Can the AFL-CIO avoid a RICO suit in ATU L. 1181?
For years the international officers of the Amalgamated Transit Union were warned that Local 1181, one of their biggest, was infiltrated by organized crime. They ignored the information until 2007 when Matty the Horse Ianniello, along with two local officers pleaded guilty in federal court to dominating the local for the Genovese crime family and a third, suspended from office, still faces trial. Now that the international has done nothing effective to clean up the local, the question will inevitably arise: will law enforcement authorities and the federal courts use their authority under the federal RICO statute to reorganize the local? A reform group has appealed to AFL-CIO President Sweeney to do something. Will he act, and in time? The 15,000 member Local 1181, largest in the international, represents school bus and para-transit drivers. The public has a special interest in its affairs because the employers are bus companies under contract with city government agencies to transport
