Eugene Hanley (April 2, 1926 – April 20, 2009) was an American labor leader in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, and an associate of the

Genovese crime family The Genovese crime family (), also sometimes referred to as the Westside, is an Italian Americans, Italian American American Mafia, Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City and Ne ...

. Hanley took over as President of Local 257 of the New York City District Council of Carpenters for his father-in-law, a Genovese mobster named Will Graziano. Hanley and Local Vice-President Attilio Bitondo extorted building contractors operating in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

in conjunction with Local

shop steward A union representative, union steward, or shop steward is an employee of an organization or company who represents and defends the interests of their fellow employees as a trades/labour union member and official. Rank-and-file members of the un ...

Carmine Fiore, a

Gambino crime family The Gambino crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the American Mafia. ...

soldier, and other

organized crime Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...

figures linked to the Gambino, Genovese and

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

crime families A crime family is a unit of an organized crime syndicate, particularly in the Sicilian Mafia and Italian-American Mafia, often operating within a specific geographic territory or a specific set of activities. In its strictest sense, a ''family'' ...

. The men ordered beatings for those contractors who refused to back in, but typically, violence wasn't needed.

Biography

In 1987, Hanley, Bitondo and other high-ranking officials of the N.Y.C. District Council of Carpenters were indicted on 79 counts of labor

racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercion, coercive, fraud, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. ...

, including

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit (e.g., money or goods) through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, although making unfounded ...

bribery Bribery is the corrupt solicitation, payment, or Offer and acceptance, acceptance of a private favor (a bribe) in exchange for official action. The purpose of a bribe is to influence the actions of the recipient, a person in charge of an official ...

, and

bid rigging Bid rigging is a fraudulent scheme in a procurement action which enables companies to submit non-competitive bids. It can be performed by corrupt officials, by firms in an orchestrated act of collusion, or by officials and firms acting together. ...

. District Attorney (DA) Robert M. Morgenthau claimed that contractors that cooperated with the DA's investigation claimed they paid over $100,000 in extortion payments, but DA Morgenthau explained that the figure documented less than 10% of the money paid to the gangsters during the investigation. Gambino associate turned informant Dominick LoFaro wore a

covert listening device A covert listening device, more commonly known as a bug or a wire, is usually a combination of a miniature radio transmitter with a microphone. The use of bugs, called bugging, or wiretapping is a common technique in surveillance, espionage and ...

to gather information on the unions and gangsters, and provided information to the New York State Organized Crime Task Force leading to the "bugging" of the offices of Local 608 at 1650

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

and of Local 257 at 157 East 25th Street. LoFaro also discussed Hanley's ties to other organized crime figures, including Bartholomew "Bobby" Boriello, Albert "Kid Blast" Gallo, Anthony "Tony" Scotto and Anthony "Sonny" Ciccone. Hanley would receive a 4-year prison sentence to lesser charges of bribe giving, and would be banned from future union activities. Hanley earned an early release from prison and received a no-show work release job at Casale Jewelry on Court Street, Brooklyn. Hanley's son William resigned from his position as President of Carpenter's Union Local 157 (which was renamed after the massive racketeering indictment) in November 2007, and the Local was placed under trusteeship, citing connections to organized crime, including prevailing upon a contractor to hire a no-work man named Joseph Vecchiarello.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hanley, Eugene American trade union leaders American people convicted of bribery American trade union officials convicted of crimes American gangsters of Irish descent Mafia extortionists 1926 births 2009 deaths

Biography

References

Further reading

External links