The Chicago Sun-Times reports:
The Teamsters union in Chicago is a family business — the Coli family.
Union boss John Coli — one of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s few supporters in organized labor — and his two sons together were paid more than $615,000 last year for their work in leadership roles with the Teamsters, according to public records.
Coli, 53, was paid a total of $338,655 in 2012 from three arms of the union: Teamsters Local 727, the union’s joint council for the Chicago area and the Teamsters international in Washington, D.C.
Son John Coli Jr., 29, made $239,987 as president and business manager of Park Ridge-based Local 727, which he’s headed since January 2011.
There's more:
That civil case, now pending in federal court, accuses the Teamsters of engaging in “an extortionate, fraudulent scheme” to inflate the amounts to be contributed to the Local 727 benefit funds. The plaintiffs say Coli and his sons were among four union trustees of the benefit funds at the time the suit was filed, and they noted that Coli’s older brother, William Coli, is fund administrator, a post that’s paid him more than $65,000 a year.
Coli left the deposition in June 2011 “claiming that the mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, needed him on an emergency basis,” according to the court records. Emanuel’s schedule shows a 45-minute meeting at his office that day with Coli.
Doesn't Rahm care about underfunded pensions??? But, more seriously- here's a report prepared for the White House in
1978:
Local 727. This is a small union of slightly over 3,000 members. It is the personal fiefdom of James Eco Coli, syndicate member, burglar, convicted armed robber and strong
arm man. He is a close associate of Joey Aiuppa and Anthony Accardo. Experienced investigators have termed his misuse of union 'funds as one of the most egregious abuses of union power they have seen. For example, the union usually takes in approximately $400,000 per year in union funds. In one year alone Coli had $150,000 paid to himself for salary and benefits. The union constitution, carefully drawn by some of the best labor lawyers, vests all power in Coli to give raises and benefits. Coli is currently under investigation by the Chicago Strike Force for misuse of union funds.
Oh, there's more:
James Eco Coli, syndicate member and secretary treasurer of Local 727, Teamsters in Chicago, is a member of the union's pension, severance, and health and welfare plans. In addition, in 1974 he was given a fully funded trust initially worth $150,000 which he will receive when he leaves the union.
Rahm's world.
