Union Agrees To Reform, Sever Ties With The Mob

The Laborers International Union of North America, which has long had ties to organized crime, will hold democratic elections for top leadership posts for the first time, under an agreement announced Thursday by the Justice Department.

Under scrutiny from federal prosecutors, the union has also removed 20 officials from its ranks, including two vice presidents, and has passed a code of ethics that makes association with the mob grounds for expulsion.

“This is a union that has long been controlled and influenced by the mob,” said James B. Burns, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. “This agreement is a substantial step in the right direction.”

The union, which prosecutors say has been under the control of elements of the Chicago mob, has never countenanced opposition to its hand-picked candidates. At the group’s 1981 convention, the only time an opposition candidate ever offered even token opposition, Burns said, that candidate was physically beaten on the convention floor.

The announcement Thursday could also mean the end of the strong influence that one family has had over the union. Arthur E. Coia held important jobs in the organization beginning in the 1950s and was secretary-treasurer from 1979 to 1989; he died in 1993.

His son, Arthur A. Coia, is currently serving as president.

The announcement stems from an unusual agreement reached a year ago between the Justice Department and the union, in which prosecutors drew up a 212-page racketeering complaint but did not take it to federal court. Instead, they gave the union a chance to reform itself, with the guidance of prosecutors.