Human Events reports:
“We’re ready to play offense for organized labor. It’s time we had a president who didn’t choke saying the word ‘union.’ A president who strengthens our unions by letting them do what they do best: organize our workers. . . . I will make it the law of the land when I’m president of the United States. . . . ” ~ Barack Obama
An eyebrow should be raised by anyone who wants stronger unions who's from Chicago.Here's the
Justice Department in this RICO complaint on the union movement in Chicago:
COMPLAINT
The United States of America, by and through Scott R. Lassar, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and the Laborers' International Union of North America (hereafter "LIUNA"), by and through Robert Luskin in his official capacity as General Executive Board Attorney of LIUNA (hereafter "GEB Attorney"), for their complaint, allege as follows:
I
INTRODUCTION
1 . This action is brought against the Construction & General Laborers' District Council of Chicago and vicinity (hereafter "Chicago Laborers District Council," or the "CLDC") to rid the district council of domination and influence by members and associates of organized crime. The CLDC is a group of 21 local unions affiliated with LIUNA. The Chicago Laborers District Council has been infiltrated by corrupt individuals and organized crime figures who have exploited their control and influence over the district council for personal gain and to the detriment of the CLDC.
2. As a result of the strong, pervasive ties to organized crime, officers and employees of the CLDC and its constituent locals and affiliated funds have been chosen and controlled by various members and associates of organized crime. Consequently, the rights of the members of the union to control the affairs of the union have been systematically abused. Those union members who might have opposed this corrupt state of affairs have been intimidated into silence by economic coercion and by the well-known ties between corrupt union officials and organized crime.
Here's
The Chicago Sun-Times on the union movement in Chicago:
For decades, the Roti family has held extraordinary sway at City Hall. A key part of that clout was its control of a union that represents the city's unskilled laborers and had a long history of mob ties.
Bruno F. Caruso -- a grandson of family patriarch Bruno Roti Sr., identified by the FBI as an associate of Al Capone's -- ran Laborers' International Union Local 1001, which represented 3,500 city workers while Caruso was in power, mostly in two city departments -- Streets and Sanitation, and Transportation. They empty garbage cans, pave streets, fix potholes.
Is America ready for Chicago style unions from a Chicago politician named Barack Obama? Remember,what's normal in Chicago would be beyond the pale in most places in America.Where else could a "high ranking made member" of the Mob be
elected to city council for 23 years and corrupt the union movement? Here's the Justice Department on the "unusual" situation:
FRED B. ROTI, a politically powerful former Chicago First Ward alderman, is the uncle of former CLDC president/ business manager Bruno Caruso and former CLDC official and Pension Fund Director Frank "Toots" Caruso. In 1992, in the case of United States v. Pat Marcy, et al. 90 CR 1045 (N.D. Illinois), Fred Roti was convicted of RICO conspiracy, bribery and extortion regarding the fixing of criminal cases in the Circuit Court of Cook County, including murder cases involving organized crime members or associates and was sentenced to 48 months' imprisonment. Roti was released from prison in 1997. As First Ward alderman, Roti was a key political patronage boss and, along with his co‑defendant Pat Marcy, a fixer for the Chicago Outfit. Roti has directly participated in interfering with the rights of the members of LIUNA in the selection of their officers and officials in that he has improperly influenced the selection of officers of the CLDC and has been responsible for the pervasive hiring of LaPietra crew members and associates at the Chicago streets and sanitation department. Roti is a made member of the Chicago Outfit.
Imagine that.
