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INVESTIGATION OF IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR OR MANAGEMENT FIELD
\
HEARINGS
BEFORE THE
SELECT COMmTTEE
ON IMPROPER ACTIYITIES IN THE
LABOR OR MANAGEMENT FIELD
EIGHTY-FIFTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION PURSUANT TO SENATE RESOLUTION 74, 85TH CONGRESS
JULY 31, AUGUST 1, 2, 5, AND 6, 1957
PART 10
Printed for the use of the Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field
INVESTIGATION OF IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR OR MANAGEMENT FIELD
HEARINGS
BEFORE THE
SELECT COMMITTEE
ON IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE
LABOR OR MANAGEMENT FIELD
EIGHTY-FIFTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION PURSUANT TO SENATE RESOLUTION 74, 85TH CONGRESS
JULY 31, AUGUST 1, 2, 5, AND 6, 1957
PART 10
Printed for the use of the Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field
UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 8B330 WASHINGTON : 1957
Boston Public Library SuperintCTT^pnt of Documents
NOV 18 1957
SELEC5T COMMITTEE ON IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR OR MANAGEMENT FIELD
JOHN L. McCLELLAN, Arkansas, Chairman IRVING M. IVES, New York, Vice Chairman JOHN F. KENNEDY, Massachusetts KARL E. MUNDT, South Dakota
SAM J. ERVIN, Jr., North Carolina BARRY GOLDVS^ATER, Arizona
PAT McNAMARA, Michigan . CARL T. CURTIS, Nebraska
ROBERT F. Kennedy, Chief Counsel Rdth Young Watt, Chief Clerk n
CONTENTS
Area: New York (Teamsters Paper Locals)
Pag«
Appendix 3969
Implementation of opening statement:
Robert F. Kennedy 3595
Testimony of —
Berger, Sam 3673
Boyar, Louis 3909
Chernuchin, Sidney 3812
Chester, Max 3935
Claude, Paul 3920
Conoval, Samuel 3802
Ehrlich, Morris 3817
Fine, Jerome 3831
Garren, Murray 3826
Gasster, Henry 3746, 3749
Getlan, Sam 3843, 3851,3856
Goldberg, Abraham 3734
Holt, Milton 3876
Kazansky, Philip 3871
Krieger, Harold . 3945
Lehrer, Stanley 3883
May, Walter R 3851
McNiflf, John 3756
Montalvo, Mario 3792
Nunez, Bertha 3781, 3790
Pope, Louis 3914
Ray, Theodore 3719, 3751
SegHn, Stanley 3960
Tierney, Paul J 3745,3749,3840,3849
Topazio, Anthony 3724
Washburn, Lester 3683, 3710
Zakman, Samuel 3636
EXHIBITS
1. First application for charter of affiliation for Local 102, In- ducedon Appears
ternational Union, United Automobile Workers of Amer- page on page ica, dated September 12, 1950 3644 3969
2. Second application for charter for local 102 dated April 23,
1951 3649 3970-
3. Schedule of loans made to local 102 from unreported source 3971
from September 1950 through December 1951, totaling
$21,380.39 3660 3972
4. Resolution adopted by the executive board of Local 512,
AMPUC-A. F. of L., on January 7, 1954 3670 (*)
5. Letter from UAW-AFL Amalgamated Union Local 102,
dated November 10, 1951, signed by Johnny Dioguardi, president, to Anthony Doria, secretary-treasurer, United Automobile Workers, AFL, concerning issuance of char- ter to local 138 3745 3973
6. Labor or<Tanization registration form filed by Local 649,
United Automobile Workers, AFL, dated March 18, 1953,
and si'2;ned bv John Dioguardi, president 3745 3974-
7. Official application for charter for Local 198, UAW-AFL, 3975
dated Januarv 5, 1953, signed by Henry Gasster, presi- dent '_ 3748 3976
See footnote at end of Contents, p. v.
m
IV CONTENTS
7A, Letter dated January 5, 1953, to Anthony Doria, United jj^^j.^.
Automobile Workers of America, enclosing applicationduced on Appears for Local 198, UAW-AFL, and signed by John Dioguardi, page on page Amalgamated Union Local 649 3749 (**)
8. Pamphlet issued by the Association of Catholic Trade
Unionists describing some typical cases handled by the association 3792 (*)
9. Contract dated July 5, 1955, between Amalgamated Union
Local 649, U AW, and Sealtite Quilting Corp 3835 (*)
10. Canceled check No. 2613, dated August 10, 1955, payable
to Amalgamated Union Local No. 649 in the amount of
$1,000 from Sealtite Quilting Corp 3836 3977
11. Souvenir journal of Amalgamated Union Local No. 649 with
a one-page advertisement of Sealtite Quilting Corp 3836 (*)
12. Amalgamated Union Local 649 souvenir journal advertising
contract 3836 3978
13. Application for charter, dated November 8, 1955, by local
275 3840 3979
14. Letter dated December 1, 1955, from local 258 to Joint
Council 16, requesting that the officers of local 258 be
seated as delegates to joint council 16 3842 3980
15. Letter dated February 2, 1956, from Harry Davidoff,
secretary- treasurer of local 256 to Joint Council 16 3847 (**)
16. Letter dated February 2, 1956, from Harry Davidoff, secre-
tary-treasurer to joint council 16 3848 (**)
17. Document entitled "Local 228" which contains certain in-
formation requested by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation from Anthony Doria 3853 (**)
18. Labor organization registration form filed by local 228 3855 3981-
3982
19. Labor organization registration form filed by local 228 3856 3983-
3984 20- Letter dated February 2, 1956, to joint council 16 signed by
Joseph Curcio, secretary-treasurer, local 269 3873 (**)
21. Letter dated February 2, 1956, to joint council 16 signed by
Joseph Curcio, secretary-treasurer, local 269, certifjang
Philip Kazansky eligible to vote in joint council election. _ 3874 (**)
22. Contract dated August 18, 1955, between Equitable Re-
search Associates and Auto Glass Dealers Association,
Inc 3890 (*)
23. Contract dated September 1, 1955, by and between Local
Union 227, UAW, AFL, and the Auto Glass Dealers Association 3892 (*)
24A. Check dated October 18, 1955, payable to Equitable Re- search Associates Corp. from Auto Glass Dealers Asso- ciation (labor relations fund account) in the amount of
$499.80 with accompanying letter 3901 3985-
3986
24B. Check dated December 5, 1955, payable to Equitable Re- search Associates Corp. from Auto Glass Association (labor relations fund) in the amount of $199.92 and ac- companying letter : 3901 3987-
3988
240. Check dated January 17, 1956, payable to Equitable Re- search Associates Corp. from Auto Glass Dealers Asso- ciation (labor relations fund account) in the amount of
$108.27 and accompanying letter 3901 3989-
3990
25. Notice of the Auto Dealers Association, Inc., dated Sept. 6,
1955, signed by Frank Lurrey, president, Stanley Lehrer,
counsel and Alorris S. Gorman, executive secretary 3903 (**)
26. Letter dated May 11, 1956, addressed to Auto Glass Deal-
ers Association, signed by Arthur Santa Maria, United
Automobile Workers Union, Local 227 3907 3991
See footnotes at end of Contents, p. v.
CONTENTS
Intro-
27. Letter dated May 22, 1956, addressed to Local 227, Unitedduced on Appears
Auto Workers Union, re Auto Glass Dealers Association, ^'^^^ °^ p^^® Inc., signed b}^ Stanley Lehrer 3907 3992
28. Sticker reading "This is a Union Shop, Independent Auto
Workers Union lOlA" 3916 3993
29 A. Business card: Independent Auto Workers Union, Local 101-A, 363 East 149th Street, New York, N. Y., James Dodge, business agent 3917 3994
29B. Business card: Independent Auto Workers Union, Local 101-A, 363 East 149th Street, New York, Alfred Naft, business agent 3917 3994
29C. Business card: Independent Auto Workers Union, Local lOOA, 363 East 149th Street, New York, Jack Sicari, busi- ness agent 3917 3994
29D. Business card: Independent Auto Workers Union, Local 101 A, 363 East 149th Street, New York, Charles DiSilvio, president 3917 3994
30. Contract form of Independent Auto W^orkers Union 101 A- - 3918 (*)
31. Contract dated September 27, 1954, between Local 405,
R. C. I. A. and Paragon Brass employer 3927 (*)
32 A. Check of Paragon Brass, dated September 27, 1954, payable
to "cash" signed by Paul Claude, in the amount of $215- . 3929 3995 32B. Check No. 2346 of Paragon Brass, dated October 18, 1954, payable to "cash" signed by Paul Claude, in the amount
of$215 3929 3996
32C. Check No. 2373 of Paragon Brass, dated November 1, 1954, payable to "cash" signed by Paul Claude, in the amount of$200 3929 3997
33. Check No. 1516 of Albert Oilman Associates, dated Febru-
ary 9, 1955, payable to "cash" signed bv Albert Filman in
the amount of $220 3929 3998
34. Check No. 229 of Paragon Brass dated April 1, 1955, payable
to "cash" signed by Paul Claude, in the amount of $130._ - 3931 3999
35. Postdated check dated April 7, 1955, payable to "cash"
signed by Max Chester, in the amount of $130 3931 4000
36A. Postdated check dated April 6, 1955, payable to "cash"
signed by Max Chester in the amount of $55 3932 4001
36B. Postdated check dated April 13, 1955, payable to "cash"
signed by Max Chester in the amount of $55 3932 4002
36C. Postdated 'check dated April 20, 1955, payable to "cash"
signed by Max Chester in the amount of $55 3932 4003
36D. Postdated check dated April 27, 1955, payable to "cash"
signed by Max Chester in the amount of $55 3932 4004
37. Labor organization registration form filed by Amalgated
Local 355, UAW-AFL, dated December 28, 1953 3949 4005-
4006 37A. Letter dated December 23, 1953, addressed to the Bureau of Labor Standards signed by Harold Krieger, enclosing forms 3949 4007
38. Official apphcation for charter for local 224, dated September
15,1953. 3962 4008
39. Apphcation for charter for local 269 of the teamsters, dated
Noyember 8, 1955 3964 4009
40. Letter dated December 1, 1955, addressed to joint council 16
signed by Abraham Brier, secretary-treasurer. Employees
Union Local 362 3966 4010
40A. Letter dated February 2, li»56, addressed to joint council 16, signed by Abraham Brier, local 362 certifying Stanley
Seglin eligible to vote in joint council election 3966 4011
Proceedings of —
July 31, 1957 3591
August 1, 1957 3683
August 2, 1957 3753
Au<4ust 5, 1957 3839
August 6, 1957 3883
*May be found in the files of the select committee. **May be found in the printed record.
INVESTIGATION OF IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR OR MANAGE3IENT FIELD
WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 1957
United States Senate, Select Committee on Improper Activities in
the Labor and IVIanagement Field,
Washington^ D. C.
The select committee met at 10 a. m., pursuant to Senate Resolution 74, agreed to January 30, 1957, in the caucus room, Senate Office Building, Senator John L. McClellan (chairman of the select com- mittee) presiding.
Present : Senators John L. McClellan, Democrat, Arkansas ; Irving M. Ives, Republican, New York ; John F. Kennedy, Democrat, Massa- chusetts; Sam J. Ervin, Jr., Democrat, North Carolina; Pat Mc- Namara, Democrat, Michigan; Karl E. Mundt, Republican, South Dakota ; Barry Goldwater, Republican, Arizona ; and Carl T. Curtis, Republican, Nebraska.
Also present : Robert F? Kennedy, chief counsel ; Jerome S. Adler- man, assistant chief counsel ; Paul J. Tierney, assistant counsel ; Pierre E. G. Salinger, investigator ; Robert E. Dunne, assistant counsel ; and Ruth Young Watt, chief clerk.
The Chairiman. The committee will be in order.
(Members of the committee present at the convening of the session were Senators McClellan, Ives, Ervin, Kennedy, Mundt, and Curtis.)
The Chairman. "\Ye are beginning a new series of public hearings this morning and the Chair desires to make a brief statement relative thereto.
From the inception of this committee, one of its primary objectives has been to investigate racketeer and criminal operations in the labor- management field.
This committee and its staff have been engaged in a long and inten- sive investigation into hoodlum activities in some unions. Hundreds of witnesses have been interviewed — union records have been examined where they could be found — many of these records have been de- stroyed and the facts had to be reconstructed in other ways, from bank accounts, employers' records, and so forth.
We have had excellent cooperation and assistance from the city, State, and Federal agencies. I wish to particularly thank District Attorney Frank Hogan and his staff' in New York City for the assist- ance they have extended to the committee, and I commend liim for the fine job iie has done in prosecuting labor racketeers.
"V-VTiile I usually refrain from commenting on the nature of the evi- dence in advance of the hearings, a preliminary study of the evidence
3591
3592 IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD
gathered by the committee staff in this case, I believe, indicates that 1 should make some comment as this series of hearings begins.
In my judgment, the evidence will disclose that hoodlums and racketeers came into the labor picture with the aid and assistance of certain high level union officials.
I think before we are through with the hearings it will have been demonstrated, beyond any doubt, that these hoodlums were not in the field of labor for the benefit of the laboring man. It is apparent they were enabled to operate through the grant of union charters — and these charters were used as instruments for the commission of extor- tion from employers.
But no small part of the picture is the victimization of the union membership.
The initiation fees and dues of members constituted a steady source of income for these hoodlums and their henchmen who were put on the union payrolls. It provided an income for the mob that worked for Johnny Dioguardi and Antonio (Tony Ducks) Corallo.
The racketeers, in effect, sold out the union members and gained the cooperation of management in organization of its plants by giving them easy, or so-called sweetheart contracts which contained little or no benefit to employees.
It will be shown that the illiterate Puerto Rican and Negro laborers were misused by both management and labor. In some instances, the union contracts called for only the legal minimum wage which the employers had to pay anyhow under the law. In some of the plants, the employer paid the union dues and welfare payments without the knowledge of the employees. And the employees did not even know they were in the union. In other instances, employees gained little or nothing by being members of the union. The dues of tliese unions' members fattened the pocketbooks of racketeers and their henchmen.
To the hoodlum, the union charter is a private certificate to do busi- ness. The hoodlum often lays out his own money to finance the start of the organization and then later reimburses himself many times over from the "profits," that is, the initiation fees and dues.
One of the interesting facets we expect to show is that at times the hoodlums used Communists or former Communists because they were excellently trained organizers and knew all the tricks to get member- ship.
The unions gave the racketeers political power ; they use the unions to extort money ; they fleece their members ; they have a strong impact on the economics of our industry and can make or break small em- ployers by their tactics.
The question arises as to why certain labor leaders want racketeers as local union heads. The reasons are twofold :
First, racketeers, because of their ruthlessness, toughness, et cetei-a, are good organizers, can gain an increase in membership, can get em- ployers to enter into contracts, can bring increased income to the in- ternationals by the payment of per capita dues.
Second, with the help of the hoodums who are loyal only to their labor bosses and not to the workingman, these labor bosses are enabled to get control of local councils and federations with the help of racket- eer locals, and thus control a large geographical area.
IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD 3593
For example, we expect in this instance there will be evidence to show that Mr. James Hoffa, through the help of racketeers, supported John CRourke, who souo;ht and did obtain control over joint council No. 16 of the New York area, the biggest and richest labor area in the comitry.
The joint council is important because of its policymaking function, the centralization of power in the hands of a small group, its control over the grants of charters, and the right to strike, et cetera.
In addition, there will be evidence to show that Hoffa was going to tie up with the International Longshoremen's Association of New York, a union which liad been kicked out of the AFL because of its control by racketeei-s.
Thus, with control of joint council No. 16 and the International Longshoremen's Association, Hoffa would have a stranglehold over the port of New York. The next step would be the entire eastern seaboard and the St. Lawrence seaway.
The economic factors involved are tremendous. Such power placed in the hands of persons affiliated with racketeers is a danger to the welfare of the Nation.
While we have labor-racketeering provisions in our laws, it appears they are not adequate to prevent racketeer control of unions. These hearings, we hope, will serve to throw a searchlight on racket opera- tions, and inform not only the Congress but also the labor fraternity and the general public as to how the racketeers gain control of unions, and the evils that can result fi'om such control. It is only by gather- ing tlie facts and by com]iletely understanding the manner in which the racketeers operate that we can hope to provide legislation to prevent abuses.
Preliminary to hearing the Avitnesses, I will ask Mr. Kennedy, be- cause of the complexity of the case, to present and explain some charts which have been made up under his direction.
As Mr. Kennedy proceeds to present these charts and explain them, so as to put the inquiry into its proper perspective from the beginning, his remarks will not be testimony but simply an implementation of this opening statement of the Chair, and therefore he will not be placed under oath.
Senator Ives. Mr. Chairman, I want to commend you for that ex- cellent statement. It covers very thoroughly what we intend to do, and gives the public a good idea of what the problem is with which we are faced.
Now, before Mr. Kennedy explains his charts, I would like to ask him some questions, or at least one question.
How many years has this racketeering on its present scale been going on in New York (^ity or New York State ?
Mr. Kennedy. I think many of the racketeers and hoodlums came into the union movement starting back in 1950, Senator Ives, but I think there has been racketeering in the labor movement up in New York for many, many years.
Senator Ives. How many years would you say ?
Mr. Kennedy. Certainly through the 1930's.
