Tuesday, February 14, 1989
From Herald Staff and Wire Reports
The second-ranking official of the Laborers
International Union of North America, identified by a presidential
commission as having close ties to organized crime, retired Monday
and was replaced by his son.
Arthur E. Coia, the union's secretary treasurer,
announced his retirement at the union's annual Executive Council
session at Bal Harbour. Arthur A. Coia, regional manager for the
Laborers in New England and eastern Canada, was immediately tapped
to succeed his father.
Both men were mentioned in the 1986 report
of the President's Commission on Organized Crime, which said the
union had "clear ties to organized crime."
The elder Coia, 75, once was indicted on racketeering charges for allegedly accepting payoffs in return for steering union insurance business to selected companies. But the case was dismissed because the charges were filed after the statute of limitations had expired