October 1, 1999
U.S. Says Labor Union Leader Will Resign and Admit Fraud
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
rthur
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.