-Caveat Lector-
October 1, 1999--NYTimes
U.S. Says Labor Union Leader
Will Resign and Admit Fraud
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Arthur Coia, the president of the laborers' union, one
of the nation's largest building trades unions, has
agreed to resign in October and plead guilty to fraud
charges as part of a deal with federal prosecutors,
government officials said on Thursday.
The officials said Coia would step down in the next
few weeks and would soon after plead guilty to charges
involving his purchase of a $450,000 Ferrari from a
supplier to the 750,000-member union, the Laborers
International Union of North America. The plea
agreement, one government official said, would not
result in a prison term but would bar Coia from any
future contacts with the union.
David Roscow, a union spokesman, denied that Coia
was resigning, insisting that Coia was the victim of
leaks from government officials out to hurt him.
"Mr. Coia is not resigning, he has not been indicted,
and there is no agreement," Roscow said. "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."
One government official said Coia might still pull out
of the plea agreement out of concern that he would be
stepping down under a cloud. Numerous times in the
past, union officials said, Coia was about to resign in
the face of possible charges, but then decided to dig in
and battle the accusations against him, to help preserve
his reputation.
Over the last year, some aides also hinted that Coia
could retire at any time because he has been fighting
prostate cancer for three years, although his health has
improved in recent months.
The deal said to have been reached between Coia and
the government follows an anti-corruption investigation
that the union conducted under an earlier agreement
with the government. In March, the three-year
investigation cleared Coia of accusations that he had
associated with members of organized crime.
But at the same time, the union's hearing officer, Peter
Vaira, fined Coia $100,000 for a conflict of interest
over the purchase of the Ferrari. The union's in-house
prosecutor, Robert D. Luskin, discovered that Coia had
bought the sports car with the help of a Rhode Island
company that leased cars to the union.
Luskin found that Coia bought the car while the
car-leasing company continued to hold the title, letting
Coia avoid more than $40,000 in luxury taxes. This
also enabled Coia to resell the Ferrari, a limited
edition model, as a new vehicle three years later.
When Vaira fined Coia, the laborers' in-house
investigators turned over evidence about the car
purchase to the U.S. attorney's office in Boston. Coia
has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing regarding the
car.
Samantha Martin, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney
in Boston, declined to comment on Thursday. Luskin
also declined to comment about Coia's plea deal, which
was reported on Thursday by The Daily Labor Report
published by the Bureau of National Affairs, a private
research group in Washington.
Coia's father, Arthur E. Coia, was secretary-treasurer
of the union, which used to be considered one of the
nation's most corrupt. Prosecutors say the elder Coia
associated closely with Raymond Patriarca Jr., New
England's long-time crime boss.
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Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day.
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