Longshoremen Walk Out After Arrest

Longshoremen walked off their jobs at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach on Wednesday evening after a local union officer was arrested for allegedly inciting a riot earlier in the day at the union hall in Wilmington, authorities said.

However, a union official said late Wednesday night, “It will be back to business as usual at 8 a.m. tomorrow morning (Thursday).”

A near riot erupted at the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Local 13 hall at 343 N. Broad St. after two investigators from the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office went there to arrest a man for non-payment of child support, said district attorney’s spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons.

Investigators Jeff Oh and Ron Hobson went to the hall where they were confronted by John Louis Nappi, 65, who identified himself as the local’s sergeant-at-arms, Gibbons said.

Nappi then went to a microphone and ordered all non-union members to leave the hall, “including you two cops on the back bench,” Gibbons said.

Between 300 and 400 union members began to surround the investigators, and Nappi allegedly came to the front of the group and again ordered the investigators to leave, Gibbons said.

Oh and Hobson said they feared for their lives as the mood of the crowd became increasingly threatening. They drew their handguns and retreated to an office where they locked the door and telephoned for help, Gibbons said.

Union members began yelling epithets and tried to break down the door, Gibbons said.

“They were very menacing and they were cussing and using all kinds of profanity,” Oh said. “It was not the kind of situation where you could use your gun. There were just too many people there.”

Twenty Los Angeles police officers arrived to quell the outbreak and rescue the investigators, Gibbons said. Nappi was arrested and booked for investigation of inciting to riot at the LAPD’s Harbor Division. Bail was set at $500. The man being sought for non-support payments was not arrested.

As the officers put down the disturbance, union members threatened to shut down the port, investigators said.

Shortly after 7 p.m., all the longshoremen in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach walked off their jobs, leaving 33 ships, including at least one carrying U.S. military supplies to the Middle East--sitting idle at their berths, said Los Angeles Port Police Sgt. Martin Renteria. The walkout was a result of the incident at the Local 13 hall, he said.

“As far as we’re concerned, everything’s peaceful,” Renteria said. “No longshoremen are doing anything except walking off the job.”

A Port of Los Angeles harbor pilot who asked not to be identified said ships were still moving in and out of the ports. The pilot said ships were not being unloaded once they docked.