Senator Ives. Through the 193(rs?
Mr. Kennedy. Yes.
Senator Ives. The reason I asked the question, it happens that in 1938, and through 1946, I was chairman of the joint legislative com-
3594 IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD
mittee in New York State on industrial and labor conditions. While now and then we had brought to our attention a serious rack- eteering situation which we went after and which ultimately was ex- posed and taken care of, we never had anything of the magnitude we are now investigating.
Do you think that in the 1930's it was that way ?
Mr. Kennedy. Certainly in 1935 through 1939 you had great diffi- culties in New York City.
Senator Ives. That is why the committee was set up.
Mr. Kennedy. I think it lessened after Mr. Dewey's work in New York City.
Senator Ives. I think we helped to lessen it some.
Mr. Kennedy. I am sure of that, Senator, and I think that since 1950, particularly after the drive was made on bookmakers by Tom Murphy in New York City in 1950, many of the people that had been in bookmaking turned to other sources of income, and a lot of them went into this labor-union movement and tried to get charters in order to organize employees.
Senator Ives. Then you really think that this racketeering move- ment in the labor movement itself has reached the proportions which it now has only since 1950?
Mr. Kennedy. I would think so, and again with the exception of those years.
Senator Ives. I wondered if I had missed something over the years and I did not think I had.
Mr. Kennedy. You are right, Senator.
Senator Ives. Thank you.
The Chairman. Are there any other Senators who want to make a statement?
Senator Mundt. Mr. Chairman, I have an opening statement here which supplements one aspect that the chairman's statement touched upon.
I think this hearing is going to be somewhat different from any we have held up to date for an essential reason, which I shall discuss in this opening statement.
I do not know just what individuals are going to be involved in this hearing ultimately, nor which unions, but involved here is a mechanism which is fraught with peril to the American people, as I see it.
As these hearings progress, I think it will become evident to the American people that thousands of honest, industries workingmen and women in the New York City area have, because of a lack of democratic procedures in their unions, been subjected to dictatorial powers of a group of racketeers and unscrupulous labor leaders.
This is indeed a sad commentary on our way of life when the work- ingman must depend for his livelihood on the whims and fancies of some of these people who will be appearing before this committee. We in this coimtry have always prided ourselves on our free society and on our system of free enterprise, but we most assuredly cannot say that these working people are truly free. It was not too long ago that the oppressed and downtrodden from foreign countries mi- grated to our shores to free themselves from the shackles of tyranny. However, we find that within the great framework of our free society, we today have a dictatorship rivaling the ones faced by these people before.
IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD 3595
We as part of the free world, are highly perturbed, and rightfully so, about the Communist menace both from inside and outside our shores. Yet we shall be witnessing in the next few weeks a form of tyranny unfolding which in the long run offers to Communist con- spirators an opportunity to paralyze our defense establishments and our offensive striking powers.
In fact, if we permit a situation to prevail whereby an unscrupulous cell of powerful hoodlums can tie up our transportation systems and close down our factories we will be making a mockery of our entire program of civilian defense.
And it is this point which I wish to emphasize for those following these hearings, because here I think is something different, and some- thing unique, and something highly dangerous insofar as the freedoms of our country are concerned.
Foreign agents or Communist saboteurs by gaining control of this unchecked power to paralyze America could go far toward destroy- ing our war potential and our capacity of self-defense. No multi- billion dollar program of overseas military aid could offset the dangers we nourish at home by permitting conditions like these to prevail.
It has been traditional in this country that we have always been apprehensive of an overconcentration of power in the hands of a few. Such unbridled power coupled with irresponsibility can lead only to disaster.
I ask that our fellow citizens envision with me as these hearings proceed, what a quick transfer from the hands of a few hoodlums into the hands of a few Communists for 30 dirty pieces of silver could mean to the entire country and our capacity to defend ourselves.
So, I for one, Mr. Chairman, hope that the Congress of the United States through these hearings will be enabled to recommend specific legislation to rectify once and for all those monstrous deficiencies in our laws which permit such conditions to exist, and which in this kind of world imperil all of those who love freedom.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Mundt.
Do any other Senators have any comment ?
Thank you too, Senator Ives.
All right, with the statement previously made by the Chair, Mr. Kennedy, the chief counsel, will proceed to explain the charts that have been prepared by the committee so that we may get this problem in proper perspective as we begin the hearings.
IMPLEMENTATION OF OPENING STATEMENT BY ROBERT F.
KENNEDY
Mr. Kennedy. As you have stated, Mr. Chairman, these hearings will be concerned with hoodlums and racketeers coming into the labor union movement. Now, we are going to trace during these series of hearings how they came into the labor union movement, and where they came from, and what their practices have been and what their effect has been on the individual member of the labor union, and what the effect has been on management or the industry, and what has been the effect on the community as a whole.
We feel that this is more than just a local problem, that it is a com- munity problem. We have found that this same pattern is not unique with New York City, but that based on our preliminary study that we have made in other large communities throughout the country
3596 IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD
that the same type of thing is going on this very day. "We feel that it would be important if the racketeers or hoodlums took over a union, eA^en if they took over a local union. It is important for the membei's of that union, and it is important for the industry in which these people work.
But we tliink it is far more important because the union that is involved in these hearings is the teamsters union, and it is not only the largest union, about 1.5 million members — but there is no organi- zation, union or business, that has a greater elt'ect on the community life in this country, a greater effect on our economy than the teamsters union. They control the means of transportation. They deliver the milk, and the food to homes, and they make pickups and deliveries to hotels and businesses.
If the teamsters ^et into the iiands of the wrong people, then the economy of the country can suffer greatly.
I would like to show you a chart now concerning joint council 16 in New York City, which is the biggest ruling hody of the teamsters in New York City, and it is the group about which these hearings will be centered.
The CTTAiR]\rAN. What comi:)Oses a council ?
Mr. Kennedy. "Well, the council in New York City is made up of approximately 58 different teamster locals. There are approximately 125,000 teamsters in those 58 locals. When a local is chartered, it is obligated to aiBliate with the joint council.
The CiiAiRisrAN. The council controls the charters, so when a new local is formed, it has to come to the council to get its charter and thus become associated with the council.
Mr. Kennedy. No. "What happens is the international grants the charter, but once the charter is granted the local union must affiliate with the joint council. It has been a procedure in the past that prior to the international granting the charter, they clear through the joint council, which is the ruling body in that particular area. That is one of the important things of the joint council.
I would like to stress, Mr. Chairman, and it is about the joint council that these hearings and the control of the joint council that these hearings will be concerned.
Now this is a map of the New York City. These are the docks here in red, and these are the airports. Newark Airport and LaGuardia and the International Airport. All of the goods that come in here to the docks must be trucked out of the docks. They have to be trucked to their various localities wherever those goods are destined for.
Into the ]>ort of New York, in 1055, came 191,551,291 tons of cargo. It is 20 percent of all of the cargo that comes into the United States; comes into the port of New York.
Once it gets to the ports it has to be trucked out.
So once again the truckers have conti-ol of that.
The goods that come into the various airports around New York City, Newark Airport, and LaGusu'dia Airport, and Newark Inter- national Aii'port, once they arrive there, once again truckers have to pick it up. and take the goods where they are destined.
The railroads for the most part, the main railroad that brings goods into New York City comes in here to Hoboken, and unloads there, and the goods are then barged across into Manhattan, and from there once again the goods have to be taken l)y truck and shipped to the
IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD 3597
various areas, or if it stops here they have to be taken by truck and shipped nortli.
So the truckei^ have an important and integral part, a key posi- tion in the New York area through the fact that they have control over the shipping that comes into New York City and control over the airport. If that gets into the wrong hands, of course, there can be a stranglehold over New York City.
Now, controlling all of this, this operation, is joint council 16. That is the joint council that we were discussing, and that is the one that is made up of some 58 locals and some 125,000 members.
The joint council 16, Mr. Chairman, is the one that sets policy.
Now, these are surrounding — here are some of the matters that joint council 16 controls. For instance, the meat shipments : the joint coi a- cil 16 with one of the teamsters locals having control over meat ship- ments, they have to look to joint council 16 for their policy.
They control fruit and vegetable shipments, drugstore deliveries, garbage trucks, newspaper trucks. The control of joint council 16 as far as the policy of all of these locals is concerned is paramount. Its importance is not only the fact that the joint council 16 controls truck- ing done by the 58 different locals in New York City, but they have a great control over all other unions in New York City.
The Chairman. Without objection, the Chair is going to order that chart printed in the record, at this point, so that we may be able to follow it and those who read the record may be able to follow and know exactly what we are discussing as you point this out on the chart.
(The chart referred to follows:)
Services Contkolled by Joint Council 16, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, New York, N. Y.
Air-express trucks Department-store deliveries
Meat shipments Auto salesmen All trucking from ships (191,551,291 of Garbage trucks
cargo through New York in 1955) Lumber trucks
Tobacco drivers Ambulance drivers
Egg packers and graders Milk deliveries
Furniture drivers Breweries
All trucking from airports Steel trucking
Moving vans Newspaper trucks
Warehouse workers Jukebox installations
Car washers Service-station attendants Drug and chemical industry warehouses Parking attendants
IMagazine deliveries Railway express trucks
Bread deliveries All trucking from railroads
Armored-car drivers Fruit and vegetable shipments
Clothing drivers Radio and TV equipment shipments
Grocery drivers Sanitary-truck drivers
Ice-cream drivers Dry-cleaning deliveries
Gas and oil trucks Drugstore deliveries
Hearse drivers Some city employees
Coal trucks Flower-market drivers
Senator Mundt, I suggest that the comisel point to the most import- ant of those delivery services, which causes me concern as a country boy, and that is milk deliveries, because without milk deliveries, New York City and all tlie babies die. The joint council controls milk deliveries.
The Chairman. Proceed.
3598 IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD
Mr. Kennedy. As I say, it is not only a question of the control of these various locals, and the trucking of these various locals, but the joint council lias an important role in control over all other unions in New York City. Once again because it is a teamsters joint council.
As an example, if somebody wants, another union wants to strike a particular business, they can strike the business and say for instance there are nonunion people in the business. Those nonunion people will continue to go into that business in and out. The strike will not really have an effect, unless they can stop the trucking from going into that business, and stop the pickups and deliveries; if that happens that business will have to go out. It will be finished in 2 or 3 days and the strike will be a success.
Who is going to make tlie determination as to whether those trucks will go in and out, and whether the milk for instance will be delivered if a strike is being conducted at a hotel, or whether food and milk will be delivered to that hotel ? Or whether there will be any pickups from that hotel ?
That hotel could not operate if they did not get those deliveries, or a business could not operate unless there were pickups and deliveries.
It is the teamsters joint council that makes that decision. It is the teamster joint council which will decide and which does decide whether the teamsters will support a strike of another union. They are the ones that make the decision as to whether the pickup and deliveries will be made.
Senator Kennedy. I think that point is tremendously important, not only the power that the teamsters have in the moving of material, but the effect it has on other unions.
Now, last February 2, Mr. O'Rourke, who I understand is head of the joint council 16, speaking from Miami, said, and I quote:
We are getting our brains beat out every day by these self-appointed re- formers. You Icnow we control what moves in and out of a plant or store or busi- ness establishment. If we honor a picket line, the strike is won. We get 30 to 40 requests a day for help, and I am going to be mighty choosey about who gets it.
In other words, Mr. O'Rourke is indicating that those who oppose racketeering or corruption in any unions, and those who oppose that sort of activity go on strike, Mr. O'Rourke is going to decide whether he is going to permit the teamsters to cross that picket line or not. Therefore, tliat gives Mr. O'Rourke and that local, that joint council rather, free power not only over the economic life of New York but over all of the otlier unions who might be completely unconnected with the teamster leadership, and who might be opposed to some of their activities.
Senator Curtis. Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask the counsel a question.
Is tliere a standard form of contract used throughout the area of the joint council 16, the contracts with the employers?
Mr. Kennedy. Tliere is not.
Senator Curtis. But are they all union-shop contracts, or contracts that have some form of compulsory membership clauses?
Mr. Kennedy. It varies, Senator, and it varies in various shops, and various businesses. There is a move now on to go more and
IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD 3599
more toward centralization, and having an areawide contract, but that does not exist at the present time.
Senator Curtis. Some of those contracts are not union shops.
Mr. Kennedy. That is correct, and we will develop some of that here after we get into it.
(At this point Senators Goldwater and McNamara entered the hearing room.)
Mr. I^NNEDY. I think in connection with Mr. O'Rourke's state- ment, that he said every day they have somewhere between 35 and 40 requests for supports of strikes, so you can see that this is not just a theoretical problem. This is a problem that arises every day, and John O'Rourke as president of joint council 16 makes the decision every day as to whether they will support that strike, or not support it. If they support it, the strike is successful. And if they do not support it, the strike will fail.
Senator Kennedy. The strike of other unions, you mean.
Mr. Kennedy. Yes.
Now, this goes beyond these unions here, that the joint council con- trols directly. This is other unions that they control. That is why it has such a great effect on the community life in New York City.
Now, as I said at the beginning, we are concerned not only — I think it would be important if racketeers or hoodlums took over any labor union — but this is a fight and a struggle for the control of joint council 16 in New York City. During this same period of time, and I am talking now of 1955 and 1956, the struggle went beyond the con- trol of joint council 16 to an alliance that was made between chiefly by James Hoffa and the ILA, the International Longshoremen's Association, which controls the docks here in New York City. That alliance was made on November 27, 1955, whicli was about the same time as the fight took place in New York City for the control of joint council 16.
The alliance continued into the middle of 1956.
At that time, during the middle of 1956, Mr. Hoffa made arrange- ments to loan some $490,000 to ILA.
Now, the ILA had been ousted from the AFL by Mr. George Meany, on the grounds that they were racketeered. They were ousted back in 1953. And yet, this alliance was made with this racket-ridden union in 1955, and there were arrangements made in 1956 to loan this union $590,000.
That, too, would have gone through except again the intervention of Mr. Meany.
So the control during this period of time could mean the lifeblood of New York City, and that is what we are getting into here.
If the teamsters are controlled or run by hoodlums or gangsters, or run by people who have an obligation to hoodlums and gangsters, or Communists, then the lifeblood of New York City, and really of the United States, can be cut off. It can be a strangulation proc- ess. We are going to get into mass extortions, misuse of power, and mistreatment of individual union members.
Senator Mundt. Assuming that the joint council. Bob, is in the hands of racketeers and establishes this control, about how many racketeers would Moscow have to buy off in that way to control New York City?
3600 IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD
Mr. Kennedy. I have no idea, Senator.
Senator Mtjndt. You have some idea of how many people there are on the joint council ?
Mr. Kennedy. My point is not so much that perhaps the joint coun- cil itself is run by racketeers or hoodlums, and we are going to bring out some information on that, but that these people have an obligation to gangsters and hoodlums, because they would not have achieved their position of power unless they had made a deal a year or 2 years or 4 years earlier with some hoodlum or gangster, in order to get to that position. I think that that is the risk.
Now, the same risk applies certainly as far as Communists are concerned. If you make an arrangement with a Coromunist that you are going to get to a position of power, if they do a favor for you, you in turn cannot turn your back on them in 2 years, and say, "Now I have gotten head of the miion. If you come before a con- gressional committee and take the fifth amendment, I don't care; I am not going to turn my back on you. I am going to support you.
"If the congressional committee, or a grand jury, brings out infor- mation that you have been misusing union funds and misusing your position or have Communist affiliations, I will not turn my back on you. I have gotten to my position because of your help."'
Senator Mundt. It is precisely the point I am trying to make. Un- less we believe we are living in a dream world, if we anticipate that there is any conceivable threat of an attack from Russia, it is so easy under this mechanism for the Communists either dealing with the racketeers or replacing them, to give orders which could paralyze the city at any giA^en hour or any given day, preliminary so some military movement that the Communist government might be en- deavoring to make.
We think in terms of national defense, and we think in terms of a war potential, of the greatest city in the world.
Unless you believe that the men of ISfoscow operate with brains of sawdust, they know it and they think about that. This provides them a tremendous opportunity to control that vast city without firing a shot.
Mr. Kennedy. In that connection, in 1934 I believe, the Commu- nists did recognize the unportance of the teamsters, and gained con- trol over the line drivers that operated out of Minneapolis, and actu- ally gained control over them.
Senator Mundt. Anyone who has read the Communist mandates, and studied the Communist literature, recognizes that one of the essential principles of the whole Communist movement in this country is to locate the positions of power, and to try to attain them. Obvi- ously, this is a tremendously important position of power.
Mr. Kennedy. Now, I was saying that there was control of this group by racketeers or hoodlums who can get to extortions and ar- rive at groups of extortioiis.
Mr. Chairman, during this period of time the district attorney, Mr. Hogan, was keeping a close watch and touch on all of these affairs. Under the State law he is allowed to put a tap on telephones. He put a tap on a telephone call which is of some importance and gives the committee a picture as to how some of these extortions take place. We have received a court order from the State of New York,
IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD 3601
signed by a judge, giving this committee permission to play this telephone call as well as certain other telephone calls that we will play later in the hearings, and I think it might give you a picture as to how some of these extortions take place, or at least preliminary negotiations for an extortion, if we could play this telephone call at the present time.
The Chairman. Do you want to play it now ?
Mr. Kennedy. I would like to play it now.
