HARTFORD, Conn.

September 22, 1994

A labor leader has been indicted for allegedly taking a bribe to sink $8 million of his union's pension funds in a real estate empire that went bankrupt.

Dominick Lopreato of the Laborers' International Union conspired with Colonial Realty Co. founders Benjamin Sisti and Jonathan Googel to conceal the $345,000 bribe after the company's collapse attracted federal investigators, according to a federal indictment made public Wednesday.

Sisti and Googel pleaded guilty to fraud charges in 1993 and are cooperating with prosecutors.