Shown here is NLRB member Richard Griffin, Jr., right. At left are Colombo family boss Joel Cacace, top, and Gambino family member Andrew Merola.
Embezzlement. Wire fraud.
Bribery. That's just scratching the surface of crimes committed by the IUOE
ranks. And it is from this union that President Obama earlier this year picked
one of his latest appointees to the National Labor Relations Board, the federal
agency tasked with resolving labor disputes between unions and
management.
That recess appointee, Richard Griffin, was former
general counsel for the 400,000-member union of heavy equipment operators --
a union tainted over the years by mob connections and a history of
corruption.
Public documents obtained by Fox News show that
more than 60 IUOE members have been arrested, indicted or jailed in the last
decade on charges that include labor racketeering, extortion, criminal
enterprise, bodily harm and workplace sabotage.
In some of the more egregious examples, federal
prosecutors alleged in February 2003 that the Genovese and Colombo crime
families wrested control of two IUOE locals, and stole $3.6 million from major
New York area construction projects -- including the Museum of Modern Art and
minor league baseball stadiums for the Yankees and Mets in Staten and Coney
Islands.
Congress and the American public may never know
whether Griffin's fiduciary responsibilities as general counsel were
compromised by the avalanche of arrests, indictments and prosecutions of IUOE
members. Griffin did not respond to Fox News' request for an
interview. Before joining the NLRB, he served in various positions at the
IUOE dating back
to 1983. Read
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