Feds Say Mafia Controlled Union Local

MANHATTAN (CN) - Federal prosecutors say two brothers extorted school bus companies for thousands of dollars with the help of the Mafia. The FBI Department of Labor arrested Nick and Paul Maddalone on suspicion of extorting Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Workers Union. According to the indictment, the Genovese family "influenced and asserted control over Local 1181."
Prosecutors say that the Local 1181 represents about 15,000 bus drivers who work for companies that contract with the Department of Education to provide school bus transportation in New York City.
From the 1980s through 2006, the Maddalones worked with Mafia contacts to intimidate bus company owners and operators out of tens of thousands of dollars, prosecutors say.
For example, Salvatore Battaglia aka "Hotdogs," a Mafia soldier who was sentenced 57 years in prison after pleading guilty to racketeering in 2008, served as local chapter president from 2002 to 2006, prosecutors say.
Julius Bernstein aka "Spike," another "made" mafioso who died shortly after pleading guilty to similar charges, once served as the chapter's Secretary Treasurer.
And the local chapter's Director of Pension and Welfare Anne Chiarovano pleaded guilty in January 2007 to obstructing an FBI investigation.
If convicted, the Maddalones face up to 20 years in prison on each of two extortion counts. They face two additional counts under the Taft-Hartley Act - conspiracy to receive labor payments and unlawful labor payments.
Prosecutors seek a forfeiture of money of at least $1 million.

Outcry as 'sad' Mafia boss freed

An Italian senator has demanded the government intervene after a convicted Mafia boss was freed from jail because he was suffering from depression.

Anti-Mafia Commission member Carlo Vizzini called the release of Giacomo Ieni into house arrest "scandalous".

Ieni had been sentenced to eight years for racketeering, but broke down in tears in front of his parole board, saying he could not take jail any more.

The board ruled that detaining him in hospital would endanger his health.

Being with his family was "indispensable" to Ieni's well-being, it said, adding that it hoped "the affection of his family will help him recover".

'Insult'

The ruling by the tribunal in Catania, in eastern Sicily, infuriated prosecutors and politicians alike, who said Ieni was a danger to society.


I wonder at this point what therapy is available to the relatives of those murdered by Mafia bosses whose hands are dripping with blood?
Senator Carlo Vizzini

"A Mafia boss in a high-security regime gets depressed and is first moved to an infirmary and then sent home in the belief that his family will help get over it," said Senator Vizzini, a member of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PdL) party.

"I wonder at this point what therapy is available to the relatives of those murdered by Mafia bosses whose hands are dripping with blood?" he asked.

Another Senator, Gianpaolo Vallardi, said it was an insult and likely to demoralise those risking their lives to fight the Mafia, known as the Cosa Nostra in Sicily. He called on the justice minister to intervene.

But Ieni's lawyer, Giuseppe Lipera, said it was wrong that his client had been in prison since being arrested three years ago.

Ieni was constantly reduced to tears and had lost (25kg) 55lbs in weight, he said.