June 5, 1981
AP MIAMI, June 4,
Two alleged leaders of organized crime, Santo Trafficante Jr.
and Anthony Accardo, and 14 other persons have been indicted in
connection with kickbacks involving the Laborers International
Union of North America, Federal officials said today.
The indictments stem from a two-year Federal
investigation of the union, which has more than 75,000 members,
most of them garbage collectors, construction workers, street
sweepers and road workers.
A one-count indictment handed up by a Federal
grand jury yesterday charged the 16 persons with "conspiring
to violate the Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations Statute,"
said United States Attorney Atlee Wampler.
He said the indictment charges conspiracy
to conduct the affairs of the union through "a pattern of
racketeering activity by giving and receiving unlawful kickbacks"
for granting union business involving the pension fund, life insurance
and medical and dental plans.
Mr. Trafficante, identified in past Federal
investigations as the head of Florida's underworld, has never
before been charged with a major crime.
Also named in the indictment were the union's
general president, Angelo Fosco, 60 years old, of Chicago, and
his son, Paul, 32, of Chicago. Mr. Wampler identified Paul Fosco
as a former president of the P.F. Insurance Agency of Chicago
and vice president of Consultants and Administrators and Dental
and Vision Care Centers of Miami.
Also indicted were: Bernard G. Rubin, 60,
of Miami, a former union official and president of the union's
Florida District Council; James Caporale, 60, of Chicago, a union
official; Paul A. Di Franco, 51, of Chicago, a dentist who was
a vice president of Dental and Vision Care Centers in Miami.
Also John Giardiello, 49, of Fort Lauderdale,
a union official and a trustee of the Florida Dental Plan; Seymour
Gopman, 56, of Miami, former counsel to the Dade County Health
and Welfare Fund and several other union funds; James F. Norton,
50, of Chicago, president of Consultants and Administrators and
former vice president of the Dental and Vision Care Centers.
Also Louis Ostrer, convicted in June 1980
in New York City of racketeering and identified as the principal
operator of Sales Administrators for Employee Fringe Advantages
and Fringe Benefits, both of New York; Terence J.O'Sullivan, 51,
of Washington, D.C., a former union official and president of
the Worldwide Insurance Company of Washington.
Also Alfred Pilotto, 60, Chicago, a union
official; James Pinckard, 45, of Chicago, owner-operator of Pinckard
and Associates, and Mr. Pilotto's son-in-law;. Salvatore Tricario,
49, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., a union official, and George Wuagneux,
48, of Scottsdale, Ariz., former president of the Sage Corporation,
which was a Florida real estate development corporation.