DA's Team Raids Unions In Tri-State Investigation
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 1999 10:39:10 EDT
>>>>>>>>> NEW YORK UBC SPOTLIGHT <<<<<<<<<<<
Police in blue Windbreakers arrived early yesterday at the Eighth Ave. offices
of Local 608, the city's largest carpenters local.
"There's nothing going on here. We've got no comment," said Maurice
McGrath, an official of the local, as police stacked boxes of seized documents
near the door. The Bronx office of Local 608 also was raided, officials said.
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DA's Team Raids Unions In Tri-State Investigation
By TOM ROBBINS
Daily News Staff Writer
A team of more than 300 police and state investigators probing
construction-industry corruption raided more than two dozen sites in three
states yesterday, hauling away hundreds of boxes of records, officials said.
Among the locations raided were three of the city's most powerful construction
unions and the offices of a building contractor in New Jersey allegedly tied to
the mob. Investigators also hit undisclosed locations in Connecticut, sources
said.
The raids were launched by Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, who
is probing widespread alleged employer payoffs to union officials, often with
organized crime involvement, law enforcement sources said.
Police in blue Windbreakers arrived early yesterday at the Eighth Ave. offices
of Local 608, the city's largest carpenters local.
"There's nothing going on here. We've got no comment," said Maurice
McGrath, an official of the local, as police stacked boxes of seized documents
near the door. The Bronx office of Local 608 also was raided, officials said.
In Linden, N.J., investigators raided the offices of S & S Contracting, a
firm owned by Sara Riggi, daughter of John Riggi, reputed head of the New
Jersey-based DeCavalcante crime family.
The Daily News reported in February that Local 608 officials allegedly ignored
the use of dozens of nonunion workers by S & S Contracting in a
multimillion-dollar renovation project at the Park Central Hotel on Seventh
Ave. Sara Riggi declined comment yesterday.
Investigators also went to the offices of the bricklayers union in Queens and
Laborers Local 79 on W. 18th St.
"They are welcome to whatever they want. We are cooperating, and we have
nothing to hide here," said Richard Weiss, a spokesman for the laborers
union. Bricklayers union officials could not be reached.