bellreng said, “Goran, how was
sleeping in the fire last night?”
Shortly after Mr. Stevanovich’s testimony and cross-examination, defense lawyers
approached prosecutors and asked to make a plea deal, said Terrance P. Flynn,
United States attorney for the Western District of New York.
“I believe they saw the strength of his testimony and became aware of his appeal
to the jury and to the public,” Mr. Flynn said.
Witnesses at the trial described a range of job-site vandalism that they
ascribed to Local 91 members. A New York state trooper said 220 feet of
wood fencing built by a company he ran in his off-duty hours was destroyed after
he rebuffed Mr. Congi’s demands to put union workers on the job.
In all, 19 union members were indicted over the last four years. Only one
was acquitted. The rest pleaded guilty or were convicted. Most had
agreed to testify against the four union officials in the trial that ended on
Tuesday.
Mr. Flynn said the lineup of former defendants waiting to testify helped make
the defense team’s position untenable.
“You can attack one, but it’s difficult to attack all of them,” he said.
Each of the felony counts carries a potential 20-year prison term. As part
of the plea arrangement, prosecutors agreed to ask Judge Richard J. Arcara to
sentence Mr. Congi to 15 years, Mr. Celeste and Mr. Bellreng to five years each,
and Mr. Cicero to probation.
Mr. Flynn said the local’s threats and reputation for violence hurt the local
economy by discouraging businesses. “They just weren’t going to bother
with Niagara County,” he said. “It just wasn’t worth the violence, the
intimidation and the extra costs.”
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