The Chairman. How is this telephone call or this tapping ob- tained ?
Mr. Kennedy. It was obtained by Mr. Hogan, district attorney in New York City, under a court order. He received court permission to put the tap on the particular telephone, and the tap was obtained, and then they in turn turned it over to this committee under a court order from the State of New York.
The Chairman. The Chair will make this observation : This has been discussed in conference or executive session of the committee. The Chair satisfied himself, and I think other members of the com- mittee who attended that session are satisfied that it would be per- fectly proper for this committee to make use of this testimony. In some areas, and for some purposes wiretapping is illegal, but in New York, as Senator Ives I am sure is familiar
Senator Ives. It has been legal in New York for many years.
The Chairman. Therefore the wiretapping that we shall use here, that we shall play, was obtained legally, and the court has granted authority to this committee to make use of it, and therefore I shall without objection, order printed in the record at this point the order of the court authorizing and directing this committee to make use of this as evidence in this hearing.
This will be printed in the record at this point, Mr. Reporter.
(The court order referred to follows :)
Court of Gener-»-l Sessions, County of New York
In the Matter of Intercepting Telephonic Communications Transmitted OvKU EXeter 2-0219 and EXeter 2-0220
It appearing from the affidavit of Alfred J. Scotti. Chief Assistant District Attorney of the County of New York, sworn to on April 30, 1957, that it is in the public interest to furnish to the United States Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or IManagement Field, of which the Honorable John L. McClellan, of Arkansas, is Chairman, and Robert F. Kennedy is Chief Counsel, certain transcripts and information with respect to the interception of telephonic communications durintj the periods August 5. 1955. to February 1, 1956, and February 3, 1956, to August 1, 1956. which were transmitted over the telephone instruments designated as EXeter 2-0219 and EXeter 2-0220, listed in the name of Local 405. Retail Clerks International Association, a labor organiza- tion affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, located at premises 5 Court Square, Long Island City, County of C,»ucens, fur the use of said committee in connection with and in the course of its said investigation, it is
Ordered, that the District Attorney of New York County be, and he hereby is, authorized and empowered to furnish said Committee with the transci'ipts and information with respect to the interception of telephonic communications trans- mitted over each of the above identified telephone instruments during the periods set forth hereinabove, for the use of said Committee in connection with and in the course of its said investigation.
Dated, New York, N. Y., July 1, 1957.
(Signed) J. C. G. S. 89330— 57— pt. 10 ^2
3602 IMPROPER ACTIVITIES EST THE LABOR FIELD
Court of General Sessions County of New York
In the Matter of Intercepting Telephonic Communications Transmitted Over EXeter 2-0219 and EXeter 2-0220
State of New York,
Cottnty of New York ss.:
Alfred J. Scotti, being duly sworn, deposes and says :
I am the Chief Assistant District Attorney in and for the County of New York and in charge of the Rackets Bureau of the District Attorney's Office.
This is an application for an order permitting the District Attorney of New York County to furnish to the United States Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field, of which the Honorable John L. McClellan, of Arkansas, is Chairman, and Robert F. Kennedy is Chief Counsel, certain transcripts and information with respect to the interception of telephonic communications transmitted over EXeter 2-0219 and EXeter 2-0220, listed in the name of Local 405, Retail Clerks International Association, a labor organ- ization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, located at premises 5 Court Square, Long Island City, County of Queens, during the periods herein- below set forth.
On January 30, 1957, the Senate of the United States duly adopted a resolution by which the said Committee was authorized to investigate improper activities in the labor or management field, with the purpose of obtaining information upon which the United States Senate could consider the advisability of adopting new legislation or modifying or amending present statutes.
The said Committee thereafter conducted both public and private hearings with this end in view, and has subpoenaed and interrogated numerous witnesses from various localities and States of the United States.
The Committee is now planning to extend its investigation to the area of New York State and in this connection has issued, or contemplates the issuance of, a subpoena to Max Chester, a former official and business representative of the said local, for interrogation in connection with said investigation.
In August 19.56, and again subsequent to January 30, 1957, the date the said resolution above referred to was adopted, said Chief Counsel of said Committee requested that this office furnish him, for the use of the said Committee, all transcripts and information reflecting the interception of all telephonic com- munications transmitted over the telephone instruments hereinabove described.
The records of this office reveal that the telephonic communications trans- mitted over said instruments were intercepted during the periods hereinbelow set forth. All of said interceptions were pursuant to orders issued by Judges of the Court of General Sessions under Section S13a of the Code of Criminal Pro- cedure.
The dates during which the said telephonic communications were inter- cepted were August 5, 1955, to February 1, 1956, and February 3. 1956, to August 1, 1956.
It is respectfully submitted that the District Attorney of New York County be authorized, in the public interest, to furnish to the United States Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or IManagement Field the said transcripts and other information for the use of said Committee in connection with and in the course of its said investigation.
No previous application has been been made for the order herein requested.
(Signed) Alfred J. Scotti.
Sworn to before me this 30th day of April 1957.
(Signed) Kathryn A. Donohue, Notary Public, State of New York, No. 31-0993100. Qualified in New York County.
Commission expires March 30, 1959.
Senator McNamara. Before you go into the recording
Do I understand that Senator Goldwater had a question ? I would be glad to yield, Senator, if you want the attention of the Chair, before I ask a question.
Senator Goldwater. Wliat I have can wait.
The Chairman. Just a moment. We will put the others in later.
All right.
IMPROPER ACTIVITrES ZNT THE LABOR FIELD 3603
Senator McNamara. Mr. Chairman, we have been given a pretty good picture of one side of the trucking industry — I would like the attention of the chief counsel, if I may have it.
Mr. Kennedy. I am sorry.
Senator McNamara. We have a pretty good picture of one side of the trucking industry in the New York area, and you indicate the Joint Council No. 16 made up of 58 locals, and 125,000 union members, is the labor side of the picture. How about the management side of the picture? Do they have an organization comparable to the joint coun- cil?
Mr, Kennedy. Not with the degree of control, Senator. There are some associations of truckers in New York City.
Senator McNamara. Do you have the names of those associations?
Mr. Kennedy. VYe have one : The Empire Trucking Association.
Senator McNamara. Does that embrace this whole area?
Mr. IvENNEDY. I will have to check that. We don't know in what area. It is in New York City, and we don't know in what area the Em- pire Trucking Association is.
Senator McNamara. Ordinarily, where we find joint councils of em- ployees, we find comparable organizations of management. If there is extortion, and if there is racketeering, ordinarily there are both sides involved. I think when we go into a situation, we ought to get both sides of the picture so that we will know who we are dealing with and what we are dealing with. I think we got half of the picture of the trucking industry pretty well disclosed here this morning, and there is certainly the other half that we ought to have more information on.
Mr. Kennedy. That is fine, Senator.
The Chairman. Are there other questions or comments before we proceed ?
Mr. Kennedy. I might just say about this recording, it involves a gentleman by the name of Max Chester, and he was formerly presi- dent of local 227 of the UAW-AFL, which we will go into at a lat^r time.
He was involved in a bribery charge in that union and left it. He then established or went to work for local 405 of the retail clerks. It was as an officer of local 405 of the retail clerks that this telephone conversation took place.
I might say that subsequently to this telephone conversation, the district attorney moved in on Mr. Chester and he was indicted and pleaded guilty to taking a $2,000 bribe.
The Chairman. Are you ready to proceed with the recording ?
Now, it is understood, and am I correct, that this recording and this wire recording was obtained from the State officials of New York ?
Mr. Kennedy. That is correct.
The Chairman. All right.
(The following recording was played.)
Max Chester. Mr. Wallau?
Wallau. Yes?
Chester. Mr. Wallau, this is in regard to your slipper place.
"Wali^au. Regard to what, sir?
Chester. This is regard to your shop. This is local 405, Mr. Chester speak- ing, business manager. We have an organizational campaign going on around your area in regard to your shop. Are you listening?
Wallatt. Yes, sure.
3604 IMPROPER AcnvrriES in the labor field
Chester. Now, before we start doing any agitation, we always like to give the employer the courtesy of sitting down and talking, and maybe for the pur- pose of having a fine conference and getting along together
Wallau. What type of union do you run?
Chester. Well, we have a catch-all charter, Mr. Wallau, and we are the AFL.
Wallau. Anything and everything in what area?
Chester. We organize the unorganized. Now, I don't want to start any agitation because we did it in a few other places and it only cost the employer money and he did sign anyway. Now
Wallau. You already said that, my friend, I just have — I just have to ask a few questions to find out just what the situation is. I'm not trying to be smart about it ; I know nothing about it.
Chester. Well, there's no use in me discussing matters over the phone. We couldn't come to any conclusion one way or the other in that respect anyway.
Wallau. Then, what'U you suggest?
Chester. Well, I suggest to have a conference ; sit down in person and talk.
Wallau. Well, that would be fine. We have no objection to that.
Chester. When would your nearest time be, before I really start any agita- tion
( Subdued laughter heard over the phone. )
Chester. So, you're laughing. It's a
Wallau. It's the third time you used that word.
Chester. Well, because I'll tell you why we did. We did have a strike out with Gustav, and we signed them up the same day. There's no reason why we should go on that way again. It only costs the person money for no reason at all. Why isn't this and that
Wallau. Yes, well, I haven't any idea what
Chester. You heard of Gu.stjiv ; didn't you?
Wallau. I know the name.
Chester. Yeah ; well, I guess so
Wallau. You see, I haven't any idea whether the standard that your local sets up would be agreeable to our men or, or
Chester. Oh, they'll be agreeable to your men, don't worry about that. The standard that we set up
Wallau. Because we run a pretty nice shop-
Chester. We knov;' that; everybody runs a pretty nice shop but the idea is the envelope — is it nice?
Watj.au. I I)eg your pardon?
Chester. Is the envelope nice?
Wallau. Oh, yes.
Chester. Well, we try to make the envelope better.
Wallau. Well, I'm sure you do.
Chester. (Sarcastic laughter.)
Wallau. I'm sure you do. I understand that phase of the operation, abso- lutely. May I have yuur name?
Chester. Mr. Chester.
Wallau. Chester?
Chester. C-h-e-s-t-e-r.
Wallau. And how can I get in touch with you?
Chester. Well, I'm right now in my oflQce and it was very imperative that I call you because I'll tell you why. My men, we're going to start operation in your place down somewhere :i round 20th Street where you do your shipping; is that correct?
Wallau. We certainly do
Citestkr. So I told them to stop it until I speak to the owner of the shop.
Wallau. Well, I can understand that, too, well [laughing as he talks].
Chester. So, we know all your detail ; how you operate from one place to .•mother, so, I mean I'm trying to curtail a lot of things so, in other words, you conld help both sides of the picture.
Wallait. Well, that sounds very nice of you, Mr. Chester. Now, what is your proposal? How soon do yon feel it is imperative that we get together?
Chester. Well, it's imperative that we get together momentarily. I'll be honest with you.
Wallau. Well, momentarily
Chester. You know
Wallau. Is it 24 hours, 48 hours?
Chester. Momentarily could be within an hour or two. It don't have to be 24 or 48. Am I speaking to Alex Wallau himself?
IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD 3605
Wallatj. You are speaking to Wallau, Jr.
Chestek. Wallau, Jr. Fine. Don't tell me Dad is somewhere in the Tahitian Islands.
Waixau. No ; he's actually not.
Chestee. Oh, I see.
Wallau. He's not in today, however.
Chester. You make decisions yourself, or do you have to
Wallau. I've been known to make 1 or 2.
Chester. Huh?
Wallau. I've been known to make 1 or 2.
Chester. Oh, you've been known to make 1 or 2. Were they good or bad? [Laughter.]
Wallau. [Inaudible.]
Chester. Well, that's all right; you're batting pretty good. Well, what could I tell you outside of, it's, it's important?
Wallau. Is, is, is the fact that
Chester. Mr. Wallau
Wallau. That I'm hesitating has nothing to do with the
Chester. That's all right ; it's probably something that hit you right away and you want to collect your
Wallau. No, no. I want to work it into a very busy schedule. I realize the importance of it. We're quite-
Chester. Well, I'm pretty busy too-
Wallau. Conversant with these problems. We are — I assure you over the years they come up a number of times, and it's no different today than it has been. I know that you'll be very fair and very nice to talk with and I want to arrange it as quickly as I can. However, we're not accustomed to being pushed into things
Chester. Well, I'm not pushing you; you asked me is it imperative
Wallau. Yes ; it is imperative to you. On the other hand
Chester. Listen a minute. The reason why I called you ; I shouldn't even of told yon this because I feel, well, on my own I took it upon myself — which I am the boss here — and I took it upon myself and told these men to stop doing any- thing until I spoke to the owner, well, whoever is in charge. I thought I'd give you that courtesy
Wallau. Mr. Chester, but that, that's usual union practice. I mean you people have a
Chester. No ; they don't. The usual union practice is to go out and picket and come what may. The boss or someone contacts the union or somehow or some- body representing the boss will
Wallau. Well, then, let's say that you're doing that with me. We approve. We understand because we've had some — some understanding of these things. Naturally, you have to keep abreast of it.
Chester. Well, that's the best way
Wallau. Sure, that's how we've been able to operate and keep everybody reasonably contented with the pay envelope to which you refer. [Both men laugh.] Supposing, although I admit that even with the union scales nobody is completely happy with their pay envelopes. That's human nature
Chester. Now there, in other words, you're trying to regard things as an exaggeration ; is that right?
Wallau. We do everything we can. We do the best we can for everybody but whether or not we're doing it according to your standards has yet to be estab- lished. We want to talk to you and figure that out. It would be very interesting to do so
Chester. Off the record, could you tell me about how many employees you have?
Wallau. No ; but I'd like to do that when we sit down together and see whether it is worth your while or not to even fool around with us ; we may be too small to
Chester. It could be. it could be eighty, a hundred, three, four, or a thousand ; it doesn't make a particle of difference
Wallau. Well, that's what we'll figure out when we get together with you. I feel that it could be done after lunch tomorrow if .vou feel that that's agreeable.
Chester. Well, I have 2 appointments ; 1 at 1 o'clock and 1 at 11.
Wallau. Why don't we
Chester. Could you make it at 9 : 30 — 9 : 30 in the moi-ning?
Wallau. Well
3606 IMPROPER ACTIVITIES EST THE LABOR FIELD
Chester. I'd only take up about 20 minutes of your time. That's all it usually takes me.
Wallau. Yes ; well, I'll tell you
Chester. I'll give you all of the fundamentals
Wallau. Morning mail at 9 : 30 in the morning.
Chester. Well, suppose we make it at 10 thenV
Waixau. Let's make it at 10 o'clock.
Chester. Ten o'clock. In other words, I stopped everything just today.
Wallau. Ah
Chester. But my men will be right at the situation till after we finish talking.
Wallau. Fine. Ton keep them there, Mr. Chester.
Chester. All right.
Wallau. See you at 10 o'clock.
(Phones laid down.)
Senator Goldwater. Mr. Chairman, may I ask a question ?
Mr. Kennedy, is that not a threat of organizational picketing?
Mr. Kennedy. Yes ; the employees of this plant were not contacted. This was the conversation that takes place and the employees were not consulted as to whether they wanted to belong to a union.
This was a threat of putting a picket line outside of the establish- ment and trying to force the employer then to have his employees sign a union contract.
Senator Goldwater. The employees of this Wallau Co., is that the correct name, were not organized at this time ?
Mr. Kennedy. They had not been approached even at the time Max Chester had this telephone conversation and after Max Chester went to visit Mr. Wallau on the following day, a $2,000 payment was made to Max Chester and those employees were never organized or never even approacliecl after that and the shop remained unorganized.
Senator Goldwater. Who made that payment ?
Mr. Kennedy. Wallau, the owner's son made the payment.
Senator Goldwater. Mr. Wallau gave in and paid $2,000 ?
Mr. Kennedy. Yes, sir; and Mr. Max Chester pleaded guilty to extortion and ref^iving the $2,000 payment and he is awaiting sentence at the present time.
Senator Goldwater. At no time during these proceedings were the men consulted as to whether they wanted to join the union or become organized ?
Mr. Kennedy. That is correct.
Senator Goldwater. Is this a typical pattern that we are going to see throughout these particular hearings ?
Mr. Kennedy. This is a pattern, not the organized pattern that is used by labor unions, but it is a pattern that is used by certain of these gangsters and hoodlums in New York City.
It is these people that we are going to show, it is these people that operate these unions that use these practices that gave the votes and gave control of the joint council 16 to the group that controls it now.
It is these people that were called upon for assistance when the joint council IG vote was in question.
Senator Goldwater. ^Ylien I said these hearings, I mean this par- ticular set of hearings and I realize this is not general vmion practice.
Now, I have one other question that might be related. I have not been able to ask you about this before. To allow this type of gang- ster operation to go on in a relatively small area of Manhattan, has it been necessary to receive the cooperation of local governments ?
IMPROPER ACTIVITIES EST THE LABOR FIELD 3607
Mr. Kennedy. I do not think so. We have no evidence of that. I do not think during our investigation that we have found anyone that has done more in a community to rid the community of gangsterism than Mr. PTogan and his office. Without their cooperation and help, we would not even be able to begin to present any kind of a hearing.
We have not received any information that there have been any other law or Government authorities that have assisted these people. We do not have any information about that.
Senator Goldwater. Have you discovered any evidence of violence in picketing that has been condoned by, say, the local police depart- ment?
