INDEPENDENT REVIEW BOARD 444 North Capitol Street, NW, Suite 528
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
INDEPENDENT REVIEW BOARD 444 North Capitol Street, NW, Suite 528 Washington, DC 20001 - (202) 434-8080 Facsimile (202) 434-8084 Corruption Hotline (800) CALL IRB Chief Investigator Board Members: Charles M. Carberry, Esq. Grant Crandall, Esq. 17 Batteiy Place, Suite 331 Crandall, Pyles, Haviland & Turner New York, NY 10004 122 Capitol Street, Suite 300 Charleston, WV 25301 Administrator: Frederick B. Lacey, Esq. lohn J. Cronin, Jr. LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae One Riverfront Plaza Newark, NJ 07102-5490 William H. Webster, Esq. January 26 1999 Milbank, Tweed, Hadley&McCloy ' 1825EyeStreet,NW, Suite 1100 Washington, DC 20006 Mr. Tom Sever Acting General President 25 Louisiana Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20001-2198 Re: Decision on Charges against Local 282 Member Theodore N. Furstman Dear Mr. Sever: The Independent Review Board has reviewed your December 11, 1998, decision in the above-captioned matter, and finds the decision to be not inadequate. Very truly yours, Members of the Independent Review Board By: cc: David L. Neigus, Esq. Patrick J. Szymanski, Esq. Pursuant to the Consent Order of the I'nih-d Stah*s District Court, S.D.N. Y. United States -v- International Brotherhood of 'Monsters 88 CIV 4486 (DNE) tNTERNATtONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS AFL-CIO OFFICE OF TOM SEVER GENERAL SECRETARY-TREASURER December 11, 1998 Mr. John J. Cronin, Jr., Administrator Independent Review Board 444 North Capitol Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20001 Re: Theodore N. Furstman, Local Union 282 Dear Mr. Cronin: This is in response to your letter of December 8, 1998 advising me that the Independent Review Board ("IRB") found the decision suspending Theodore Furstman from membership for a period of five years was inadequate. After further review of prior decisions concerning IBT members found to have associated with barred persons and known organized crime associates such as Robert Sasso, I have determined to increase the sanction against Theodore Furstman to permanently bar him from membership in Local 282 and any IBT entity. Very truly yours, Tom Sever Acting General President TS/lmb cc: Theodore N. Furstman Gary LaBarbera, Trustee, Local Union 282 Hearing Panel 2 5 LOU !Si AN A AVENUE, N.W. ° WASHiNGTON D.C. 200 0 1-2 198 * (2 02) 624-8 80 0 INDEPENDENT REVIEW BOARD 444 North Capitol St., NW, Suite 528 Washington, DC 20001 (202) 434-8080 Facsimile (202) 434-8084 Corruption Hotline (800) CALL IRB Chief Investigator: Board Members: Charles M. Carberry, Esq. Grant Crandall, Esq. 17 Battery Place, Suite 331 Crandall, Pyles & Haviland New York, NY 10004 1021 Quarrier Street Charleston, WV 25301 Administrator: Frederick B. Lacey, Esq. John J. Cronin, Jr. LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae One Riverfront Plaza December 8, 1998 Newark, NJ 07102-5490 William H. Webster, Esq. Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy 1825 Eye Street, NW, Suite 1100 Mr. Tom Sever Washington, DC 20006 Acting General President, IBT 2 5 Louisiana Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20001-2198 Re: Theodore N. Furstman. Local 282 Dear Mr. Sever: The Independent Review Board (IRB) reviewed your decision on the charges against Mr. Furstman. In light of past sanctions that imposed permanent bars from membership on members associated with prohibited persons and known organized crime associates such as Robert Sasso, the IRB finds that the sanction of five years suspension from membership is inadeguate. Very truly yours, Members of the Independent/Review Board Cronin,^Jr. Administrator cc: Mr. Theodore N. Furstman Pursuant to the Consent Order of the United States District Court, S.D.N. Y. United States -v- International Brotherhood of Teamsters 88 CIV 4486 (DNE) INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS IN THE MATTER OF: ARTICLE XIX CHARGES - Against - DECISION THEODORE N. FURSTMAN, JR. Having reviewed and duly considered the hearing record and the findings and recommendations of the Article XIX Hearing Panel in the above referenced matter, I hereby issue the following decision on the proposed charges against Local 282 member Theodore N. Furstman, Jr., referred to Gary LaBarbera, the trustee of Teamsters Local 282 by the Independent Review Board ("IRB").^ The proposed charges against Brother Furstman were heard before a Hearing Panel comprised of Lou Partenza, Robert Corbett and Gerry Ranita. The Hearing Panel conducted a hearing on the charges on September 29, 1998, in Lake Success, New York at which all parties were afforded an opportunity to present evidence and to cross examine witnesses. After review and consideration of the evidence submitted the parties, the Hearing Panel issued a report of its findings and recommendations in this case. A copy of the Hearing Panel's report is appended to this decision. The Hearing Panel found that Furstman brought reproach upon the International Brotherhood of Teamsters ("IBT") and violated the IBT Constitution by knowingly associating with Bobby Sasso, former \At the time of the hearing in these cases, Furstman was a member of Local 282 and prior to being removed, had been a shop steward for approximately 18 years. President of Local 282 who, pursuant to charges by the Investigations Officer and an agreement settling the charges, was permanently barred from the IBT for knowingly associating with members of organized crime. I concur with the findings of fact set forth in the Hearing Panel's report and I adopt them in their entirety except where I have modified the recommended sanctions.