Crime Panel Wants to Question Presser : Presidential Commission Seeks to Force Teamster Chief to Testify

The President’s Commission on Organized Crime has renewed efforts to question Teamsters Union President Jackie Presser in the wake of the Justice Department’s decision not to prosecute him on labor fraud charges, The Times learned Monday.

The panel has asked the department for authority to give Presser immunity from prosecution so it can compel him to testify about alleged links between organized crime and the Teamsters, sources familiar with the request said.

Invoked 5th Amendment

In a secret appearance before commission attorneys in August, Presser again invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, officials said. He took the same stance last April, arguing then that he was under investigation by the Justice Department.

The basis for Presser’s citing the Fifth Amendment privilege after the Justice Department dropped its investigation was not clear. His attorney, John R. Climaco, and Teamsters spokesman Duke Zeller did not return telephone calls.

David Margolis, chief of the Justice Department’s organized crime and racketeering section, would not discuss the matter. “We do not discuss our correspondence with other government agencies with newspapers,” said Margolis, whose section is reviewing the commission’s immunity request.

Williams Questioned

It was also learned that Roy L. Williams, Presser’s predecessor, has undergone extensive questioning by commission investigators and was sharply critical of Presser. Williams was sentenced to 10 years in prison after being convicted of attempting to bribe former Sen. Howard W. Cannon (D-Nev.). Cannon was not accused of any impropriety in the case.

The commission is expected to use Williams’ statements and any information it is able to obtain from Presser in a special report on labor racketeering.

Refused to Answer

Presser, in his only public appearance before the commission last April 23 in Chicago, refused 15 times to answer questions about allegations that his union has close ties to organized crime figures, as well as queries on other Teamster matters.

In his appearance, Presser, citing the Fifth Amendment, refused to answer because he was being investigated by the Justice Department. He maintained his silence despite assurances from James D. Harmon Jr., the panel’s executive director and chief counsel, that the questions would steer clear of allegations of payroll padding in Presser’s hometown local in Cleveland, the subject of a federal grand jury investigation that was then aimed at Presser.

A commission official, who spoke on the condition that he not be identified, said that the panel still wants to question Presser on a wide range of subjects dealing with labor racketeering.

The Times disclosed last week that Angelo A. Lonardo, a Mafia underboss-turned-informant, has told the FBI in a 58-page interview that Mafia families in Chicago, Cleveland and New York played central roles in Presser’s election to his present post by Teamster delegates in 1983. Lonardo said that the same was true of Williams, who resigned early that year.

Senate Investigation

Meanwhile, Senate sources said that Presser is being considered as a witness at congressional hearings later this month if the Senate’s Permanent Investigations subcommittee goes public with its inquiry into how the Justice Department handled its abortive case against the union chief.

If Presser is subpoenaed to testify, the subcommittee would first ask a federal judge to grant him immunity from prosecution for anything he might disclose, these sources said. Under terms of such a grant, Presser could not refuse to answer questions without risking a jail term for contempt of Congress, they explained.