Mr. Kennedy. No, and in fact I would not think there was a great deal of violence in picketing in New York City, as far as this procedure is concerned. That is not the procedure that is followed.
Violence and the type of terrorism that existed before, it does not exist in New York City like it exists in certain other areas. They are far more refined in New York City.
Senator Goldwater. That is questionable, but actually, with the hold that these people have on this island, violence is not needed. I recognize that. This teamster organization in Manhattan can effec- tively close that city down. They can do it on their own wishes, or they can do it at the request of those who want to strike. There is probably not a place in the United States that is so susceptible to the threat of union power as exercised in the wrong way as Manhattan is ; would that be correct?
Mr. Kennedy. The potential certainly exists there, Senator.
Senator Goldwater. They could effectively stop the traffic in the tubes, and they could effectively stop the traffic over the bridges and there could be no food and no milk or supplies brought into the city for any period of time that the teamsters wanted to hold it; is that correct ?
Mr. Kennedy. That is correct, Senator. I think a teamster official recently said, showing the control over human beings :
We drive the taxi tliat brings the woman to the hospital to have her baby. When that baby grows up and becomes a man and dies, we drive the hearse that brings that person to the graveyard. In between we deliver an awful lot of groceries.
Senator Goldwater. Would I be safe in assuming that when we have finished this particular set of hearings on New York, that the pattern of union power, the sovereign power that now is vested in the unions, will be brought more and more to the light of the American people, and through the improper actions of this particular set of unions we can point out what has been developed here so far and which I feel will be developed more and more, the fact that we have one segment of our society, if you want to call it that, or one segment of our economic life that is operating completely without the bounds of any control of Federal or State laws.
I think these hearings, even if they produce a long line of fifth amendments, will do a lot of good because it will point up to the American people the dangers that are inherent in power.
I do not care if it is in management or labor. Would you agree with that?
Mr. Kennedy. Any conclusions will have to be made by the mem- bers of the committee.
3608 IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD
The Chairman. The Chair would like to ask one question to get this in its proper perspective. I do not understand that the testimony or the recording is regarded or intended to imply that all labor unions operate in that fashion.
It is simply to contradistinguish between the legitimate union organ- izing and those who are crooks that get control and use the power of the union for extortion. That is what happened in this instance.
Mr. Kennedy. It is a relatively minor group, Mr. Chairman. We have spent a great deal of time in New York City.
Senator Ives. While we are on this subject, I want to put in a word for labor organizations in New York State. The vast majority of them are very high grade, run by leaders who are perfectly honest. They are not in this category at all.
So I hope the general public would not get the idea that this is representative of organized labor in New York State. It is not at all.
Senator Curtis. Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask Mr. Kennedy, in reference to this telephone conversation that we have just gone through, it is apparent that Mr. Chester did not represent any of the workers in Mr. Wallau's plant ; is that correct ?
Mr. KJENNEDY. The workers in the plant had not even been ap- proached. Senator.
Senator Curtis. Now, is there any law that you recall dealing with an individual holding himself out as a bargaining agent when in truth and in fact he does not represent any of the workers at all, or his organization ?
Mr. Kennedy. I am sorry. Will you repeat the question ?
Senator Curtis. Is there any law making it an offense for someone to hold himself out as a bargaining agent when he does not represent any of the workers ?
Mr. Kennedy. As I understand it, there is no law to prevent a picket line being placed in front of a business.
Senator Curtis. I understand that. But what I mean is for an individual to talk terms, or, in other words, to negotiate with manage- ment when he does not represent the workers inside.
Mr. Kennedy. There is no law at the present time.
Senator Curtis. I would just want to say this in reference to the observations made here, that I concur in what the chairman has said and the distinguished Senator from New York, about the fact that only a very small percent of the unions are in the hands of hoodlums and bad characters.
But I do not believe that the problem we are wrestling here with is solved wlien we merely drive them out of the labor-union movement.
Congress is responsible for having laws that lay too much power in some places and make it an invitation for bad men to seize that power. We have not given enough protection to the people who do the work, the rank and file of the union members.
The Chairman. I would like to ask one other question to get the record straight. Was Mr. Chester at the time, in fact, an official of any union ?
Mr. Kennedy. Yes, he was.
The Chairman. What was his official position?
Mr. KjiNNEDY. He was secretary- treasurer of the Eetail Clerks Union.
IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD 3609
The Chairman. That is what it showed, but it was not in the record. He definitely was secretary-treasurer ?
Mr. Kennedy. Of local 405.
The Chairman. That was not a teamster union ?
Mr. Kennedy. No ; it was not.
Senator McNamara. Following up the question I asked before about organization of employers, do you find that this man Wallau was a member of any association of trucking owners ?
Mr. Kennedy. He did not have a trucking concern, Senator.
Senator McNamara. What was the nature of his business ?
Mr. Kennedy. He made slippers.
Senator McNamara. I see.
The Chairman. He manufactured them or just sold them ?
Mr. Kennedy. He manufactured slippers.
Senator R^s. How many employees did he have ?
Mr. Kennedy. We do not know, Senator Ives.
Senator Ives. That question arose, you know, during their con- versation and I was curious.
Mr. Kennedy. I do not know the answer to that.
The Chairman. All right, proceed.
Mr. Kennedy. Now, to understand this picture as far as what oc- curred in joint council 16, we have to go back to the year 1950 and the union called a UAW-AFL.
The Chairman. That union is still in existence ?
Mr. Kennedy. It is not now, Mr. Chairman, since the middle of 1956, as the Allied Industrial Workers of America, and it has its headquarters out in Los Angeles, Calif.
The Chairman. The name of it has been changed, but it has been a continuing labor organization?
Mr. Kennedy. That is right.
In the late 1930's, the UAW split into 2 parts, 1 CIO and 1 AFL. This is the UAW-AFL and it had that name until the middle of 1956, when after the merger it was ruled that they should change their name and they changed their name to the Allied Industrial Workers of America.
They have approximately 80,000 members, in 318 locals throughout the United States and their headquarters are in Los Angeles, Calif.
Senator McNamara. So we might follow this more closely, Mr. Chairman; what is the relation now with this situation to the truck- ing industry that we outlined at the start?
Mr. Kennedy. Once again, a great number of the UAW unions, UAW-AFL, were amalgamated locals. They went to organize the unorganized. Their connection with the truckers and the team- sters I will show with another chart and their relationship of this UAW-AFL and the teamsters and the joint council 16 will be de- veloped as we go along.
Senator McNamara. Will you give me the local number that we are dealing with in this instance ?
Mr. Kennedy. As we go along, I will do that. The joint council 16 of the teamsters is the only one that we really discussed.
Senator McNamara. But this fellow represented himself in con- versation that we just heard, not as an official of the joint council, or did he ?
3610 IMPROPER ACTIVITIES EST THE LABOR FIELD
Mr. Kennedy. My only point in that was in a sample, a classic example of what can happen if racketeers or hoodlums take over a labor union.
He has a relationship with Johnny Dio and the UAW-AFL.
Senator McNamara, That will be developed later.
Mr. KIennedy. He was kicked out of there for bribery. We have this telephone conversation when he was convicted of extortion and it was a classic example as to what can happen. Max Chester is of interest to us because of his relationship with Johnny Dio.
As I say, this is going to relate to the international union of the UAW-AFL, and they began their operations in New York City in September of 1950.
At that time there was a man in New York City by the name of Sam Zackman, who had been in the labor movement. During the 1930's he had been a Communist and he remained a Communist un- til sometime during the 1940's.
He fought in Spain and he was a commissar with the army in Spain, fighting with the Communists. He came back and he was in the labor union movement and during the early part of 1950 he was attempting to get a charter, so that he could start organizing the un- organized.
We had a conversation with a Sam Berger and Zackman had this conversation with Sam Berger at this period of time and he said, "I am looking around for a charter."
Sam Berger at that time was manager of local 102 of the ILGWU and that is the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union, Lo- cal 102 of the Ladies' Garment Workers Union does the shipping in the garment district.
There has always been a dispute between the ladies' garment work- ers and the teamsters as to who should have that jurisdiction because this is actually trucking jurisdiction. But the International Ladies' Garment Workers have always controlled that.
Sam Berger has been the manager of that union. Sam Berger had been a friend of long standing with Johnny Dio. When he was approached by Sam Zackman, he then had some conversations with Paul Dorfman who is a well-known character or figure from Chicago, 111., and has had a close relationship with the old Capone mob.
In turn they approached a man by the name of Dave Privian and they all went to see Tony Doria, Anthony Doria, this gentleman here, out in Minneapolis or Milwaukee where the headquarters of the UAW- AFL was at that time.
They spoke to Doria and he agreed to grant a charater to Sam Zackman and the charter members at that time were Sam Zackman, Paul Dorfman, and I might say as far as Paul Dorfman is concerned that his son now handles the insurance for the central conference of teamsters.
The Chairman. At this point, since you are referring to another chart, I will order the chart printed in the record at this point so that those who read the record may follow it.
(The chart is as follows ;)
IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD
3611
3612 IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD
Mr. Kennedy. The original charter members — there were approxi- mately 16, the ones that were interested — were Sam Zachman, Paul Dorfman, Dave Privian, who is now the attorney for the central conference of teamsters, which is Mr. Hoffa's group, and Berger, Dorfman, and Zackman.
Senator Ives. May I interrupt you there ? I notice the name of Jolm Dioguardi up there on top. That is Johnny Dio, I take it ?
Mr. Kennedy. That is correct.
Senator I\ts. Under the United Automobile Workers, AFL, New York. Is he the controlling force in that setup with all of these people you are mentioning now, directly under him ?
Mr. Kennedy. I am only here at the present time, which is Sep- tember 19, 1950, when the charter was originally granted.
Senator Curtis. Will you tell us what that charter was ?
Mr. Kennedy. It was a charter to organize, an amalgamated charter and it was the first time the UAW-AFL came into the New York City area. It was to organize the unorganized, any kind of a shop.
Senator Curtis. It gave the holders of that charter a right to go any place and organize a union ?
Mr. Kennedy. Any group of employees.
Senator Curtis. It Avas not a charter to a particular organization.
Mr. Kennedy. No.
Senator Curtis. It was sort of a blanket right for them to go out and organize ?
Mr. Kennedy . That is right. A week after this charter was granted, which is September 18, 1950, Johnny Dioguardi came on the scene. There is some evidence he was involved in this right from the begin- ning, but they wanted to keep his name off the original charter.
His name does not appear on the original charter granted on Sep- tember 19, 1950, but within a week, they started to make arrange- ments, led by Sam Zackman, and they started to make arrangements to get a headquarters.
Johnny Dioguardi was introduced and he said he would finance the operation. He would finance the headquarters and he would put his money, his own personal money into this operation. He was interested in organizing the unorganized.
At the same time that he came into the labor union movement, Johnny Dioguardi ran a number of dress concerns, and a number of them in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, which were not unionized and which he had kept nonunion.
Subsequently, he sold one of these dress firms and while he was working for local 102 he sold this dress firm to another person and charged $5,500 over the price with the understanding that that $5,500 was paid in order to keep that shop from being organized.
The Chairman. Now, is Dio identified with that union at the time?
Mr. Kennedy. Yes, he was identified as far as financing the opera- tions of the union and as far as working out of the union head- quarters. He had not become an official member until 1951.
The Chairman. But he was Avorking for that union ?
Mr. Kennedy. And he was financing it.
The Chairman. He was financing tliat union ?
Mr. Kennedy. That is correct.
rMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD 3613
The Chairman. When he sold his own plant, he added $5,500 on the sale price to grant them the privilege to remain unorganized, just as he had operated the plant.
Mr. Kennedy. That is correct.
The Chairman. Did he do that in the name of the union, and did he have authority to do it in the name of the union, or was that just an individual act ?
Mr. Kennedy. It was just an individual act. Local 102 of the UAW would not have had jurisdiction over that plant anyway. But he had contacts and power that he could keep this plant from being organized.
Senator Ives. Where did he get his money to finance the union?
Mr. KJENNEDY. That he has refused to say, where he got the money.
Subsequently, he put in at least $25,000 in this union, local 102 and local 102 which started an organization of the taxicabs in 1952.
Senator Curtis. I am not sure that I understand the connection of the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union to that 102 local that came into being in September of 1950.
Mr. Kennedy. The only connection, Senator, is that Sam Berger was manager of local 102 of the ILGWU. That was his operation. For some reason, unexplained, he came in and got a charter for Sam Zackman, of local 102 of the LTAW, AFL. At that time he was a close friend of Johnny Dio.
Within a week of that, a week of the time the charter was granted, Johnny Dio came into the operation of local 102 of the LTAW, AFL. There is a question as to why Sam Berger of the ILGWU even got involved in this kind of an operation.
Senator Curtis. Does Mr. Diibinsky enter into it at all?
Mr. Kennedy. Not that I know of.
Senator Ives. May I ask whether you consulted Mr. David Dubinsky on this?
Mr. Kennedy. I did.
Senator Ives. What did you find out from him ?
Mr. Kennedy. He was very concerned at the entrance of Mr. Ber- ger into this operation. He, at that time, said that he had repri- manded Sam Berger for doing that and subsequently, Berger ap- peared before a grand jury in New York City and after he appeared before the Senate Subcommittee of Investigations down here he took the fifth amendment on some questions, and he was suspended from his job.
Senator Ives. I have known Mr. Dubinsky for a great many years. He enjoys a very enviable reputation in New York City and as a very outstanding citizen of New York. I think you can rely on his testi- mony.
Senator McNamara. Apparently, the main character in this
Mr. Kennedy. Operation?
Senator McNamara. That is a good word ; I will accept that — is one Johnny Dio. He enters the picture in the first place not from the labor side, but from the management side.
Mr. Kennedy. That is correct.
Senator McNamara. He owns one kind of business.
INIr. Kennedy. He had been sent to jail in the late 1930's by Tom Dewey and Tom Dewey described him at that time, and he said —
Johuuy Diogiiardi is a youug gorilla wlio began his career at the age of 15.
3614 IMPROPER ACnVITIES m THE LABOR FIELD
After he was convicted, he was convicted as a "head knocker" for a group of truckers, for truckers associations. He was responsible for the strong-arm tactics of bringing truckers into this association. He and his uncle, James Fumari. This was in the late 1930's and both of them were sent to Sing Sing at that time.
After he got out of Sing Sing, he went into various operations, in- cluding the control and running of dress shops. These were non- union dress shops.
Senator McNajiara. He was originally, apparently, hired as a hoodlum to resist the labor organization.
Mr. Kennedy. That is right.
Senator Goldwater. If I might, Mr. Chairman, ask Mr. Kennedy this question :
Some years ago there was a character in New York by the name of Fay, I believe that name is right. He wound up in Sing Sing. He was visited during his stay in Sing Sing by a number of individuals connected, I imagine with management and with labor.
Does Mr. Fay's name show up any place in these operations?
Mr. Kennedy. No, it does not.
Senator Goldwater. That is sort of surprising.
Mr. Kennedy. I would not say Mr. Fay's name does not show up in other investigations we are conducting in New York City, but he does not show up in this particular investigation.
Senator Goldwater. I am glad to hear that. I did not want him to feel neglected.
Mr. Kennedy. He won't be.
The Chairman. Proceed.
Mr. Kennedy. So they started their operations as an amalgamated charter on September 18, 1950. Johnny Dio came into the picture shortly afterward.
On April 23, 1951, some 6 months later, the second charter was granted to local 102 and the first one was withdrawn and the second one was granted and at that time Johnny Dioguardi's name actually appears on the charter.
Johnny Dioguardi, as I said, was financing the operations of local 102 at this time. More and more, as it moved along, he was taking control of the operations from Sam Zackman.
Subsequently, Sam Zackman was kicked out of the union, and Johnny Dioguardi took control completely.
The Chairman. Why was it necessary to grant another charter?
Mr. Kennedy. Well, the only explanation that we have, Mr. Chair- man, is the fact that they wanted to legalize Johnny Dioguardi's operations in the charter. That is in the control of local 102. His name had not appeared in the original charter and in the second charter his name did appear.
The Chairman. Then he became officially identified with the union ?
Mr. Kennedy. Yes. That is in April 23, 1951.
Senator McNamara. Before you go on, I missed a link here some- where in the picture, and I am sure that you have stated it, but I wish you would repeat it, the connection that the International Ladies' Garment Workers had with this and who was the man.
Mr. Kennedy. The man by the name of Sam Berger
Senator McNamara. Was he an officer of the International Ladies' Garment Workers?
IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD 3615
Mr. Kennedy. He was an officer of the local and he managed local 102 of the ILG^YU.
Senator McNamara. This is the same local, or is this another local 102?
Mr. Kennedy. Local 102 of the UAW. They took the same num- ber as Sam Berber's local, ILGWU, and this is not related to ILGWU.
Senator McNamara. That straightens me out.
Senator Curtis. Did they take over the same operations?
Mr. Kennedy. No, they did not.
Senator Cuktis. Did Mr. Berger resign from the garment workers union ?
Mr. Kennedy. He resigned in 1957 and he has been since indicted by the district attorney.
Senator Curtis. But during this time that he was dealing with these other unions, he was also a. member of the garment workers, union ?
Mr. Kennedy. That is correct.
Senator Curtis. Did he hold any office ?
