MICHAEL BEEBE; News Staff Reporter

July 4, 1996

Members of Laborers Local 210, a union taken over by its international for alleged mob-influence, continues to defy the international by electing a slate of convention delegates that includes a man the international claims is part of the Buffalo Mafia.

Victor Sansanese, identified by the Laborers International Union of North America last month as one of 16 Local 210 members in the Buffalo mob, was among seven delegates elected to attend the international's convention Sept. 23-25 in Las Vegas.

The international named another 12 Local 210 members it said associates with mob members as it said it wanted all 28 removed from the union.

Instead, members voted to have Sansanese represent them at the parent union's convention, and nearly elected another man -- Nicholas Zendano -- who was named by the international as a mob associate.

But a recount, union officials said Wednesday, showed that Kathleen St. John narrowly defeated Zendano.

Also elected as delegates were Peter Capitano Jr., Sam Capitano, Everett Caci, Jack Whitmer and Edward Bell.

Lawyers from a Boston law firm who monitored the election for the international union failed to return telephone calls for comment.