U.S. to Curtail Its Effort to Take Control of Teamsters

Federal prosecutors, responding to a recent jury verdict rejecting government charges that Teamsters Union elections were corrupted by organized crime, are planning to sharply cut back an unprecedented effort to take over the nation’s largest union in an attempt to rid it of alleged mob influence, The Times learned Wednesday.

Government sources said that U.S. Atty. Rudolph W. Giuliani in New York, who had wanted to file suit to force all top Teamsters’ leaders out of office and place the entire international union under court trusteeship, instead plans to seek a court-appointed monitor to oversee some aspects of the scandal-plagued organization’s activities.

The revision reflects a May 4 jury verdict in U.S. District Court that acquitted Anthony (Fat Tony) Salerno, reputed boss of the Genovese Mafia family, and eight associates of charges that they controlled the elections of Roy L. Williams as Teamsters president in 1981 and of Jackie Presser in 1983, sources said.

John R. Climaco, the Teamsters’ general counsel, contended that the verdict on the union’s elections should deal a “fatal blow” to the Justice Department’s plans to attempt to take over the 1.7-million-member union through a civil suit under the federal Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

Giuliani was traveling Wednesday and other lawyers in his office refused to comment on the scaled-back action. One government source said Giuliani’s recommendations on the lawsuit are expected to be forwarded shortly to acting Associate Atty. Gen. Francis A. Keating.

Asked about the suit, Keating said: “No recommendation has been received and none has been acted upon.” Keating will make the final ruling in the matter because Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III, who has had previous contacts with Presser, the Teamsters’ current president, has recused himself from issues involving the union.

Word of the scaled-down suit had not reached all of those involved in the mammoth case but government sources said the revised action would still constitute a significant crackdown on the union. The Teamsters are expected to resist it vigorously. The suit could still seek to remove from office some members of the union’s 21-member executive board.

“The strategy still is to file an action, but it won’t be as expansive as originally planned,” one federal law enforcement source said. “However, as documents come in and as witnesses are deposed, the action could become more expansive. It’s something the government could build on.”

One source familiar with the case said that although the “strategy” of the suit has been altered to reflect the Salerno verdict, the sanctions sought by the government would be in line with those first proposed.

Standard for Conviction

The government sources noted that the standard for conviction in a civil suit--preponderance of the evidence supporting guilt--is less difficult to meet than the standard in a criminal trial, such as the one that rejected the Teamsters allegations in the Salerno case, guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

Nevertheless, they pointed out that the Salerno jury had found unbelievable the testimony of Angelo A. Lonardo, a mob underboss turned government informant, which was crucial to the claim of organized-crime influence in Teamsters’ elections. The jury did find Salerno and six others guilty of rigging multimillion-dollar bids in the New York construction industry.

Climaco reacted strongly when asked about the scaled-back suit, declaring: “However the anti-labor zealots in the Reagan-Bush Administration attempt to disguise it, any government supervis1768910368labor union--whether it be a trusteeship or a monitorship--is contrary to a basic principle of labor relations in our country.

“Unlike trade unions in communist countries, America’s trade unions are meant to be free from government interference,” he added.

Opposition in House

The original larger-scale crackdown had been opposed by more than half the members of the House and several former presidential candidates who challenged the constitutionality of such a move. The AFL-CIO also strongly denounced the concept and elected to readmit the Teamsters, who had been thrown out of the labor federation because of corruption 30 years earlier.

Teamsters sources said Labor Secretary Ann Dore McLaughlin has privately opposed the broader suit originally contemplated by Giuliani. But Justice Department sources said the congressional protests and McLaughlin’s reported opposition played no part in the cutback consideration.

Department sources said there is virtually no chance that the government will drop the proposed suit entirely. They noted that Giuliani’s office is seeking special funding from the department to cover costs of the action, which are expected to be substantial.

As prosecutors continue to work on the anticipated civil suit, the status of a leading Teamsters target, Presser, is increasingly uncertain.

Presser, who is awaiting criminal trial in Cleveland on charges that he misappropriated $700,000 in union funds by keeping non-working, Mafia-related “ghost employees” on the union payroll, recently underwent surgery for brain cancer and may be too ill ever to stand trial.