Mr. Kennedy. Yes; he controlled 102 of the ILGWU.
Senator Curtis. He continued to control the garment workers union and he had this other enterprise also ?
Mr. Kennedy. That is correct.
Senator Curtis. Was that known to Mr. Dubinsky ?
Mr. Kennedy. At the time it was not.
Senator Curtis. When did he become aware of it?
Mr. Kennedy. I do not know, he Imew it certainly in 1956, but I am sure he knew it prior to that time. He learned of it.
The Chairman. Mr. Dubinsky will be given an opportunity to testify. He can make the explanation.
All right, proceed.
Mr. Kennedy. To move along, the local 103 of the UAW started an organization of the taxicabs. That was in New York City, and the taxicab drivers. This organizational drive was financed by Johnny Dioguardi, and, to some extent, by the international union. In order to have just one union, and by this time Zackman had been kicked out of the union, and in order to have one union concentrate on tlie taxicab drivers, they split up the UAW 102 and got a separate charter on March 22, 1952, for the taxicab drivers, which is local 102, which is the taxicab charter.
Then he formed a local 649, which was, again, an amalgamated charter, which was to organize the unorganized. Johnny Dioguardi became president of local 649, and manager of local 102 of the taxicab drivers.
Now, this is in March 22, 1952. ^ Thereafter, he became organizational director of the UAW opera- tions in New York City, and other charters were granted periodically for their operations.
During 1952, and 1953, some 15 different charters were granted through Johnny Dioguardi by the international union in New York City.
The Chairman. You said through Johnny Dioguardi. How do you mean?
Mr. Kennedy. He then became in fact the regional director or the district director of the UAW operations in New York City. With
3616 IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD
these charters that were granted, they were answerable to Johnny Dioguardi.
Senator GoLDWAraR. Might I, before counsel gets away from that taxicab situation, ask this question: That 102 of the taxicabs was organized in 1952?
Mr. Kennedy. Yes, sir.
Senator Goldwater. Was there a taxicab union organized in August of 1951?
Mr. Kennedy. No, there was not. They started their operations and organization of the taxicab drivers back in 1951, but they did not receive their charter until 1952.
Senator Goldwater. Is it true that about 2,000 taxicab drivers were paying dues before they had a union ?
Mr. Kennedy, They had a union, but they weren't a union shop and they didn't have all of the taxicab drivers in town. They didn't have a contract.
Senator Goldwater. It was operated under the amalgamated?
Mr. Kennedy. They had a taxicab driver charter, but they didn't have a contract at that time between the union and management.
Senator Goldwater. There were about 2,000 paying dues at that time ?
Senator Kennedy. Yes, and finally, after their operations, they had as many as 2,000 taxicab drivers.
Senator Goldwater. I am wrong in assuming that they were just paying dues into an organization that was not as yet a union ?
Mr. Ivennedy. No, I think that is right. They had a union. Sena- tor, but they didn't have a contract. No. 1, and that was of great importance.
Senator Goldwater. Is there any accounting of the dues collected from those 2,000 people ?
Mr. Kennedy. No, there is not.
The Chairman. You said that there is no accounting. Have you been able to get their records ?
Mr. Ivennedy. We haven't been able to trace that. We are going to have a witness, Mr. Chairman, on the fact that there were dues coming in, and what he thought happened to the dues. But we cannot trace them down.
The Chairman. There are no records to trace them ?
Mr. Kennedy. No
The Chairman. I did not quite understand.
Will you proceed ?
Senator Goldwater. That is all I had. That question came up, because I seem to recall in the briefing that something was mentioned about the fact that these people were paying dues before they had a union.
Mr. Kennedy. Your recitation of the fact is correct.
Senator Goldwater. That is correct. Then, am I further correct in assuming that there has been no record discovered of what was done with this money ?
Mr. Kennedy. We can't trace this money. Our information, based on a witness, is that there were some 2,000 paying dues, and we cannot trace that money coming into the union even. We don't know how many they actually had, and if they paid that money what happened to the money.
IMPROPER ACTIVITIES EST THE LABOR FIELD 3617
Senator Goldwater, Was that witness a man named Zakman?
Mr. Kennedy. That is correct. He is going to testify.
Senator Goldwater. Did Zakman work under Dio ?
Mr. Kennedy. The original charter was granted to him, and then he was ousted and Dio took over from him.
Senator Goldwater. Thank you.
Mr. Kennedy. Now, out of the 15 charters that were granted, of Dio's operations in New York City, only 7 or 8 of them continued and lasted, Mr. Chairman. The others were paper locals, who might have existed for a week or 2 weeks or 3 weeks and then collapsed.
The Chairman. Those you have numbered there on the chart, are those the ones that survived ?
Mr. Kennedy. Local 198, for instance, although we have it on the <ihart, only lasted 3 weeks. The charter was given to Gasster and Cohen, Gasster's wife was Johnny Dioguardi's secretary, and within 3 weeks of the time this charter was given to these 2 gentlemen, they were picked up on extortion, and convicted.
Tlie Chairman. Therefore, the union was abandoned ?
Mr. Kennedy. That charter was abandoned. Only Colien was con- victed and he refused to testify against Gasster. But that was within 3 weeks of the time it was chartered.
So these various local charters were granted during the years 1952, and 1953.
In 1953, George Meany raised a question about Johnny Dioguardi, because of his background and about his operations, and about the type of people that he Avas bringing into the labor union movement in New York City. He demanded at tliat time that Johnnj'^ Dioguardi and the UAW-AFL give up their organization of the taxicabs. He said that was outside the jurisdiction of the UAW-AFL and within the jurisdiction of the teamsters. If anybody should organize the taxi- cabs, it should be the teamsters.
He felt because of the type of associates of Johnny Dioguardi, he wasn't the proper person to be doing this organizational work in New York City.
The Chapman. It is a little strange to me. How did he get these charters. How did he get these unions under his control ?
Mr. Kennedy. He got it through a relationship, a close relationship that he had with Anthony Doria. Anthony Doria was secretary- treasurer of the international union and they had a very close working relationship.
Although there was a president of the union, Lester Washburn, the actual operation was run by Anthony Doria, Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. What has become of Anthony Doria ?
Mr. Kennedy. Anthony Doria — because of this operation, the ethi- cal practices committee brought charges against the UAW-AFL.
The Chairman. When ?
Mr. Kennedy. In 1956, 1 think, and again in 195T, mostly because of the results of the hearings that were held by Senator Douglas and Senator Ives committee. The charges were made against the UAW- AFL because of their bringing of gangsters into the labor movement. It wasn't just in New York City. It was mostly in the operations in Chicago, 111., and a man by the name of Ancisco, who was head of a local there.
89330—57 — pt. 10 3
3618 IMPROPER ACTWITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD
One of the conclusions they reached was that Anthony Doria should leave the labor unidn movement, and he agreed to resign and that was heralded as their cleaning up of their own union, UAW-AFL.
Unbeknownst, however, to the ethical practices committee and the AFL^CIO, when Anthony Doria left he left with the promise that he would receive $80,000 of union funds as a sort of going-away present.
The Chairman. $80,000?
Mr. Kennedy. Yes.
The Chairman. His rascality paid off, then, did it not ?
Mr. Kennedy. So, in 1953, Mr. Meany raised a question about these various operations, and the operations of these locals in New York City and specifically about the teamsters. At that time there were meetings between various teamster officials, including Jimmy Hotfa, with Johnny Dioguardi, to try to take over into the teamster opera- tion their work that they had done on the taxicabs in New York City.
At that time, Jimmy Hoffa had met Johnny Dio and had a close relationship with him.
AVlien Mr. Meany said that the UAW-AFL should give up the con- trol of the taxicabs, Jimmy Hoffa then requested that Johnny Dio bring his organization into the teamsters and that he would receive a charter from the teamsters and continue his operation as a team- ster member rather than as a member of the UAW-AFL. This was opposed at that time by a vice president in New York, Tom Hickey, about whom you will hear more later on. He opposed it, and he said Johnny Dio had a bad background and the wrong kind of friends and he would get the teamsters union in trouble and in difficulty in the N<iw York City area.
They had a meeting about it, and subsequently, Dave Beck ruled that Johnny Dio should not be brought into the teamsters organiza- tion at that time.
Jimmy Hoffa was overruled.
Locul 102 of the taxicabs was given up and the teamsters organiza- tion started a drive on the taxicab drivers.
So Johnny Dio continued operating local 649, and also in these other unions. His chief union was local 649 of the UAW-AFL.
The Chairman. What does that cover ?
Mr, Kennedy. It is an amalgamated local.
The Chairman. It could organize anything ?
Mr. Kennedy. To organize the unorganized. A lot of different shops were involved. He brought in his very close friends into 649 and they were sort of a parent local. The rest of the locals were of less importance, although they were operating.
Then we come to 1954. There was some question raised in New York City newspapers and law-enforcement agencies about Johnny Dio's operations in New York City. Johnny Dio at that time, during the middle of 1954, was sentenced to 60 days in jail for nonpayment of taxes. The money tliat he liadn't paid tlie taxes on was the $5,500 that he had gotten for keeping his dress shop in New York from being uiaionized. He hadn't declared that on his income tax. So he was sentenced to 60 days in jail.
The Chairman. Was that a Federal sentence ?
Mr. Kennedy. No, a State sentence. During 1954, while he was in jail, Lester Washburn, who was president of the international union of UAW-AFL, lifted all of the charters of Johnny Dio's locals.
IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIEIiD 3619
He said that they would bring the UAW-AFL into disrepute, and they were the wrong type of people that were in the labor-union movement.
Immediately after that, his executive board met and they overruled him and he was forced out as president, and he resigned as president of the union. These charters were all given back to the locals and they continued in operation.
The Chairman, In other words, when Dio was convicted, the in- ternational president of that union lifted the charters ?
Mr. Kennedy. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. And then his executive board overruled him?
Mr. Kennedy. That is right, led by Anthony Doria. They over- ruled him and granted the charters all back, and he resigned.
The CiiAiRiviAN. All right.
Mr. Kennedy. At that time, when he made this move, he personally kicked out Dio as regional director, but again Dio, after the executive board met, was reinstated as in charge of all of the operations in New York City.
The Chairman. All right. Proceed.
Senator McNamara. At this point, was Washburn's office in New York City?
Mr. Kennedy. It was out in Milwaukee, Senator.
Senator McNaimara. He liad moved, I think, from Milwaukee, to Detroit. Or did he move back?
Mr. Kennedy. His headquarters w^ere in Milwaukee and the UAW headquarters were, at that time, in Milwaukee. Subsequently, in 1955 or 1956, the UAW-AFL moved to Los Angeles, where they are now.
Senator McNamara. There was a time prior to 1954 when he had headquarters in Detroit, I believe. Maybe you did not get into that phase of it.
Mr. Kennedy. I am not familiar with that.
So, in 1954, the middle of 1954, this event I have just described oc- curred. Subsequently, there was a good deal written in the news- Eapers about Johnny Dioguardi, and the executive board decided to ave a meeting with him and consider the charges against him. They had a meeting with him and cleared him and said that there wasn't anything in his background or anything that they could find that he had done wrong. However, he wrote them and said :
Because of the amount of controversy over this matter, I am going to resign from the union.
That was, I believe, in August or September of 1954.
Although he resigiied from the union, and that was publicized at the time, we will be able to show that he continued in an important role in the control of these unioiis into 1955.
The Chairman. Now he continued that control without being ofS- cially representing the union?
Mr. Kennedy. And after the union had announced that he had severed all connections with the international union.
The Chairman. In other words, just an announcement made for the public's benefit?
Mr. Kennedy. Yes.
The Chairman. And his power, however, continued?
Mr. Kennedy. That is correct.
3620 IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD
The Chairman. And it was recognized ?
Mr. Kennedy. That is correct.
The Chairman. And he was consulted about union operations^
Mr. Kennedy. That is correct.
The Chairman. And, in fact, he was practically the boss' of it, is that what 3^ou mean?
Mr. Kennedy. That is right.
The Chairman. Proceed.
Senator Curtis. How many members did they get ?
Mr. Kennedy. You mean in all of these locals ?
Senator Curtis. From 1950 to 1954.
Mr. Kennedy. They had about 5,000 members.
Senator Curtis. 5,000 members?
Mr. Kennedy. Yes, sir.
Senator Curtis. Now, they had dues from 5,000 people?
Mr. Kennedy. Yes, sir.
Senator Curtis. Do you know how many of those conducted a bona fide union and had meetings and transacted business ?
Mr. Kennedy. We have had a rather difficult time with the books and records of these unions. We find that we will come to one of these locals, for instance, and find there was a fire the day before and the records liave been destroyed. Or, again, that the janitor threw the records out, or they put the records in their car, and it happened that the district attorney was subpenaing the records at the time and to make sure they were turned over to the district attorney and to make sure they were clown there bright and early, they took tlie books and records out and put them in their automobile and then some burglar broke into their automobile and stole the books and records.
Senator Curtis. From the evidence you do have of what unions they had, would you say they were run from tlie top or did they organize a few unions where the members really operated them ?
Mr. Kennedy. We will show, through witnesses, and we will call here before the committee, members of these various unions, tlieir relationship with these various union officials. We will bring in some of the management people who had relationships with the union officials. We feel that that is the only way we can really show the picture, because of the fact that these books and records are not avail- able to us.
The Chairman. Were you able to get the books and records of any of those that you have listed there ?
Mr. Kennedy. In some, but what remained or what books and rec- ords were kept are very sparse.
The Chairman. You received no complete records of any of tliem ?
Mr. Kennedy. No.
The Chairman. No records that would reflect the true transac- tions of the union ?
Mr. Kennedy. No. The only thing we can rely on is the union officials testimony themselves and, supplementing that, we have to rely on the management end and also the members of the union as to what experiences they had.
Senator Goldwater. Mr, Kennedy, might I ask one question ?
Zakman had the idea that there were about 30,000 taxi drivers in New York City, and you mentioned the figure of 4,000 or 5,000 hav-
IMPROPER ACTIVITIES EST THE LABOR FIELD 3621
ing been gathered into all of these paper locals. Were the others organized into other unions ?
Mr. Kennedy. Now, as I say, the taxicab drive was abandoned in 1953 because of the efforts of George Meany. That was turned over to the teamsters. Whatever union members they had at that time were turned over to the teamsters.
The local 102 of the taxicab drivers disappeared and their char- ter disappeared. These other miions, out of the 15 unions, only 6 or 7 of them really got into operation. Some of them were closed up within a short period of time because of extortions, and other im- proper practices. All in all, they only had 4,000 or 5,000 members.
Senator Curtis. How could they finance all of this with dues from 5,000 members?
Mr. Kennedy. They didn't make any accounting, and the members were paying dues.
Senator Curtis. The fact is that they were collecting money from other sources, from unlawful activities ?
Mr. Kennedy. There was some income coming every month from these members. As you will see from the witnesses, there wasn't much searching to be done for the union members. They were just receiving the union members' dues, and they didn't have a great number of expenses.
Senator Goldwater. Do you have any testimony from management that would give you any idea as to the amount of extortion that is involved in this particular operation, that is extortion such as we have just heard about in the case of Mr. Chester?
Mr. Kennedy. There are a number of extortions which we will bring out, but even more prevalent was the sweetheart contract, the deal made between management and these union officials, to the detri- ment of the members. Most of this occurred where the union members were illiterate, or people that had just come to the United States. Most of it centered around the Puerto Ricans and the Negroes in New York City. Those people were not aware of what their rights were and were not aware often of the fact that they were even organized or that they even had a union. They never even met their union officials. So it was more of that kind of a thing, and the management would say, "Well, I will pay you $100 a month and we will mark it off as dues in our books," and the members would never know about it.
We will show that they were paying dues for people that didn't even exist, because they had made an arrangement to charge it in their books that so and so Avas paid and so and so might have left the employment 6 months earlier.
We will show where there were contracts which guaranteed a wage scale of 75 cents an hour when the minimum wage was $1.
Senator Goldwater. Do you suspect that you will be able to bring out that there were similar manipulations with welfare funds?
Mr. Kennedy. Not to that extent ; no.
Senator Goldwater. Or payments into welfare funds ?
Mr. Kennedy. No.
Senator Goldwater. Now I have one more question on this extor- tion. Is there evidence to show that this extorted money went into the union coffers, or did it go into the pockets of the individuals?
Mr. Kennedy. We believe it went into the pockets of individuals.
3622 IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD
Senator Goldwater. That would be a natural assumption, but I was trying to develop some sources of money to answer Senator Cur- tis' question.
Mr. Kennedy. I am sure that these Imion officials, if they didn't keep the money, would be glad to answer the questions when they are asked about it.
Senator Goldwater. That is fine.
Mr. Kennedy. So, in 1954, Johnny Dio allegedly, or supposedly, resigned from the union. It was shortly after, in October, on Octo- ber 11, 1954, that he met with Jimmy Hoifa in New York City, and in front of the press at that time Mr. Hoffa put his arms around him, and Johnny Dio said, "I am looking for a job, Jimmy." And Jimmy said, "Any time you want a job, Johnny, you can come to me."
During 1955, Johnny Dio remained, in fact, in control — or his lieu- tenants remained in control — of the operations of the UAW.
Xow, I would like to move to another chart here.
The Chairman. Are there any other questions about this one?
All right, proceed.
