Laborers' International Union names general president Terry O'Sullivan, 44, vice president of the Laborers' International Union, which runs the Mid-Atlantic region, was chosen by the union's board Sunday to become general president. The Mid Atlantic region includes Pittsburgh.

O'Sullivan will replace Arthur A. Coia, who is retiring after 40 years with the 800,000-member union.

Also promoted was Joseph Licastro to International vice president and Mid-Atlantic regional manager. Licastro first joined the union in 1963 in Johnstown.

The Associated Press reported that Coia will step aside after running a gauntlet of investigations by federal authorities.

Coia, whose close support of President Clinton while his union was under investigation drew Republican scrutiny, was cleared in March by an independent hearing officer of charges that he had ties to organized crime.

Coia was fined $100,000 for a separate ethics violation under a process established via an agreement with the Justice Department in 1995 to clean up the union, which allegedly had long suffered from mafia influence.

That ethics violation - accepting a Ferrari in a joint arrangement with a dealer who leased cars to the union - had launched a new criminal investigation by federal officials who said they were disappointed the union process had failed to oust Coia from the union.

In the 1980s, President Reagan's Commission on Organized Crime accused the Laborers of having mob ties. The union signed the 1995 agreement with the Justice Department to avoid racketeering charges.