Presser and FBI Agent Indicted : Union Boss Is 4th Teamster Leader Charged in Crime

Teamsters Union President Jackie Presser was indicted by a federal grand jury today on federal racketeering charges that he ran a payroll-padding scam--the fourth boss of the nation’s largest union to be charged with corruption.

In a related case, an FBI agent was indicted by a Washington grand jury for making false statements that led to the collapse of the government’s investigation of Presser a year ago.

The indictments come just three days before the opening of a national Teamsters convention in Las Vegas, where Presser is expected to be elected to a full five-year term as head of the 1.6 million-member union.

The indictment against Presser, returned by a federal grand jury in Cleveland, said that in his role as secretary-treasurer of Cleveland Teamster Local 507 he made the payments to his uncle, Allen Friedman; and to John Nardi Jr., son of a slain Cleveland mob leader.

The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations maintained in a report last week that more than $700,000 had been paid out over the years to Nardi, Friedman and others who received checks co-signed by Presser.

The grand jury also indicted two Presser associates in the alleged payroll padding scheme. They are Harold Friedman, president of Local 507 and a member of the union’s General Executive Board, and Anthony Hughes, recording secretary of the local.

Presser, Harold Friedman and Hughes are also charged with racketeering.

A Justice Department spokesman said Presser could be arraigned over the weekend in Cleveland.

The indictment alleged that from as early as Jan. 1, 1972, until at least Dec. 31, 1981, the three violated the federal anti-racketeering statute by embezzling money from the local’s rank and file in the alleged “ghost worker” scheme.

Embezzlement of union funds carries a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment and a $10,000 fine.

The indicted FBI agent, Robert Friedrick, a 13-year bureau veteran, was accused of falsely telling superiors at the Justice Department that several FBI agents had authorized Presser to make the payments.

Friedrick, if convicted, faces maximum penalties of 25 years in prison and a $50,000 fine.

Friedrick’s statements killed the Presser investigation last July because, with FBI agents authorizing Presser’s illegal conduct, it would be difficult in any prosecution to prove criminal intent.

Presser, 59, was instrumental in lining up the Teamsters’ general executive board behind Ronald Reagan’s presidential candidacy in 1980, and he was the labor co-chairman at Reagan’s first inauguration.