Senator Goldwater. Did not Jimmy Hoffa make a remark after the trial downtown to somebody that if he wanted a job to come and see him ?
Mr. Kennedy. I believe he did.
Senator Goldwater. That was not a juror, was it?
Mr. Kennedy. I guess it was, Senator. I just knoAV what I i-ead in the paper and I wasn't there.
Senator Goldwait.r. T just cannot quite recall it, but when you men- tioned that he told Johnny Dio that he could have a job at any time, it rang a bell and the bell said that he made a similar remark downtown after the trial. I did not remember whether he made it to a juror or not.
Mr. Kennedy, 1 don't know.
Senator McNamara. As reported in the local papers, he made it to a juror. That is the way I recall it, Senator.
Senator Goldwater. Between Joe Louis and John Dio, they come in mighty handy.
The Chairman. Let the next chart being presented by counsel be published in the record. Are they so connected that they need to be tied together ?
Mr. Kennedy. Yes.
The Cilvirman. I suggest, then, to the reporter you refer back to the previous page, and it will be found on that page, so that the two may be printed in the record on adjoining pages so the connection can be apparent to those who read the record. It will be found on page 3611.
Mr. Kennedy. Now we come back to joint council 16, Mr. Chair- maiL "We discussed that briefly at the beginning.
Early in 1956 there was an election in New York City for the control of joint council 16. The election was between Mr. John O'Bourke and Mr. ISIartin Lacey. Martin Lacey had been the incumbent and he had been president of the joint council 16 in New York City.
The Chairman. Now we are back to the teamsters ?
Mr. Kennedy. Yes ; and we will show the connection between these two in just a moment.
IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD 3623
The election was expected to be very close as to who would control the Teamsters Joint Council in New York City.
In early December of 1955, the joint council 16 in New York City received letters from seven different locals that they never knew existed, asking to be seated at the joint council. Now, each local in the joint council, in the voting for the joint council president, has seven votes. A local has 7 votes no matter whether they have no members or whether they have 10,000 or 11,000 members and they still have 7 votes.
The Chairman. That is in the election of officers of the council?
Mr. Kennedy. Yes. So on the eve of the election, the joint council received notification that seven different locals that they never knew existed suddenly requested permission to affiliate with the joint council, and, therefore, to vote in the coming election.
So Martin Lacey as head of the joint council at that time, wrote to the international and asked for the applications of these various locals that they had filed with the international and asked for the history of it.
It had been agreed to earlier by the joint council and with the inter- national that any locals that were to be chartered in the New York area were to have the approval of the joint council and would have a notification to a general oi'ganizer, Tom Plickey. These locals evi- dently had been chartered, and we will show that they had been, with- out the notification to the joint council and without notification to the general organizer, the international organizer in that area. They suddenly had been chartered down here in Washington by the inter- national.
The Chairman. As I understand it, the head of the joint council, Mr. Lacey, had never heard of them?
Mr. Kennedy. That is correct.
The Chairman. They had no record of their existence?
Mr. IvENNEDY. That is correct.
The Chairman. And they had been chartered just previously and without the usual procedure that had been established?
Mr. IvENNEDY. That is correct.
The Chairman. So that immediately preceding the election, those seven locals wrote in and asked for recognition so they could be seated and thus be eligible to vote in the election of the international officers ?
Mr. KJENNEDY. That is correct.
We will show that the purpose of having a charter in these locals was to influence the election in New York City for control of the joint council. They have been chartered at first at the request of Mr. James Hoffa and that request had been made to Mr. Einar Mohn in the international headquarters here in Washington, D. C, and those charters had been granted and given to the seven different lo- cals.
Senator Curtis. I would like to ask what you mean by a charter is- sued by international teamsters to these locals. Was that to a group of workers who had organized a union, or to whom were they is- sued ?
Mr. Kennedy. No, that is a license, really. It is a license under the title of teamsters to go out and organize. Or if there is a group
3624 IMPROPER ACTIVITIES EST THE LABOR FIELD
that wants to become affiliated with the teamsters or with any union, it is a license to take them in under a particular charter.
Senator Curtis. Well, it is a license, then, to an organizer or to an officer, is it not?
Mr. Kennedy. Yes, sir.
Senator Curtis. In other words, there were not seven groups of workers who had assembled themselves together and said, "We want to affiliate with the International Teamsters Union"? That is not the way they get a charter ?
Mr. Kennedy. That was not the procedure that was followed here. If the charter was granted, ordinarily, there would be a group in a particular area, say, for instance, within the teamsters jurisdiction, that were unorganized and wanted a charter or wanted to become affiliated. Or if there was an organizer who knew that there was some work to be done in that particular area, or with that particular group of plants, he would go to the joint council and he would say, "We need a charter in this area and we don't have enough."
Senator Curtis, That was my conception of what a charter would be.
Now, is that what was issued to these seven groups ?
Mr. Kennedy. No, that was not in this case.
Senator Curtis. You still call it a charter ?
Mr. KJENNEDY. It was a charter granted by the international, never- theless. It was granted as if those circumstances that you have de- scribed existed.
Senator Curtis. They received the same charter as if a group of workers were applying for bona fide charters ?
Mr. Kennedy. That is right.
Senator Curtis. And it was issued to organizers ?
Mr. Kennedy. I will show that in just a moment, to whom these charters were issued.
Senator McNamara. You mentioned Einar Mohn. Did he have authority to issue charters ?
Mr. Kennedy. Together with John English, there is an arrange- ment made, and I think one since then, and between the two of them under Dave Beck they can issue the charters.
Senator McNamara. In whose name was the charter issued?
Mr. Kennedy. Under Dave Beck's name.
Senator McNamara. President of the teamsters international ?
Mr. Kennedy. Yes, sir.
Senator McNamara. And Einar Mohn, where does he fit in, and what was his title ?
Mr. Kennedy. He is a vice president and he is administrative as- sistant to Dave Beck, and he plays a part in this, as does John English.
So the charters were granted by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, to these seven locals, and they bypassed the joint council 16, and bypassed the general organizer and international vice presi- dent, Tom Hickey.
Now, the joint council requested the applicants, the application cards of these charters, and who made the request for these charters. They received a telegram back approximately a month later, which would be early in January of 1957
Senator Kennedy, That would be 1956.
IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD 3625
Mr. Kennedy. Yes, I am sorry. That these locals should be seated and at the same time they did not send the applicants or the applica- tion cards for these charters. So there was a great fuss raised about it because the election obviously was going to be close between Mr. Martin Lacey and Mr, John O'Rourke.
Mr. Tom Hickey who had opposed Jolmny Dioguardi earlier backed Martin Lacey, and Jimmy Hoffa backed Mr. John O'Rourke for this fight.
The election was held, and in addition to these 7 locals, which each had 7 votes, there were 16 other votes that were in contest. Those were 16 other votes contested. Dave Beck ruled that the 49 votes of these locals, plus the 16 other votes, should be put in a little box and separated and the people should vote, but they shouldn't be counted unless they were going to influence the results of the election.
Senator McNamara. How do we get a figure like 16 if each local union had 7 votes?
Mr. Kennedy. It will not play an important role in this and it is rather a complicated matter.
Senator McNamara. All right.
Mr. Kennedy. There were some extortions, and people had been out of their jobs and there was a question of who would represent the local.
The election was held and Mr. Martin Lacey, without counting the 49 votes and without counting the 16 votes, won 192 to 181.
The election was held on February 14, 1956, and shortly thereafter Mr. Dave Beck ruled that the 16 votes should be counted immediately. Those 16 votes then gave the victory to Mr. John O'Rourke. Martin Lacey then brought this into a court, and said that neither the 16 nor the 49 votes should be counted. The judge ruled to put an in- junction against the International Brotherhood of Teamsters from counting these votes and said it was obviously an attempt to influence the result of the election of the New York Joint Council that these 7 locals had been chartered and that these other 16 votes had been counted.
So the control of the joint council reverted back to Mr. Martin Lacey.
I might say in connection with that, subsequently Mr. Martin Lacey resigned or said he wouldn't run again and Mr. John O'Rourke has taken over control of the joint council, and Mr. John O'Rourke is Mr. James Hoffa's representative.
Tlie CiiAiR]MAN. Is Mr. O'Rourke presently the president ?
Mr. Kennedy. That is correct.
The Chairman. And Lacey has stepped out ?
Mr. Kennedy. That is correct.
The Chairman. Did he step out at an election time, or in between elections ?
Mr. Kennedy. He stepped out prior to the election and said that his health wasn't very good.
The Chairman. His health went bad?
Mr. Kennedy. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. Just for information in the record at this point, how often do they hold elections ?
Mr. Kennedy. Every year.
The Chairman. Each year?
3626 IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD
Mr. Kennedy. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. So he did not Last the year ?
Mr. Kennedy. No ; he did not. Well, you see, the court controversy lasted during at least half of 1956, so when he finally regained con- trol officially it was in the middle of 1956.
I might say in tliat connection, Mr. Chairman, that they both had court costs of approximately $24,000 apiece, Martin Lacey versus John O'Rourke, and, subsequently, the joint council voted to pay the court costs of both of them. So union members dues were paid or used to pay approximately $24,000 to John O'Rourke's attorney and approximately $24,000 to Martin Lacey's attorney.
Senator Kennedy. How many members were represented by those 49 votes?
Mr. Kennedy. Well, now, these locals here had no members at all. These five, 651, 258, 269, and 284, and 362 had no members at all.
Senator KenxVedy. That was 35 votes. How many votes were there in the whole joint council?
Mr. Kennedy. There were 380.
Senator Kennedy. So that would represent 125,000 members, and now there were 35 votes which represented no members.
Mr. Kennedy. Yes, sir.
Senator Kennedy. But they still had the right to vote. Wliat about the top two locals?
Mr. Kennedy. These two unions represented no new members, but I would like to put on another chart and show you what happened.
Senator McNamara. Before you leave that chart, who is the man in control of 295 ?
Mr. Kennedy. That is John McNamara.
The Chairman. As we present the next chart, I will ask the re- porter to have it placed in between the other two, already printed previously. It will be found on page 3611.
May I ask counsel if the three charts pieced together now com- pletes the picture with respect to this operation ?
Mr. Kennedy. It completes the picture as far as the people are concerned, the applicants on the charter, but we have another chart we will put up to show what happened to the shops subsequently.
But this at least starts us off.
We were talking about the members of the locals. These five locals had no members whatsoever, and they were so-called paper locals, and they existed just on paper. I think these two locals had no new members.
The Chairman. What do you mean by "no new members"?
Mr. Kennedy. There were transfers of certain shops from local 875 which is operated bj^ Kleinman, Berger, and Carmel, and there were transfers of certain shops, refrigerator shops, over to local 275.
The Chairman. In other words, to set up locals 295 and 275, they transferred out of another union segments of their members and placed them in these two new ones?
Mr. Kennedy. Tliat is correct.
The Chairman. Whereas the other five appearing there on the chart had no members at all ?
Mr. Kennedy. No, sir ; that is correct.
The Chairman. But in order to set up 2 more voting units of 7 votes each, they transferred a group out of 1 union into a n<iw local ?
IMPROPER ACTIVITIES EST THE LABOR FIELD 3627
Mr. Kennedy. That is correct.
Senator McXamara. When you say "refrigeration union,'' what do you mean ? Are they installing refrigeration equipment, or what?
Mr. Kennedy. They are repairmen. That is, repairmen on refrig- eration units.
Senator McNamara. Just service men. Is that it ?
Mr. Kennedy. Yes. The local 808 did the same thing. As to this local 875, although these are the chief official officers, Mr. Chairman, we will show that it is dominated and controlled by a man by the name of Tony "Ducks"' Corallo, and that he is the actual one who operates and controls this union. This local 808 transferred some air-freight drivers ; some of those shops were transferred over to local 295.
Senator Curtis. I see that tliis Teamsters Local 875 that transferred members and formed a new teamsters unit No. 275 has one of its officers listed as "J. Berger.'' Is that the same Berger that was in 102 of the garment workers?
Mr. Kennedy. That is his brother, Jack Berger.
Senator Curtis. Xow, you said a minute ago that Sam Berger con- tinued on in this activity until about 1956 or 1955.
Mr. Kennedy. No ; I did not mean to, if I did say that.
Senator Curtis. TMien did he drop out?
Mr. Kennedy. I said Johnny Dioguardi. Sam Zakman dropped out shortly after.
Senator Curtis. I mean Berger.
Mr. Kennedy. Sam Berger dropped out shortly afterward from Local 102 of the UAW. He stayed in as manager of Local 102 of the IJjGWU until early 1957.
Senator Curtis. Wlien did he drop out of this apparatus ?
Mr. Kennedy. Well, he remained very close to Johnny Dioguardi. When Johnny Dioguardi ostensibly left the labor-union movement at the end of 1954, he set up a labor-relations firm called Equitable Re- search, and Sam Berger continued a close association with him, and on occasion referred clients to him.
Senator Curtis. That was as late as when ?
Mr. Kennedy. In 1955.
Senator Curtis. Thank you.
Mr. Kennedy. Now, the importance of these locals and the impor- tance of what we have been discussing this morning as to the control of Joint Council 16, is where the people that made up these locals, the applicants, where they came from, and who they were, and what they did. This overlay that we have put in here shows what occurred. As I have said earlier, local 649 was really the parent local of all of the rest of the operations in New York City of Johnny Dioguardi. He was regional director and he operated out of local 649. That was his own local, and he was president of that, and although he had res|>on- sibilities in these other locals he brought in his closest friends in local 649.
Joseph Curcio came down to local 269 and became secretary-treas- urer, and he came from local 649 to local 269.
Harry Davidoff came from local 649 to local 258 of the teamsters, and he became their secretary-treasurer.
Sydney Hodes came from local 649, down in here to local 284, and he became the secretary-treasurer.
3628 IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD
Abe Brier in local 649 came clown here to local 362, and he became the secretary-treasurer.
The Chairman. You said they had no members.
Mr. Kennedy. They had no members.
The Chairman. There were no members and just these officers named on paper without an}' dues-paying members?
Mr. Kennedy. That is correct.
Now, for instance in that connection, Senator, Sam Getlan, who used to be in local 228 — and we will have more about that later — became president and was put on as president of local 258. When we interviewed him over the period of the last few months, he not only did not know he was in the union, he not only did not know he was president or knew he was in the union, yet he was listed as the presi- dent of local 258. He never even heard of local 258, let alone being president of the union.
That same situation was followed in many of these other locals, and many of these other people. We have people who voted in the joint council election who never even knew they were members of the union, let alone voting in the election.
The Chairman. They voted them although they were not members of the union and they did not even know that they were delegates.
Mr. Kennedy. One fellow said he was standing outside in the bar and he had been drinking, and somebody came up and said, "Come on, we are to vote." And they went down and he said there was an awful lot of people around, and we showed him the chart showing that he had voted in the election, and he said, "Well, I went there. Maybe I voted."
But the main officials, the chief officials of local 649 came down into these four locals. They were the key officials in those.
In local 051, the president or secretary-treasurer of that local was Nat Gordon. Now, Nat Gordon runs a liquor store, and he is a brother of Abe Gordon, who is a teamster union official and who is a very close associate of Johnny Dioguardi. Abe Gordon, his brother, not only is a teamster union official but he also runs a trucking company.
Now, you can see the officers over here in local 224, whose names were used on the application blanks for local 269. These are officers and charter members of local 224 who were used in local 269.
The Chairman. Do they have to have a certain number of members before they can get a charter ?
Mr. Kennedy. No ; they did not. They had no members at all.
The Chairman. I understand they had no members, but you said they were used on the charter.
Mr. Kennedy. Under the teamster constitution, seven members are required to get a charter.
The Chairman. So they just used officers in these other unions to make uy, the so-called membership to get a charter ?
3,[r. Kennedy. That is correct. These officers and applicants on the charter of 227 came over into local 284 of the teamsters.
Local 355 officers came over here and became applicants for local 362. As I said, and as we will develop, some of these people never even knew they were on the applications.
Subsequently, these people in local 224 that came over here as appli- cants on local 269 ended up here in local 362. They never were active in 269 but they ended up in local 362 of the teamsters.
EMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD 3629
The people that came over here from local 355 to local 362 never were active in 362, and they now run an independent union over in 355.
You can see Sydney Hodes came out of local 649, and he was an officer in 649 and he was also an officer in local 228. However, local 2'28 of the UAW-AFL had had its charter lifted supposedly, back in 1955, and this union should not even have been in existence at that time. The charter according to their records of the international had been lifted, but we will be able to show that that charter was active under a number of different people after that time. We call it the "bouncing charter" because it bounced from person to person, and was given to various people so that they could organize in their par- ticular district.
The last time it was handed out, this UAW-AFL charter was handed out by a teamster official.
Sydney Hodes, who was an officer supposedly down here in local 228, and also in 649, ended up in three different unions. His name ended up in three different unions, and he was here as president of local 258, and he was here as secretary-treasurer in local 284, and he was here as president of local 362. All during this period of time that was true.
The Chairman. Are there any further questions ?
Senator McNamara. Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask the chief counsel at what point did this United Automobile Workers AFL go out of business ? I understand they are no longer in business.
Mr. Kennedy. Yes ; they are still in business, except under the name of the Allied Industrial Workers of America.
Senator McNamara. The same officials?
Mr. Kennedy. Except for Anthony Doria, who has left with $60,000.
Senator McXamara. Then generally, it is the same setup and the only thing changed is the name.