^ With respect to the merits of the charges, Furstman did not deny that he knowingly associated with Sasso after he was barred from the IBT for knowingly associating with LCN members. The defense proffered by Furstman was that while he knew that Sasso had been indicted and resigned from the Union he did not know that the Consent Decree and the IBT Constitution prohibited him from associating with Sasso.^ Furstman's Knowledge Of Sasso's Bar From The Union Furstman admitted that he became aware in 1991 that Sasso had been charged by the Investigations Officer with knowingly associating with LCN members. Furstman also admitted that he knew that Sasso had entered into an agreement whereby he resigned all of his positions in the Union. The charge and the permanent -The Hearing Panel recommended that Furstman be suspended from IBT membership for one year and be barred from holding office or employment with the IBT and any of its affiliates for a period of five years. ^Furstman also apparently contends that because he had no knowledge of any of Sasso's wrongdoing and that Sasso never asked him to do anything wrong, then he should not be held accountable. This logic is flawed because it would permit a member to associate with a barred person simply because the member had no personal knowledge of the barred person's misdeeds or had not been asked to do anything wrong. 2 resignation agreement involving Sasso were each published in the Teamster magazine in 1992. Furstman also does not dispute that he knew of Sasso's indictment, guilty plea and sentencing to prison in 1995 involving a labor racketeering charge. Sasso's removal from the Union and his indictment and conviction were well publicized in the New York metropolitan area. Several other Local 282 members have been permanently barred from the Union because of their visits to Sasso in prison. These cases have been well-publicized and have appeared in the Teamster magazine. Furstman cannot now claim, despite all of the publicity surrounding Sasso's removal, his ultimate stay in prison and the cases of other Local 282 members who visited him, that Furstman did not know that he was prohibited from associating with Sasso. Furstman also acknowledges knowing that the IBT had been sued by the government in a civil RICO case and that as part of the settlement the Union had entered into a Consent Decree. Furstman admits to visiting Sasso's family on a monthly basis while Sasso was in prison and that after Sasso got out of prison in July of 1997, he visited with him approximately five times. At one of these meetings, Furstman asked whether Sasso could help Furstman's son, also a Local 282 member, find work with a Local 282 employer. At this meeting Sasso warned Furstman that Furstman should not meet with him because it would bring him trouble. Despite this admonition by Sasso himself, Furstman continued to 3 meet with Sasso. Eventually he was removed as a shop steward and charged by the Chief Investigator with the charge in this case. At bottom, Furstman's defense boils down to the fact that he considered Sasso a friend who had taken care of him over the years and he was not going to simply stop being Sasso's friend because of Sasso's demise within the Union and his conviction for labor racketeering. This assertion contravenes the Consent Decree's prohibition on associating with LCN members or barred individuals that has been well publicized in the Teamster magazine as well as other sources since at least 1989. Simply to assert "he didn't know" or "didn't care" is a defense without merit. Moreover, it appears that Furstman believed that Sasso still had some influence in the Local since he went to ask Sasso to get his son a job with a Local 282 signatory employer. Unlike the Hearing Panel, I find that this effort, even though Sasso said he could not help, was an attempt by Furstman to involve Sasso in Local 282's affairs. In this case, the Hearing Panel believed that there were some mitigating circumstances that militated in favor of leniency. First, the Panel believed that Furstman was motivated by long-term friendship and not by some effort to "illegally" influence Local Union business. Second, the Panel felt that because Furstman had not been charged with any wrongdoing in his 18 years as a shop steward in Local 282 and that even after the trusteeship of Local 282 was imposed he continued to serve as a shop steward, some leniency should be shown.