Teamsters Chief Invokes Fifth to Queries on Crime Ties : Presser Refuses to Answer Presidential Commission on Union’s Alleged Mob Connections

Teamsters Union President Jackie Presser maintained silence before a federal commission Tuesday when questioned repeatedly about Teamsters violence and allegations that his union has close ties to organized crime.

In a 23-minute appearance before the President’s Commission on Organized Crime, Presser refused 15 times to answer questions on grounds that he personally is under federal investigation and that his answers might incriminate him.

He kept his silence despite assurances from James D. Harmon Jr., the commission’s executive director, that the questions would steer clear of allegations of payroll padding in Presser’s hometown local in Cleveland, the specific subject of a federal grand jury investigation aimed at Presser.

Answers One Question

“Mr. Chairman, on the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer that question on the grounds of the Fifth Amendment,” Presser intoned to each query, reading his response from a typewritten page.

He answered only one question, giving his occupation as “general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.”

Presser ignored threats from acting commission Chairman Samuel K. Skinner, a former Chicago prosecutor, that his continued refusal could subject him to a federal contempt citation. Skinner said the panel might seek help from a federal court.

Presser’s appearance capped a second day of hearings by the 19-member commission into labor corruption and labor racketeering. The chief focus Tuesday was the 1.9-million-member Teamsters Union. Monday’s session had dealt mainly with the Laborers International Union.

Racketeer Testifies

The heaviest testimony against the Teamsters came from a convicted New Jersey racketeer, Robert Rispo, who told commissioners that Teamsters leaders and organized crime bosses for years have accepted payoffs to allow racketeers to act as middlemen in many trucking contracts.

Under this system, the racketeers form “labor leasing” companies that guarantee labor peace as well as certain economies to large trucking firms, Rispo testified. To save money for big truckers, the “leasing” organizations often hire Teamsters members at below negotiated wage rates and refuse to pay them certain fringe benefits, he said.

Drivers who are eager for work must accept this arrangement, Rispo said, and union officials routinely accept payoffs to keep quiet about it.

Payoff to Presser Claimed

Rispo testified that 10 years ago he personally delivered a cash-filled envelope to Presser at the offices of Columbus, Ohio, Teamsters Local 20. Rispo said Presser, at that time head of Ohio Teamsters Joint Council 41, had tried to be helpful to the New Jersey firm Rispo was working for.

Presser refused to respond to the payoff charge during his appearance. He also refused to reply to testimony by a commission staff member alleging that Presser strongly supported violence by Teamsters organizers who broke up a meeting of Teamsters Union dissidents in Romulus, Mich., in October, 1983.

Rispo said his company, Countrywide Personnel, also had paid off former Teamsters President Roy L. Williams as well as two East Coast Mafia figures, Russell Buffalino of New York and Angelo Bruno of Philadelphia.

As a participant in the federal witness protection program, Rispo wore a black hood to hide his face. The Justice Department is helping him start a new life in return for his cooperation in investigations.