Mr. Kennedy. That is correct.
Senator McNaiviara. And they changed it themselves, or who did?
Mr. Kennedy. After the merger of tlie AFL-CIO, it was decided that they should not have two T^AW's, and Mr. Reutlier kept his or- ganization, and the UAW-AFL changed to the Allied Industrial Workers of America.
Senator McNamara. And they are affiliated with the AFL, Meany's organization?
Mr. Kennedy. Yes, sir.
Now, another confusing part is local 651, and local 362 gave as their address in the applications, the old address of local 228, when in fact they were never there.
The Chairman. Both of them gave that address ?
Mr. Kennedy. Gave this address of old 228, where 228 was no longer in existence, when in fact they operated out of local 649.
651 gave a nonexistent address. Local 258 gave the new address of local 228, when in fact they operated out of local 649.
It would appear to us, at least, to have been a mad dash at the last moment to try to get names for various locals, and give them addresses, and there was some confusion on this.
3630 IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD
The Chairman. This was a power fight, in other words, internal union power fight, and the interests for O'Rourke undertook this pro- cedure in order to get control of the joint counciL
Mr. Kennedy. Which controls all of these things that we have dis- cussed earlier.
Senator McNamara. Were these charters all issued on the same day, Mr. Kennedy ?
Mr. Kennedy. Yes, all on November 8, 1956.
The Chairman. I hope we will get proper pictures of these so that those who read this may follow it.
Mr. Kennedy. This other overlay that we have put on, Mr. Chair- man, shows when the stationery was ordered to make these applica- tions. We have traced down the shop where the stationery was ordered that sent the applications into the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
The Chairman. You mean the letterheads for these locals, these paper locals ?
Mr. Kennedy. That is right, and we found that the bills of 362, 869, 358, and 651 were all sent to local 649.
Now, subsequently, during July of 1956, there had been a great deal in the press about this battle for control of joint council 16 and also, the court case between John O'Rourke and Martin Lacey. So these locals decided that they had better get some members in their various locals, so what they did was transfer some shops, and without the concurrence of any of the members of the locals.
Harry Davidoff brought certain of his shops that he felt belonged to him and he brought them down into local 258. So they came out of local 649. They came down with him to 258. Certain of those shops of Joe Curcio, he took out of local 649 and he brought them down to local 269.
The shops of local 250, even though the officers had become charter members of local 258, the shops of local 250 came down here to local 362.
Senator Curtis. By shops, you mean their membership?
Mr. Kennedy. Yes, their membership.
Senator Curtis. Who decided that ?
Mr. Kennedy. They decided it, Joe Curcio, Harry Davidoff, and Sidney Hodes and Brier, and Johnny Dio.
Senator Curtis. The members did not decide it ?
Mr. Kennedy. No, sir.
Senator Curtis. And did the employer cancel out one contract, and enter into a new contract with the new union ?
Mr. Kennedy. Yes. He was just notified that the change had been made from the UAW to the teamsters.
Senator McNamara. Do they come down in great numbers or in very small numbers?
Mr. Kennedy. They brought all of their shops, ultimately, down into these locals.
Senator McNamara. Did they amount to 100 generally, or more?
Mr. Kennedy. How many different shops you mean?
Senator McNamara. How many men were transferred from 649 to 362?
Mr. Kennedy. All of the shops altogether, had about four or five thousand members.
IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD 3631
Senator McNamara. And there would be hundreds in each one of these mstances ?
Mr. Kennedy. Yes. We will show if we have time, the type of shops that they had.
Local 227 transferred their shops to local 284. Local 355 re- mained independent, and local 228 supposedly was not even in exist- ence. Local 651 never got any shops and it is still a paper organiza- tion. It really does not exist.
These two locals continued in operation.
Senator Curtis. Now, how much concurrence was there with the teamsters' international officers in the transfer of these shops, or I prefer to call them transfer of union members because they were moved about like they were chessmen.
Mr. Kennedy. Under the constitution, I do not believe they have any control over the matter. It is up to the local autonomy. These individuals decided these members shovdd be transferred and they were transferred.
Senator Curtis. But were they in on the operation?
Mr. Kennedy. You mean in 1956 ?
Senator Curtis. Yes.
Mr. Kennedy. I do not know.
The Chairman. Is there any further explanation of that chart?
Senator Kennedy. Mr. Counsel, are you going to show later on who was the guiding force behind all of these transfers, and are you saying it was Mr. Dio?
Mr. Kennedy. Based on this chart, and based on the operations, these were people that were transferred, and they were all people that Johnny Dio brought into the labor movement after 1950.
These were people that he brought in and he was responsible for. The chief operation which this happened under came out of local 469. That was his local. Those people were answerable to him.
Again, because Jimmy Hoffa had this close personal relationship Avith Johnny Dio, and Jimmy Hoffa was anxious to oust Tom Hickey from any position of power in New York City, they were bitter enemies. Tom Hickey was backing Martin Lacey, and this would have been the means whereby to do it and get these charters and have them vote in the election and overturn the Martin Lacey group and gain control.
That was the operation that was done, and these people that came over were all Johnny Dio's people.
That is, with the exception of 875, which was run by another hoodlum and gangster, Mr. Tony Ducks Carello, who controlled this union and other unions. John McNamara was also very close to Jimmy Hoffa and also responsible for local 295.
Mr. Chairman, we have a chart here showing the kind of people or the kind of shops that existed for these various locals.
The C'HAntMAN. It mav be presented and printed at this point in the record.
3632
IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD
(The chart is as follows :)
Types of Shops Organized by United Auto Workers, ALF Amalgamated Locals in Metropolitan New York
LOCAL 224
Refrigeration repairmen
Car washes
Restaurant equipment manufacturer
Paper products
Box manufacturer
Stone setter
Embroidery manufacturer
Lamp manufacturer
Lead-pipe manufacturer Breadbaker Comic-book publisher Mop manufacturer Toy manufacturer Wliolesale soap Thread distributor Tfiiletries manufacturer
LOCAL 22 7
Chemical plant Vitamin-pill maker Glass dealers Plastic-bag company Leather embossers Paper products Handbag manufacturer Wallet manufacturer
Envelope company Hobby store Converters
Hardware manufacturer Rubber-products company Service stations Heating contractor Paint company
LOCAL 355
Electric-broiler manufacturer Quilting manufacturer Bias.binding company Hotel
Electrical-parts manufacturer Linen shop Drugstore Oil companies
LOCAL 250
Dog-food maker
Ballpoint pens
Optical company
Printer
Notebook manufacturer
Crucifix plater
Brassworks
Mattressmaker
Textile manufacturer
Beltmaker
Zipper manufacturer
TV antennas
Discount house
Electric shop
Steel plant
Candle and crayon company
Jewelry shop
Buttonmaker
Screw manufacturer
Candymaker
New-car sales
Yarn spinner and twister
Packaging company
Screw-machine manufacturer Ball-bearing company Toilet-seat reeonditioner Draperies maker Dry cleaner Coffee roaster Aircraft-parts manufacturer
IXJCAL 649
Plastic-novelties manufacturer
Rayon processor
Christmas tree lights
Dry cleaner
Electroplaters
Printer
X-ray company
Paint company
Machine shop
Papermaker
Wood products
Truck renter
Importers
Soapmaker
Chemical works
IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD 3633
Mr. Kennedy. So when these shops were transferred, they are hardly clearly within the jurisdiction of the teamsters union.
The Chairman. What are they?
Mr. Kennedy. They are not clearly within the jurisdiction of the teamsters union.
For instance, here local 260, a dog-food maker, a notebook manu- facturer, a crucifix plater, a screw-machine manufacturer and a toilet- seat reconditioner.
The Chairman. Those became members of the teamsters?
Mr. Kennedy. These are the charts. These were the people here that had these shops and these were the shops that were transferred over. There is a plastic bag company, and handbag manufacturer and wallet manufacturer and a hobby store.
The Chairman. They all became members of the teamsters ?
Mr. Kennedy. These shops were transferred over. Their officials, and the applicants on their charters, set up these charters, were used as the applicants on the teamsters union charters, and subsequently when there was a great hue and cry about it in New York City, these shops were transferred over in 1956.
Curcio brought his shops down to 269 and Davidoff brought them to 258, and they set up this operation.
The Chairman. I see on there Christmas tree lights. What does that have to do with the teamsters union? And there are also dry cleaners.
Mr. Kennedy. Admittedly the teamsters have broad jurisdiction because they say that anything that moves is in their jurisdiction and anything that affects any teamster organization is in their jurisdiction.
The Chairman. And some soapmakers. That is where they were organized and they were unionized and those are the ones that were transferred into these paper locals, after the manipulation had been discovered and exposed.
Mr. Kennedy. That is correct.
Now, Mr. Chairman, we have just one more chart and then we are finished. That will give the type of people that were involved in this, that Johnny Dio and Tony Ducks brought into the labor movement since 1951 or 1952.
They played an important role in the control of joint council 16 in New York City.
The Chairman. This chart the counsel is now presenting may be printed in the record at this point.
89330— 57— pt. 10 4
3634
IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD
(The chart is as follows:)
lAst of indictments or convictions for offenses committed by individuals in their capacity as officials of unions which were dominated or controlled by Anthony "Ducks" Corallo or Johnny "Dio" Dioguardi
Local
ASUiation
Name
Date of indict- ment
Charge
Disposition
649
649 198 198 875
875 875
875 875
405
405
405 405 405 295 295
295
239 227
227 227
239 239 522 522 522
239 239
United Auto Work- ers, AFL.
.-..do
..._do
....do
Teamsters.
-...do
-...do
-do.
-do. -do.
Retail Clerks Inter- national Associa. tion.
.-..do
do
do
do
Teamsters. do
.do.
United Auto Work- ers, AFL.
.do., -do.-
Teamsters.
do
do
do
do
.do. .do-
Anthony Topazio, secretary- treasurer. Joseph Cohen
George Cohen, organizer
Henry Gasster, president
Nathan Carmel, vice president. .- Jack Berger, president
Aaron ICletnman, secretary-treas- urer.
Milton Levine, organizer 875, and president, local 275.
Jack Priore, organizer
Sam Zaber, organizer 875, and local, 275 teamsters.
Max Chester, secretary-treasurer.
Manny Fink, business repre- sentative.
Max Lees, president
Irving Slutsky, vice president —
Phihp Brody, organizer
John Dioguardi
John McNamara, secretary-treas- urer. MOton Holt, secietary-treasurer, 805.
Sam Goldstein, president
Afthm' Santa Maria, secretary- treasurer.
Domlnick Santa Maria, trustee... David Consentino, president,
Local 248, IBT.
Max Chester
John Dioguardi
Alfred Reger, secretary-treasurer
Burle Michaelson
Harry Davidoff, secretary-treas-
surer. Local 258, IBT.
Sam Goldstein, president
Phillip Goldberg
July 1952
July 1952 1953 1953 1956 1956 1956
1956
1956 1956
1956
1956 1956 1956 1956 1956
1956
1957 1957
1957 1957
1957 1957 1957 1957 1957
1957 1957
Extortion
--do
..do
.-do'
--do
--do
-.-do
--do
..do
..do
--do
-do
--do
.-do
.-.do -.
...do
...do
Perjury...
Bribery...
Conspir- acy, for- gery, larceny.
...do
.-.do
Bribery..
...do
Extortion
...do
—do
...do. ...do-
Convicted, 1953.
Do. Convicted, 1954. Dismissed.! Convicted, 1957.
Do.
Do.
Pending.
Do. Do.
Convicted, 1956.
Do.
Pending. Do. Do. Do. Do.
Do.
Convicted, 1957. Pending.
Do. Do.
Convicted, 1957.
Do.
Do. Pending.
Do.
Do. Do.
1 Cohen refused to testify.
Senator Curtis. The thing that disturbs me, and you perhaps can- not answer it right now, is that even though these miion had not been controlled by hoodlums and bad cliaracters, I am astounded that good men, good officers, might be able to transfer members from one union to another just at will.
The impression that I get after listening to the investigation of the teamsters and the textile workers and the bakers is that these of- ficers assume a certain proprietary interest in their members. They use their members for their advantage and gain.
Mr. Kennedy. This is a list of indictments and convictions for of- fenses committed by individuals in their capacity as officials of the unions which were dominated or influenced by Anthony "Ducks" Corallo or Johnny Dioguardi.
These were people that they were responsible for and these are offenses and indictments and convictions that have happened since they came into the labor-union movement or were brought into the labor- union movement by Jolinny Dio or Tony Ducks.
IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD 3635
This is not their total criminal records. We will develop that later on, but this is since the time that these people have come in.
The Chairman. In other words, the law violation records that this chart exhibits, all of those violations are alleged violations which oc- curred since they were brouoht into the union by Johnny Dioguardi.
Mr. Kennedy. And Anthony Ducks, yes, that is correct.
Now, most of this, and I would think virtually all of it, is through the efforts of Mr. Hogan, and his office in New York City, who, as I have said earlier, has been on top of this continuously and doing a tremendous amount of work in New York City.
Through his efforts these people have been indicted and some of them convicted. They were people brought into the labor-union movement in the manner w^e described. These are people who played such an important part in the tight to control Council IG.
The Chairman. Are they still in the labor-union movement?
Mr. Kennedy. Some of them are, and we will develop that.
The Chairman. In the course of the testimony ?
Mr. Kennedy. Yes, sir, and what has been their relationship with their union while they served time in prison.
The Chairman. Are there any further questions?
Now, does this conclude your presentation of what we may term our opening remarks here this morning, so as to get this whole hearing in proper perspective?
Mr. Kennedy. Yes. Tlie important thing is that we have these Avitnesses down from management and from these various unions and it is not just to have them recite a particular event, but it is in this picture and the part that they played.
It might be just 1 man who was involved with 5 or 6 people, but this can be multiplied a tliousandfold by this kind of an operation, it has such a great and tremendous influence.
If people who control these unions are gangsters or hoodlums, and the head of the joint council 16 is a gangster or hoodlum or has an obligation or a responsibility or owes a debt to any gangsters or hood- lums, then, of course, the operations in the city of New York or in other big metropolitan areas are jeopardized.
Tlie Chairman. Are there any further questions before we recess?
The committee will stand in recess until 2 o'clock.
(Whereupon, the hearing in the above-entitled matter was recessed at 12 : 20 p. m., to reconvene at 2 p. m., of the same day.)
afternoon SESSION
(Members present at the convening of the afternoon session: Senators McClellan, Ives, and Kennedy.)
The Chairman. The committee will be in order.
Call your first witness, Mr. Kennedy.
Mr. Kennedy. ]Mr. Sam Zakman, Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. Mr. Zakman, come forward, please.
Put up your right hand and be sworn.
You do solemnly swear tliat the evidence you shall give before this Senate Select Committee shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God ?
Mr. Zakman. I do.
3636 IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD
TESTIMONY OF SAMUEL ZAKMAN
The Chairman. Mr. Zakman, state your name, your place of resi- dence, and your business or occupation, please, sir.
Mr. Zakjian. My name is Samuel Zakman. I live at 9 Anvil Lane,. Levittown, N. Y.
I am at the present employed in a lampshade factory in New York City.
The Chairman. Ha\e you talked to members of the staff of the com- mittee regarding your testimony ?
Mr. Zakbian. Ves, sir.
The Chairman. You know generally, then, the line of questions to expect ?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. Do you know you have the right to have counsel present while you testify to advise you of your legal rights under the law?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. Do you waive counsel, Mr. Zakman?
Mr. Zakman. At this time, I do, sir.
Tlie Chairman. At this time you do. All right.
Mr. Kennedy, you may proceed.
Mr. Kennedy. Mr. Chairman, this afternoon we are going to have at least two witnesses on local 102 of the UAW-AFL, which appears over on the far left on this chart, the origin and the beginning of Mr. Johnny Dio's entrance back into the labor movement in 1950.
Mr. Sam Zakman will be the first witness as he was the first presi- dent of local 102 of the UAAV-AFL, and then we will trace witli him how he got the chartei- and what his experiences were with Mr. Dio..
The Chairman. All right.
Mr. Kennedy. Mr. Zakman, can you tell the committee a little bit of your background, where you were born ?
Mr. Zakman. I was born in Russia.
Mr. Kennedy. How old were you when you came to this country?
Mr. Zakman. I was about 7 years old.
Mr. Kennedy. And you came to New York City at that time?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Mr. Kennedy. And you have been living in New York City ever since ?
Mr. Zakman. Most of the time.
Mr. Kennedy. When did you first get into the labor — first, when were you born ? What was your birth date ?
Mr. Zakman. May 8, 1913.
Mr. Kennedy. 1913. Wlien did you first get into the labor-union movement ?
Mr. Zakman. Sometime during the early 1930's.
Mr. Kennedy. In what role, what position ?
Mr. Zakman. Sort of a volunteer organizer.
Mr. Kennedy. A volunteer organizer?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Senator Ives. Mr. Chairman, before we get further, may I ask a. question ?
The Chairman. Senator Ives.
IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD 3637
Senator Ives. Mr. Zakman, were you educated in the public-school system of New York City ?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Senator Ives. How far did you get in school ?
Mr. Zakman. Junior high school.
Senator Ives. Junior high school ?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Senator Ives. Are your parents both living?
Mr. Zakman. Only my mother.
Senator Ives. Wlien did your father die ?
