The Buffalo News
BYLINE: DAN HERBECK;
News Staff Reporter
October 16, 20000
During his 25 years as an
FBI agent, John J. "Jack" McDonnell considered Laborers Local 210 the
most corrupt union in Western New York, a place dominated by mobsters with
cushy, no-show jobs.
McDonnell belonged to a
small army of agents who investigated organized crime influences in the union.
He was a supervisor of a loansharking and racketeering probe that sent a Local
210 official to prison in 1994.
The last place McDonnell
expected to wind up working after his FBI retirement was Local 210.
But that is where he can
be found several days each week, overseeing the local's operations as the
liaison officer for a federal judge.
Eight months after U.S.
District Judge Richard J. Arcara appointed him as overseer of the local,
McDonnell is convinced the laborers union is well on its way to respectability.
"I didn't know what
to expect when I came in here," said McDonnell, during a recent interview
in Local 210's new offices in Cheektowaga. "I found that the people
involved with organized crime and corruption were not the general membership of
the union. Most of the members are just decent people, trying to make a living.
They were victims of the corruption that was going on here.
"The team of people
who are running Local 210 today are great people. They have a total open door
policy for the members, and they're willing to meet with contractors to iron
out any problem. They definitely have the local on the right track."
McDonnell is quick to
point out that he does not run the union. He said he observes and reports to
Arcara on the progress of cleanup efforts in the local.
But there is no disputing
that his job as federal court liaison officer puts McDonnell in a position of
power in the local.
And not all of the local's
850 active members are happy about it.
"Having an FBI agent
in there is like having Big Brother watching over us," said Frank
Guadagno, a 24-year laborer, during a recent lunch break at the work site for
the new Erie County court building.
"What this union
really needs is free elections, letting the members pick their own officers and
run their own union."
"From what I hear,
Jack McDonnell is more than an observer," said Marc Panepinto, a Buffalo
labor lawyer who also is a member of Local 210. "I think he is closely
involved in the day-to-day operations."
There have been many bumps
in the road for Local 210 since 1995, when all operations of the notorious
Buffalo union were taken over by the Laborers International Union of North
America. The takeover, intended to push mobsters out of leadership positions in
the local, has been closely monitored and supported by the U.S. Justice
Department.
The international has had
a supervisor or trustee in Buffalo, running Local 210, since April 1996. At
first, some Local 210 members who opposed the takeover barred the supervisor,
Gabe Rosetti Jr., from entering the laborers' offices on Franklin Street.
Over the next two years,
Rosetti battled repeatedly with the old guard of the union, and also with many
rank-and-file members. Members say Rosetti sometimes carried a handgun while
running Local 210, and he once got into a fist fight at the union hall.
Steve Hammond, who helped
the international push the mob out of one of New York City's labor unions, was
appointed to replace Rosetti as trustee in April 1998.
Last year, the Justice
Department asked for closer monitoring of Local 210. As a result, Arcara
appointed McDonnell to act for the court as an overseer in Local 210 for a
five-year period.
The current leadership
includes Hammond as trustee, McDonnell as court liaison officer, and veteran
union members William Hoffman, Harley Locking, Dominic Calandra and Daniel
Hurley as deputy trustee, hiring hall administrator, business agent and
training director, respectively.
Local 210 sold its
longtime union hall on Franklin Street which had been watched and bugged by FBI
agents for decades - and moved
into a smaller, no-frills facility on Harlem Road in Cheektowaga.
"We know we have a
challenge ahead. We're trying to get rid of a stigma that has hung over this
union for many years," Hoffman said. "Our whole membership got a bad
rap because of the actions of a few people."
For decades, there were
allegations that Local 210 made sure that some of the easiest and
highest-paying jobs on area construction projects went to people with the
strongest mob connections. In some cases, the owners of construction companies
were bullied into giving lucrative "no-show" jobs to mobsters.
There aren't any no-shows
in today's Local 210, officials of the local insist. They also insist that
Mafia connections no longer play any role in job assignments.
The names of union members
who are awaiting job assignments are posted on a list in the union hall, and
the assignments are based on a worker's skills, his or her availability, and
how long the worker has been waiting for work.
"No-show jobs and
payoffs -- those days are gone in Local 210," said Andrew Gorlick, an attorney
for the local. "We provide honest work at an honest salary."
Two area contractors who
have dealt with Local 210 for decades said they have been impressed with
efforts to clean up the union.
"They have cleaned up
Local 210. I firmly believe it," said Bob Hill, president of Union
Concrete & Construction in West Seneca. "When I call the union hall
for workers, I get good hard-working people. I don't get people who can't do
the job."
"The union is very
responsive to the needs of contractors," said Kenneth Rawe, a partner in
Oakgrove Construction in Elma. "We're meeting and talking with the union
leadership a lot more than we did in the past."
Hoffman, Locking, Calandra
and Hurley have no kind words for the former trustee, Rosetti, whom they accuse
of being a pugnacious and dictatorial leader who discouraged members from
voicing their opinions and who set the takeover back by several years.
"Gabe's personality
was the main reason why the takeover got off to such a rocky start,"
Hoffman said. "I heard him say, right to my face, 'This is my union!' Like
he was the king."
Rosetti did not return
repeated calls seeking his comment. McDonnell defended him, saying Rosetti
faced "an extremely difficult" job as the international's first point
man in the takeover.
"There has been some
criticism of Gabe, but in fairness to him, he took on a job that nobody else
wanted," McDonnell said. "It had to be very hard on him
. . . Everybody involved
could have handled things better."
Critics of the
government-supported takeover of Local 210 say it is taking much too long for
the international to allow union members to elect their own leaders. Hoffman
and the rest of his team were appointed by the international.
Officials of the
international said they have not yet allowed the election of officers in Local
210 because they fear that people with mob ties will intimidate members into
putting them into power.
"I don't think the
local is ready for elections yet, but that time will come," McDonnell
said. "Soon, hopefully."