PHILADELPHIA — A former union leader was found guilty on
Tuesday of extortion, racketeering and conspiracy for overseeing a campaign of
violence and vandalism intended to force nonunion contractors to hire union
members.
After deliberating for four days, a jury convicted Joseph
Dougherty, a former business manager of Local 401 of the International
Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers, on
all six counts against him after a six-day trial in Federal District Court
here.
Mr. Dougherty, 73, led a union that committed 25 acts
such as arson, destruction of property and attacks on workers for nonunion
contractors at construction sites in the Philadelphia area from 2008 to 2013,
prosecutors said. He faces at least 15 years in prison when he is sentenced on
April 29.
Mr. Dougherty was the only one of 12 union members to
fight the charges brought by a federal grand jury. Seven other defendants made
plea deals with prosecutors and testified against their former boss in return
for a reduction in prison sentences.
Federal District Judge Michael M. Baylson ordered Mr.
Dougherty immediately detained because of the seriousness of his crimes, but
the judge said he would hold a hearing to determine whether Mr. Dougherty’s
poor health warranted releasing him temporarily before sentencing.
“I can’t have this jury come back with this verdict and
allow him to go home today,” the judge said.
Fortunato Perri, Mr. Dougherty’s lawyer, said after the
verdict that he knew the trial would be an “uphill battle” because all 11 co-defendants
entered plea agreements or were granted immunity from prosecution by the
government in return for their cooperation.
Robert P. Livermore, an assistant United States attorney,
praised the jury for its diligence.
“There was a lot of evidence, and I suspect that they
just wanted to take their time and go through and make sure they made the right
decision,” Mr. Livermore said.
Prosecutors said the local formed picket lines at
nonunion construction sites where union members would sometimes assault workers
and their vehicles with baseball bats.
At some nonunion sites, union members would conduct
nighttime raids in which they would bend anchor bolts, cut structural steel
with acetylene torches and set fire to contractors’ equipment like cranes,
according to an indictment describing 25 such incidents from 2008 to 2013.
Mr. Perri argued that the raids had been organized not by
his client, but by some of his subordinates, or “business agents,” who were
among the defendants.
Robert Reeves, president of E. Allen Reeves Inc., a
construction management company based in the Philadelphia suburbs, said the
ironworkers’ local and other unions have caused problems for his company
throughout his 40-year career in the construction industry.
Mr. Reeves runs an “open shop” company that uses mostly
nonunion workers but is also open to hiring union members, he said in an
interview.
Mr. Reeves, whose company’s work at a new Quaker
meetinghouse in Philadelphia was vandalized by members of the ironworkers’
union in December 2012, said the union’s efforts to obtain jobs for its members
increased construction costs by as much as 30 percent and prevented his company
from winning some contracts because owners were afraid of being attacked if
they used nonunion labor.
“Everybody knows that Philadelphia has a violent,
strongman reputation,” he said.
At various times before the meetinghouse attack, Mr.
Reeves said his projects had been smeared with tar, his tires had been stuck
with knives and he had been shot at, in attacks by the ironworkers and, he
believed, members of two other unions.
Some business leaders accused Philadelphia politicians of
avoiding public criticism of violent union tactics.
Daniel M. DiLella, the president of Equus Capital
Partners, a Philadelphia-based real estate investment company, said local
political leaders have avoided commenting on union intimidation during the
trial of Mr. Dougherty.
Source: The
New York Times
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