Labor Boss Likely To Plead, Then Quit Clinton Friend Vowed To End Corruption

Jerry Seper

Oct 2, 1999

Mr. [Arthur A.] Coia, named by the Democratic National Committee as one of its "top 10 supporters" and given White House perks including overnight stays, is expected to plead to one count of taking a "personal benefit" from a union vendor - a Rhode Island car dealer who arranged for Mr. Coia to buy a $450,000 Ferrari.

Mr. Coia was the focus of an extensive investigation by Washington lawyer Robert D. Luskin, a former prosecutor in the Justice Department. He was hired by the union in 1997 as part of a process established under a 1995 consent decree with the department to head its internal cleanup. Mr. Luskin was asked to pursue accusations that Mr. Coia was tied to the mob, allowed mobsters to control the union and received favors from companies that received union business.

The Luskin investigation ultimately brought 16 charges against Mr. Coia, all but one of which were later overturned by a hearing officer, Peter Vaira. Mr. Vaira ruled there was not enough evidence to prove Mr. Coia had associated with known mob figures in New England or that he had other organized crime ties.

Full Text:

Arthur A. Coia, head of the powerful laborers' union and confidant of President Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, is expected to plead guilty this month to fraud charges and resign.

Mr. Coia, who promised the government he would rid the embattled trade organization of corruption and its long-standing ties to organized crime, has reached a tentative agreement with federal prosecutors that would include the guilty plea and block him from future contact with the 750,000-member Laborers' International Union of North America, according to federal authorities and others familiar with the pending deal.

Mr. Coia, named by the Democratic National Committee as one of its "top 10 supporters" and given White House perks including overnight stays, is expected to plead to one count of taking a "personal benefit" from a union vendor - a Rhode Island car dealer who arranged for Mr. Coia to buy a $450,000 Ferrari.

David Roscow, union spokesman, denied yesterday that Mr. Coia had reached any agreement with authorities.

"For the past four years, certain law enforcement officials have engaged in irresponsible leaks designed to pursue their own agenda and tarnish the union and Mr. Coia," he said. "There is no agreement and he has not been indicted."

But when pressed about the pending deal and resignation, Mr. Roscow said his denials were accurate "to my knowledge as of this time."

Mr. Coia was the focus of an extensive investigation by Washington lawyer Robert D. Luskin, a former prosecutor in the Justice Department. He was hired by the union in 1997 as part of a process established under a 1995 consent decree with the department to head its internal cleanup. Mr. Luskin was asked to pursue accusations that Mr. Coia was tied to the mob, allowed mobsters to control the union and received favors from companies that received union business.

The Luskin investigation ultimately brought 16 charges against Mr. Coia, all but one of which were later overturned by a hearing officer, Peter Vaira. Mr. Vaira ruled there was not enough evidence to prove Mr. Coia had associated with known mob figures in New England or that he had other organized crime ties.

The one remaining charge related to Mr. Coia's purchase of the Ferrari, whose title was held by the car agency, allowing Mr. Coia to avoid $40,000 in luxury taxes and to sell the vehicle as new three years later. The union boss later was fined $100,000 by Mr. Vaira in the purchase, although the matter also had been turned over to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston.

Mr. Coia's pending plea agreement, which still must be approved, would keep him out of prison, the sources said.

Mr. Luskin yesterday declined comment on the investigation or any pending deal, which was first reported Thursday by the Daily Labor Report.

White House spokesman James Kennedy also declined comment.

The Justice Department, after Mr. Vaira's ruling was announced, said it was disappointed with the decision and urged prosecutors to appeal the case. Deputy Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said at the time that although the case was "thoroughly investigated" and "vigorously prosecuted," the department believed there were factual and legal errors in the ruling.

The department not only was concerned about the decision, but also about criticism by union dissidents that it was influenced by Mr. Coia's well-documented political ties to the White House and the DNC.

Under the 1995 consent decree, the Justice Department retained the right to prosecute union officials and seize control of the union if it was dissatisfied with an internal cleanup promised by Mr. Coia. The decree allowed the union to avoid having a racketeering complaint filed, which named Mr. Coia in a conspiracy to embezzle funds from locals in New York and accused him of seeking to control the union "through a pattern of racketeering activity."

The 1994 Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act complaint said Mr. Coia was tied to members of a New England crime family and used "force, violence and fear of physical and economic injury to create a climate of intimidation and fear" within the union. The complaint accused Mr. Coia of a conspiracy to embezzle funds from locals in New York.

The decision to drop the complaint came a month after the DNC identified Mr. Coia in a memo as one of its "top 10 supporters." The memo, sent to the White House, served as the basis for a plan to reward big-money donors with White House perks - including overnight stays.

The memo, by DNC Finance Chairman Terry McAuliffe, listed Mr. Coia among Democratic Party donors touted for access to Mr. Clinton.

While Justice Department lawyers were pressuring Mr. Coia in 1994 to resign as a condition of the complaint being dropped, he was successfully cultivating a relationship with the Clintons - through former New York labor lawyer Harold Ickes, then the White House deputy chief of staff.

A year earlier, Mr. Coia was identified in a Justice Department memo to the White House as a "mob puppet." Despite the warning, Mr. Coia visited Mr. Clinton in the Oval Office several times. On one visit, Mr. Coia accepted as a gift one of the president's personal golf clubs.

Mr. Coia also was instrumental in helping raise $12 million for Democrats during a black-tie affair in 1996. The union itself has given Democrats $3 million in campaign donations during the past five years. In 1995, Mrs. Clinton was the featured speaker at the union's annual convention in Miami.

Copyright Washington Times Library Oct 2, 1999