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Harold Daggett, the president of the Worldwide Longshoremen’s Affiliation, which went on a short strike this week in a labor dispute that might have created a transport disaster throughout the U.S., was as soon as cleared of federal racketeering costs in reference to alleged mafia ties to the identical union.
Daggett’s lawyer, his cousin George Daggett, stated the 2005 costs have been politically motivated and based mostly on weak proof.
“This trial was a farce,” he advised Fox Information Digital. “Individuals say to me, ‘You probably did an incredible job.’ And I inform them a regulation faculty pupil might’ve received that case. It was truly generated by the Waterfront Fee in New York, they usually hated the union.”
The Justice Division didn’t convict – however the case had lethal outcomes. One of many co-defendants, a reputed Genovese household captain named Larry Ricci, disappeared mid-trial and was later discovered useless within the trunk of a automotive exterior the Huck Finn Diner in Union, New Jersey, 20 miles west of New York Metropolis.
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Harold J. Daggett, president of the Worldwide Longshoremen’s Affiliation speaks as dockworkers on the Maher Terminals in Port Newark have been on strike on October 1, 2024 in New Jersey. (BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP through Getty Photographs)
“He is both been kidnapped — that’s unlikely as a result of he’d be far too troublesome an individual to maintain hostage — or killed,” Ricci’s lawyer Martin Schmukler advised the courtroom after he vanished mid-trial, The Related Press reported on the time. He was later acquitted in absentia.
The fee, on the time a joint oversight operation between the states of New York and New Jersey, pressured federal prosecutors to deliver costs it could not show, George Daggett advised Fox Information Digital.
This trial was a farce. Individuals say to me, ‘You probably did an incredible job.’ And I inform them a regulation faculty pupil might’ve received that case. It was truly generated by the Waterfront Fee in New York, they usually hated the union.
Harold Daggett denied the felony accusations and stated he was a sufferer of mob extortion. He testified that one other mobster, George Barone, put a gun to his head and threatened to bloodbath his household.
The Huck Finn Diner in Union, New Jersey, pictured in a Google Maps picture. Suspected mafia captain Larry Ricci was discovered useless within the trunk of an deserted automotive exterior after he vanished in the course of a racketeering trial. He was acquitted in absentia.
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“I used to be so nervous, I urinated throughout myself,” he testified on the time, based on a New York Submit report. In a separate deposition, he denied realizing Barone was a Genovese “soldier,” courtroom paperwork present.
Prosecutors had alleged that Daggett had ties to the Genovese crime household way back to 2000, and the union has lengthy been accused of handing no-show jobs to mobsters’ relations and offering kickbacks.
In alternate for union contracts, the mob was supposed to guard the careers and salaries of corrupt ILA officers, prosecutors alleged.
Harold Daggett, president of the Worldwide Longshoremen’s Affiliation (ILA), middle, speaks to picketing staff exterior of the APM container terminal on the Port of Newark in Newark, New Jersey, US, on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. Dockworkers walked out of each main port on the US East and Gulf coasts for the primary time in practically 50 years. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg through Getty Photographs)
The Justice Division could not persuade jurors that the defendants have been responsible of a criminal offense.
George Daggett, the lawyer, stated the case started after his cousin requested a Catholic priest for monetary recommendation and had $18 million in union funds positioned beneath the supervision of the identical cash supervisor who labored with Our Woman of the Lake Church in Sparta, New Jersey.
“So on the trial, each time a mobster’s identify was talked about, the federal government had a giant board, they usually made a circle, [and] each time a mobster was talked about, they put his image up on this large board,” he stated. “The federal government’s case ended, and I took Father Cassidy’s image and I put it in the course of all these mobsters. So that is the type of trial it was.”
Dennis Daggett, govt vp of the Worldwide Longshoremen’s Affiliation (ILA), speaks to picketing staff exterior of the APM container terminal on the Port of Newark in Newark, New Jersey, US, on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg through Getty Photographs)
Though the case needed to do with allegations of extortion and interference with commerce, prosecutors requested their first witness how many individuals he’d killed, Daggett stated.
“You knew for the federal government it was all downhill after that,” he stated.
After Ricci’s disappearance, his lawyer continued to work on his behalf at trial and clear his identify.
Dockworkers collect on the Bayport Container Terminal in Seabrook, Texas, on October 1, 2024. (MARK FELIX/AFP through Getty Photographs)
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“What occurred was it was not a great fact-pattern for the federal government, however the Waterfront Fee was pushing so laborious that the japanese district stated OK,” Daggett advised Fox Information Digital. “Larry Ricci misplaced his life as a result of, I suppose, individuals thought that everyone was going to be responsible. There was no manner [the verdict] might’ve been responsible.”
One other co-defendant, Albert Cernadas pleaded responsible, however jurors went on to seek out Daggett, Ricci and Arthur Coffey, one other ILA govt, not responsible at trial.
Nobody has been charged with Riccis’ loss of life, though federal prosecutors stated they overheard on wiretaps a New Jersey mobster discussing the retrieval of the homicide weapon along with his son. That man, Michael Coppola, was despatched to jail in one other RICO case, which concerned ILA kickbacks, identification fraud and the 1977 homicide of a person named John “Johnny Cokes” Lardiere.
Prosecutors have additionally hinted that Ricci’s homicide opened a path for different suspected mobsters to corruptly revenue off of the ILA, based on courtroom paperwork.
Harold Daggett turned the union’s president in 2011. He has been presupposed to drive a yacht and a luxe Bentley automotive, reside in a sprawling mansion in Sparta, New Jersey, and introduced residence greater than $900,000 in union pay final 12 months – $728,000 for being union president, and one other $173,000 for his previous position in native 1804-1, which he left in 2011, FOX Enterprise reported.
The ILA, which represents dock staff on the East and Gulf Coasts, went on strike this week in a dispute over what the union calls unfair pay in opposition to a backdrop of steep inflation, a rising minimal wage that has outpaced union raises, and the specter of shedding human jobs to automation.
A container ship sits anchored in New York Harbor because it waits for the Port of Newark to re-open after members of the Worldwide Longshoremen’s Affiliation, or ILA, started strolling off the job on October 02, 2024 in Staten Island, New York. (Spencer Platt/Getty Photographs)
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The union was demanding concessions from the U.S. Maritime Alliance, or USMX, earlier than the edges reached a deal late Thursday.
The ILA, which represents 45,000 U.S. staff at ports alongside the East and Gulf Coasts, stated the edges reached a provisional wage settlement that extends the present contract till Jan. 15, 2025.
“Issues have been tough again then [in 1977, when] we went on strike for 80 cents,” Harold Daggett advised FOX Enterprise Tuesday. “The businesses solely made like $5 to 10 million, however since COVID and earlier than COVID ’til now, they’re making billions and billions of {dollars}. It is a complete completely different story, however they do not wish to share it. They’d reasonably see a totally automated terminal proper right here on the East Coast to allow them to earn more money. They’re cash loopy.”
The strike might have crippled the U.S. provide chain and value the nation’s economic system greater than $4. billion a day, based on one JPMorgan evaluation.
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