NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- The president of the New York State Building and Construction Trades Council, is among 11 labor officials indicted Thursday on charges including fraud conspiracy and racketeering.
According to federal prosecutors, James Cahill, president of the Trades Council, which represents more than 200,000 unionized construction workers and an executive council member of the state AFL-CIO, accepted bribes to act in favor of non-union employers and to exercise "corrupt influence within the construction trade."
Prosecutors allege that Cahill specifically urged a non-union employer that allegedly bribed him not to unionize.
Since Oct. 2018, Manhattan prosecutors say Cahill and the others allegedly accepted bribes worth more than $100,000.
Nine of them are current and former officials of Local 638, which represent pipe fitters in New York and on Long Island.
The 11 men face charges that included racketeering conspiracy and fraud conspiracy. If convicted, sentences can carry up to 20 years in prison.
The AFL-CIO described the charges as "alarming."
"We want to be very clear however that none of the charges involve actions of the New York State AFL-CIO. While at this point, these are allegations - we must be unequivocal: the integrity of the Labor Movement is of paramount importance to the New York State AFL-CIO," Mario Cilento, the group's president said in a statement.
