Presser Faces Prospect of New Federal Charges

Teamsters President Jackie Presser, who escaped prosecution last summer when the Justice Department dropped a payroll-padding case against him, again is facing the prospect of federal charges as early as next month--about the time he is expected to be reelected head of the nation’s largest union, The Times learned Wednesday.

The decision to renew its pursuit of the leader of the 1.7-million-member union represents a dramatic turnaround for Justice Department officials in Washington on one of the most politically sensitive cases on the department’s agenda. Only nine months ago, the department had vetoed a recommendation by a federal organized crime strike force here to seek Presser’s indictment on labor fraud charges.

Officials Termed Misled

An internal Justice Department investigation into why that indictment was blocked has concluded that officials who made the decision were misled by what are now considered false statements from FBI agents about their dealings with Presser as an informant, according to several sources familiar with the case.

Given $2,500 a Month

Meanwhile, it also was learned that Presser--the nation’s highest paid labor official--was secretly given $2,500 a month by the FBI for providing information about organized crime and other matters for an undetermined period. Details of the payments were contained in testimony heard by a federal grand jury considering the case in Cleveland.

The payments were handled at FBI headquarters in Washington and were treated as highly sensitive information because of Presser’s status as a “top-echelon informant,” one source with knowledge of the arrangement said.

The allegedly false statements made by FBI agents, under scrutiny by a federal grand jury in Washington, involve the key question of whether the agents had sanctioned Presser’s giving hundreds of thousands of dollars in otherwise-illegal union payments to “ghost employees” as a way of enhancing his credibility with mobsters.

The purported employees performed no work for the Teamsters and had reputed organized crime ties.

The controversial case is particularly sensitive from a political standpoint because Presser has been President Reagan’s sole supporter among major labor leaders. FBI Director William H. Webster and other officials, however, have said they are satisfied that politics played no part in the handling of the investigation of the Teamster leader.

Recommended Indictment

Initially, after a three-year inquiry, a federal strike force investigating organized crime recommended that Presser be indicted on fraud charges involving the payroll-padding scheme. Last July, however, after an 11th-hour appeal by Presser’s lawyer, John R. Climaco, Justice Department officials rejected the recommendation--and the Presser investigation was ended.

Climaco, in a meeting with Deputy Assistant Atty. Gen. John C. Keeney, the No. 2 official in the department’s criminal division, contended that Presser had the FBI’s blessing in making the “ghost employee” payments and named some of the FBI agents allegedly involved.

Climaco, now the Teamsters’ general counsel, and chief union spokesman Duke Zeller did not return calls Wednesday about the new developments in the case.

After Climaco’s original meeting with Keeney, at least three FBI officials who had served as control agents, or “handlers” of Presser, signed affidavits that supported Climaco’s contention that the agents sanctioned the “ghost employee” scheme. It is those statements that investigators have deemed false, clearing the way for the original charges again to be sought against Presser and others.

What led the Justice Department to revive its case against Presser is evidence indicating that the union official did not in fact have FBI approval for his actions, according to government and non-government sources. The new evidence was turned up when questions were raised about the decision and the FBI and Justice Department launched an investigation into the matter.

Agents May Be Charged

As a result, some agents may also be charged with making false statements in the course of an official investigation, according to government and non-government sources with knowledge of the case.

The agents are Robert Frederick, supervisor of the FBI’s organized crime unit in the Cleveland field office; Patrick Foran, former supervisor there and now assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s Las Vegas office, and Martin McCann, former head of the unit who subsequently retired and is now a security officer with an LTV Corp. subsidiary in Cleveland. The three have declined comment through spokesmen.

Any charges against FBI agents or Presser would force the bureau to break its official silence on the Teamster leader’s service as a government informant because that would be a central element in either case.

‘Loyalty to the Bureau’

Sources close to the case said they believe that the agents, in making the allegedly false statements, were motivated by the need to maintain confidentiality and “loyalty to the bureau.” Informants are a major--if not the most important--tool in the FBI investigative arsenal.

The federal strike force that recommended Presser’s indictment was staffed by Labor Department investigators--not FBI agents--who complained about what they called the bureau’s lack of cooperation in the matter.

Non-government sources familiar with details of the case against the agents said that the information could not have been developed without cooperation from someone centrally involved, though it was learned that an earlier offer of immunity from prosecution to Frederick in return for testimony was withdrawn some weeks ago.

Charges Dropped

Last year, the FBI’s refusal to acknowledge Presser’s informant status led the Justice Department to drop the charges against two alleged ghost employees, Jack Nardi and Allen Friedman, who already had been convicted of accepting Local 507 payments without performing work.

The department dropped the charges against Nardi, who had pleaded guilty, and Friedman, who had served 11 months in prison after being convicted, because their lawyers sought information on Presser’s informant role.

In a related development Wednesday, Nardi’s lawyer, Barry Halpern, said he is “very concerned over the whereabouts of my client.” He said Nardi, who has been living in the Los Angeles area, had failed to appear on April 14 in Cleveland for a scheduled meeting.

Reinstituting charges against Friedman would present “insurmountable” legal complications, one government source said, while the possibility of renewed action in Nardi’s case is still under review. Both men, at the least, are likely to be named as unindicted co-conspirators in any case against Presser, one source said.

Associates Face Charges

Investigative sources said that the Cleveland grand jury soon will be asked to consider charges against Presser and two principal associates. They are Harold Friedman, an international Teamsters vice president who shares the management of Local 507, and Anthony (Tony) Hughes, a former boxer and one-time business partner of Presser.

Harold Friedman and Hughes were included in the original proposed indictment that was forwarded by the Cleveland strike force to Justice Department officials in Washington early last year. But department officials subsequently decided that there was insufficient evidence to charge the two associates in any payroll-padding scheme.

Harold Friedman said through a spokesman that he continues to maintain his innocence. Hughes could not be reached for comment.

Presser is seeking reelection to a five-year term at the Teamsters convention May 19-23 in Las Vegas. Labor Secretary William E. Brock III is scheduled to address the union, which continues to wield enormous political clout despite the investigation.

Ronald J. Ostrow reported from Washington and Robert L. Jackson from Cleveland.