Flashback: City of Chicago Workers Who Were Chicago Mob Associates

Flashback. Laborers For Justice has an interesting report on who gets hired by the city of Chicago:

Nick M. Lococo was a Teamster general foreman of motor truck drivers in the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) for many years. Lococo retired in 2002 and was featured in a cover story in the January 2004 Chicago Sun-Times as having "mob ties" (with the nickname of Nick "The Stick" Lococo) and was said to be a reputed "juice"



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collector.' Lococo was identified by the federal government in a criminal case in 1996 as an associate of the 26th Street/Chinatown crew of the Chicago Outfit. This crew was involved in "hijacking, loan-sharking, gambling and many killings which took place in the Chicago area."9 The conclusion that Lococo was involved with this crew was based in part upon wiretaps of a bookmaking establishment that made repeated telephone calls to a small group of individuals including Lococo.10 (Lococo was also a participant in the corruption-laden City Hired Truck Program, discussed in Appendix, Tab 7, acting as the contact person for the Hired Truck Program for the CDOT, at least until he retired in 2002.11) It was alleged that Lococo solicited and accepted bribes from fellow Teamsters in exchange for the assignment of jobs that paid substantial overtime.

After many months of investigative efforts, sworn testimony was elicited in August 2003 that Lococo, while in his position as an CDOT general foreman and still a Teamster, extorted "Christmas gifts" from at least one 10-year member of Local 726 in the amount of $500.00 every Christmas from 1994 through 2001 in exchange for a job that included coveted overtime. His job involved running a machine, such as an edger or paver, instead of only driving a truck which involved no overtime. This member worked year-round for three-to-four years in CDOT and prior to that alternated between CDOT and the Department of Aviation. During his time at CDOT, he earned $20,000.00 to $30,000.00 in overtime every year and claimed that there were likely several hundred other Local 726 members out of a total of 450 to 500 Teamster workers at the airport who also paid bribes to Lococo for the coveted overtime jobs. Those close to Lococo collected the bribes. The member knew that other members paid bribes because he often had discussions with them

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about Lococo's mandatory "Christmas gifts," which consisted of putting money into a Christmas card. The member further testified that he had no incentive to report the solicitation of bribes by his supervisor to Local 726 officers or business agents because the amount of overtime pay he was receiving in the more lucrative job ($20,000.00 to $30,000.00) was so much greater than the $500.00 he had to pay to keep the job. Even the member's accountant suggested he just pay the bribe and keep working the overtime. 12 As discussed below, the member was subsequently laid off in April 2003.

When Lococo retired from the local in June 2002, he was replaced by Teamster Joseph J. Senese, a Local 726 member, as a CDOT general foreman. Law enforcement sources stated that Senese is an organized crime associate, having been arrested, like Lococo, for illegal bookmaking early in the 1990s, and may have been a wire room operator. Also, like Lococo, Senese is believed to be an associate of the 26th Street/Chinatown crew of the Chicago Outfit.13 The 10-year Local 726 member who last .paid a bribe in December 2001 to Lococo was told in October 2003 by a Teamster steward and friend that the reason he was laid off in April 2003 was that he did not know how the game is played,"' adding that he "`didn't do the right thing' at Christmas time in 2002." By this reference to Christmas time, the Teamster understood that he should also have made a "Christmas gift" payment to Senese, Lococo's replacement. Thus, it is his impression that bribes are still being paid for lucrative overtime jobs.14

Great moments in management of the city of Chicago workforce.