Mr. Zakman. I was about 10 yeare old.
Senator Ives. ^Vlien you were about 10 years old ?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Senator Ives. And you were left to support your mother at that time ?
Mr. Zakman. I was left, my brother and my sister.
Senator I^'ES. ^Yho supported the family ?
Mr. Zakman. We all had to work at an early age.
Senator Ives. You all had to work at that time, is that it?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Senator I\tes. From that time on ?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Senator I\t.s. And still you got through junior high school, is that it?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Senator Ives. Thank you.
Mr. Kennedy. You say in the 1930's you were a volunteer organ- izer ?
Mr. Zakman. That is right.
Mr. Kennedy. For what unions, and what did tli;<t position entail?
Mr. Zakman. The Beauty Culturist Union, local 561, I believe.
Mr. Kennedy. Beauty
Mr. Zakman. Beauty culturist union, beauty operators.
Mr. Kennedy. You were organizing in that?
Mr. Zakman. We were organizing beauticians throughout the Bronx.
Mr. Kennedy. You were a volunteer, were you ?
Mr. Zakman. At the beginning I was.
Mr. Kennedy. Would you get paid ?
Mr. Zakman. $10 a week expenses.
Mr. Kennedy. A^Hiat was your other source of income during that period ?
Mr. Zakman. Well, things were pretty bad. It was during the depression. When I got a day's work in the shop or a couple of days work, I would go to work, and in my spare time I would help the union organize.
Mr. Kennedy. Did you have much luck organizing the beauticians in the Bronx?
Mr. Zakman. It was pretty rough in those days, but we managed to organize them until it became an established local.
Mr. Kennedy. AVliat local was that?
Mr. Zakman. I believe it was 561.
Mr. Kennedy. Did you do work for any other unions ?
3638 IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IX THE LABOR FIELD
Mr. Zakman. Since then?
Mr. Kennedy. No ; during that period of time.
Mr. Zakman. On 1 or 2 occasions I helped the drug employees union.
Mr. Kennedy. Again on a volunteer basis ?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Mr, Kennedy. Would you get your expenses ? Is that all ?
Mr. Zakman. No, sir ; there wasn't any expenses in those days.
Mr. Kennedy. During this period of time, were you a member of the Communist Party ?
Mr. Zakman. No; during that period of time I was a member of the Young Communist League.
Mr. Kennedy. The Young Communist League. When had you joined that, Mr. Zakman ?
Mr. Zakman. Around 1930, or so.
Mr. Kennedy. When you were about 17 or 18 years old ?
Mr. Zakman. That is right.
Mr. Kennedy. Then did you ultimately become a member of the Communist Party ?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Mr. Kennedy. "VAHien did vou become a member of the Communist Party ?
Mr. Zakman. Around 1937.
Mr. Kennedy. 1937 ?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Mr. Kennedy. Did you have any position with the Communist Party?
Mr. Zakman. I was a party organizer for a time.
Mr. Kennedy, In the New York area ?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Mr. Kennedy. New York City ?
Mr. Zakman. That is right.
Mr. Kennedy. Did you also go to Spain ?
Mr. Zakman. I did.
Mr. Kennedy, Would you tell us about that ?
Mr. Zakman. Well, in September, sometime during the month of September 1937, 1 went to Spain as a member of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. I was in Spain for 16 months, and came home around — somewhere around Christmas of 1938.
Mr. Kennedy. You stayed there about 16 months?
Mr. Zakman. That is right.
Mr. Kennedy. Did you have any position with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade?
Mr. Zakman. I was a commissar.
Mr, Kennedy. You were a commissar?
Mr. Zakman. Right, sir.
Mr. Kennedy. What are the responsibilities of a commissar?
Mr. Zakman. Well, a commissar is sort of a political adviser. He holds the same military rank as the highest military officer of his par- ticular company. At one stage, the head of our company was a sergeant. That made me, militarily, a sergeant. Later c>n, the head of the company became a captain, so I received the same pay as a captain, except that a commissar has more authority than Ihe military commander.
IMPROPER ACTIVrTIES EST THE LABOR FIELD 3639
Mr. Kennedy. You say it has more authority ?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Mr. Kennedy. You would advise hhn? You would advise the captain or advise the sergeant ?
Mr. Zakman. Well, the commissars would have their own meetings and more or less tell the captains.
Mr. Kennedy. Was there a commissar for each captain ?
Mr. Zakman. There was a commissar for each company and a commissar over the commissars.
Mr. Kennedy. Then you returned to the United States. Did you go back into the labor-union movement then ?
Mr. Zakman. Well, not immediately. I worked in various indus- tries. Of course if there was a strike in my particular industry, I would help out. Sometime in 1942 I started to work for Local 259 of the TTAW-CIO on a full-time basis.
The Chairman. 1952?
Mr. Zakman. 1942, sir.
(At this point, Senator Curtis entered the hearing room.)
Mr. Kennedy. Was that the local headed by Mickey Finn ?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Mr. Kennedy. What happened after that?
Mr. Zakman. Well, I worked there until, I believe, sometime in 1945 and after that, for awhile, I didn't work for any union.
Then I went to work for, I believe it was, Local 642 of the United Auto Workers.
Mr. Kennedy. Were you not with the Hotel and Restaurant Work- ers International Union for a while?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir ; I was.
Mr. Kennedy. That is local 254 of the AFL?
Mr. Zakman. That is right.
The Chairman. Senator Ives?
Senator Ives. Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask Mr. Zakman a few questions about his connection with the Communist Party.
I understand that you are no longer a Communist.
Mr. Zakman. That is right, sir.
Senator I\t.s. I do not think that has yet been develoi)ed in the questioning, though I assume it would be.
I would like to ask you a couple of questions in that connection. You were in your teens when you became affiliated with the Young Communist League. "Wliy did you do that? Wliat attracted you about it? At that time, I take it, you were in junior high school, or were you out of high school ?
Mr. Zakman. Just about out of high school.
Senator Ives. What caused you to go into the Young Communist League ?
Mr. Zakman. Well, there was no work. I was the same as any other young fellow. Most of the people I associated with in my neighborhood were either members of the Young Communist League or their parents were Communists. I listened to a lot of talk.
Senator Ix^s. Do you mean that that area of New York City was pretty well populated with Communists?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
(At this point. Senator Kennedy withdrew from the hearing room.)
3640 IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD
The Chairman. "Wliat area?
Senator Ia^es. What part of New York was that ?
Mr. Zakman. That was the Bronx.
Senator Ives. The Bronx?
Mr. Zakman. Right.
Senator I^^s. I was never given to understand that the Bronx was communistic.
Mr. Zakman. Well, not the entire Bronx, but around Wilkins Avenue there were plenty.
Senator Ives. That is a little different.
Go ahead. Then you went into the Communist Party. Wliy did you do that ?
Mr. Zakman. Well, actually, I didn't go into the Communist Party. Wlien I went to Spain they sort of graduated me into the Communist Party.
Senator Ives. You graduated into the Communist Party ? In other words, you started out to be a Communist because you were sort of desperate, you were unemployed and could not get work; is that it?
Mr. Zakman. That is right, sir.
Senator Ives. And you graduated into the Communist Party itself ?
Mr. Zakman. That is right.
Senator Ives. I follow you so far. Wliy did you leave the Com- munist Party ? Wliat happened ?
Mr. Zakman. Well, actually, in a certain sense I broke with the Communist Party because of things I saw in Spain, but I did not make a complete break until sometime in 1945.
Senator Ives. In other words, you discovered the Communist Party was not what you thought it was ?
Mr. Zakman. That is right, sir.
Senator Ives. And communism was not what you thought it was?
Mr. Zakman. That is right.
Senator I^^es. Thank you very much.
The Chairman. All right, Mr. Counsel.
Mr. Kennedy. We were up to 1945. You left the Communist Party and you went with the Hotel and Restaurant Workers Interna- tional Union, Local 254? You were with them for a while?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Mr. Kennedy. And then the UAW-CIO Local 642; is that right?
Mr. Zakman. That is right, sir.
Mr. Kennedy. Then you went with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 1614?
Mr. Zakman. Yes.
Mr. ICennedy. The secretary-treasurer of that was Milton Silver- man?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Mr. Kennedy. What year is this we are up to about now ?
Mr. Zakman. The early part of 1949, 1 believe.
Mr. Kennedy. The early part of 1949. How long did you stay then with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers?
Mr. Zakman. Slightly less than 1 year. Toward the end of 19 — no. It was sometime in 1950.
Mr. I{j:nnedy. You left then sometime in 1950; is that right?
Mr. Zakman. Yes.
IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD 3641
Mr. IvENNEDY. During this period of 1950, while you were working for the International Brotherhood of P^lectrical Workers, did you have a conversation with Mr. Sam Beroer, manager of local 102 of thelLGWTJ?
Mr. Zakman. a conversation pertaining to what, sir ^
Mr. Kennedy. Did you have a conversation pertaining to getting a charter for yourself, to organize ?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sii'.
Mr. Kennedy. What position did you liave with the electrical workers ?
Mr. Zakman. I was an organizer.
Mr. Kennedy. And you wanted a charter of your own ?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Mr. Kennedy. And j^ou spoke to Sam Berger about that?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Mr. Kennedy. Would you relate to the committee the convei'sation you had with Mr. Sam Berger ''i
Mr. Zakman. Well, I asked Mr. Berger if lie laiew anyone in the United Automobile Workers, AFL. I "told him that I had worked with the United Automobile Workers, CIO, and I felt that there was room in New York for the AFL to move in since the CIO had not organized the gasoline stations or thousands of workers in the garages and other such workers. I felt that the AFL could do the job. I told him that — rather, I asked him if he could possibly find out or know anyone that could get me a charter, and I would be glad to help organize a union to organize these industries.
Mr. Kennedy. What did he say to that (
Mr. Zakman. At that time he said he didn't kuow at the moment, but if he ever finds out anything he will get in touch w^th me.
Mr. I^NNEDY. Why did you think Sam larger, of the Ladies' Garment Workers Union, would be able to help you get a charter with the United Automobile Workers, AFL?
Mr. Zakman. Well, I knew that in his position as the head of his local, he would attend conventions where thei-e were other AFL officials, and I felt that at one of these conventions he might meet with some of the officers, and there he inight get into a conversation and woidd find out foi- me.
Senator I\'es. Mr. Chairman ?
The Chairman. Senator Ives.
Senator Ives. I would like to ask Mr. Zakman what his actual trade or profession is, if he has one outside of being an organizer or commissar.
Mr. Zakman. I am a machinist, sir.
Senator Ives. You are a machinist?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Senator l\^s. How many years did you Avork at that profession or trade ?
Mr. Zakman. I would say about 6 or 7 years, sir.
Senator Ives. Then you discovered you were more cut out to be an organizer ?
Mr. Zakman. Well, I always liked the organizing field.
Senator Ives. You were kind of successful at that; is that it?
Mr. Zakman. I wasn't very successful at it.
Senator Ives. Then why did you stay at it ?
3642 IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD
Mr. Zakman. I just liked that type of work. I was younger, and I had a family, and that was the type of work I liked.
Senator Ives. Yet you say you were not successful at it ?
Mr. Zakman. No, sir.
Senator Ives. It is rather anomalous.
Thank you.
The Chairman. Identify Mr. Berger for us. What was he at the time you had the conversation with him ?
Mr. Zakman. He was the manager of local 102.
The Chairman. The manager of local 102 ?
Mr. Zakman. Of the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union.
The Chairman. What kind of a union ?
Mr. Zakman. International Ladies' Garment Workers Union, the truck division.
Mr. Kennedy. Local 102 of the ILGWU, Ladies' Garment Workers Union, does the trucking for the clothing manufacturers, is that right, in New York City, the men's clothing manufacturers?
Mr. Zakman. I believe it is the ladies.
Mr. Kennedy. The lady clothing manufacturers; is that right?
Mr. Zakman. I believe so.
Mr. Kennedy. Did he then talk to you again after you had this first •conversation with him? Did he talk to you again about getting this charter from the UAW-AFL, for you ?
Mr. Zakman. Well, some time passed between our first conversation, and he called me up one day and asked me if I was still interested in a charter, that it might be possible to secure one. I said I was. He said he would let me know if anything further transpired.
Mr. Kennedy. And then did he bring you up on another occasion and introduce you to some people ?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Mr. Kennedy. Did he bring you to the Hampshire House?
Mr. Zakman. Yes.
Mr. Kennedy. That is a hotel in New York City ?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Mr. Kennedy. Did he introduce you to some people at that time?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Mr. Kennedy. To whom did he introduce you ?
Mr. Zakman. Mr. Paul Dorfman.
Mr. Kennedy. Who did you understand Mr. Paul Dorfman was?
Mr. Zakman. I didn't know at that time.
Mr. Kennedy. Have you found out since who Mr. Paul Dorfman is?
Mr. Zakman. Well, I read in the newspapers.
Mr. Kennedy. You did not know at all who his contacts were at that time?
Mr. Zakman. At that time I did not know.
Mr. Kennedy. Did you discuss with Mr. Paul Dorfman the grant- ing of this charter from the UAW-AFL?
Mr. Zakman. No, we didn't have much of a conversation. I was introduced to him, and Berger said, "This is the young fellow that would like to get a charter," and that was about more or less the conversation.
Mr. Kennedy. Did you understand Mr. Dorfman had any connec- tions at all with the UAW-AFL?
IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD 3643
Mr. Zak3iax. ^Vell, I assiuned he probably had some connections if lie was able to get a charter.
Mr. Kennedy, Did you ever learn that he had any connections?
Mr. Zakman. Xo, sir.
Mr. Kennedy. Did 3^ou understand that he had a personal friend- ship with Mr. Anthony Doria?
a\Ir. Zakman. No, I didn't know about any Mr. Anthony Doria at that time.
Mr. Kennedy. But Mr. Berger brought you up to the Hampshire House to introduce you to Mr. Paul Dorfman and discussed getting this cliarter from the UAW-AFL?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Mr. Kennedy. Mr. Chairman, at this time, Mr. Paul Dorfman, and .~ince that time, has had no official connection with the UAW-AFL.
Did you understand that following that. Mr. Berger made a trip out to the international headquarters in Milwairkee, Wis., to try to obtain this charter for you?
Mr. Zakisian. I didn't know where he went to get the charter, but he called me up and said that a charter would be mailed to us from the international.
Mr. Kennedy. Did you understand he went to Milwaukee, Wis., to get that charter?
Mr. Zakman. Not at that time, sir.
Mr. Kennedy. Have you learned since that time that he did ?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Mr. Kennedy, What reason would Mr. Sam Berger, the manager of the htdies garment workers local, what reason would he have for going to all of this work for you, Mr. Sam Zakman?
Mr. Zakman. Well, I know that I asked him for the charter. I met him through a mutual acquaintance. I felt as one trade-union leader to another trade-union man, that he was willing to back us, since he had a powerful union.
Mr. Kennedy. Did you have any official connection with him prior to this time ?
Mr. Zakman. No, sir.
Mr. Kennedy. Had you know him well ?
Mr. Zakman. I had met him on a few occasions.
Not too well.
Mr. Kennedy. Yet he took this trip all the way out to Milwaukee, Wis,, to get this charter for you ?
Mr. Zakman. Well, as I said before, I didn't know he was going to take any trip, or how much inconvenience there would be incurred in getting this particular charter.
Mr. Ivennedy. Have you learned since what he was going to get out of getting this charter for you ?
Mr. Zakman. No, sir.
Mr. Kennedy. Did you understand at that time that he had a close personal relationship with Mr. Johnny Dioguardi ?
Mr. Zakman. No, sir. At that time I had never heard the name of Johnny Dioguardi.
Mr. Kennedy. You did not know at this time his relationship with Johnny Dioguardi, is that right ?
Mr. Zakman. That is right.
3644 IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD
Mr. Kennedy. Subsequently he informed you that the charter would be granted ?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Mr. Kennedy. He mailed the charter to you?
Mr. Zakman. I think it was mailed to him.
Mr. I^nnedy. Who were the names that were going on the appli- cation for the charter ?
Mr. Zakman. Well, the original application— we put our own names down there and names of friends and relatives. We knew we had to have about 15 or 16 names, and those are the names that were on it.
The Chairman. Did you personally sign an application for a char- ter?
Mr. Zakman. I believe I did, sir.
The Chairman. I beg your pardon?
Mr. Zakman. I believe I did, sir.
The Chairman. Could you recognize your handwriting?
Mr. Zakman. I would.
The Chairman. I hand you here what purports to be a photo- static copy of "Official application for charter of affiliation under the jurisdiction of International Union, United Automobile Workers of America." It appears to be dated September 12f, 1950. I ask you to examine this document and see if you identify it as a photostatic copy of the original which you signed.
(Document handed to witness.)
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir ; I signed this.
The Chairman. That document will be made exhibit 1.
(The document referred to was marked "Exhibit 1," for reference- and will be found in the appendix on p. 3969.)
The Chairman. Let the witness retain that copy for a moment.
I notice that the signatures on this application seem to be printed,, all of them printed, rather than written. Is that your printed signa- ture "Samuel Zakman" that appears third from the top?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. Who printed the other names on the application?
Mr. Zakman. I believe I printed some of them. Some I printed.
The Chairman. Some you printed ?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. Had the others whose names you printed been con- tacted, and were they apprised of the fact that their names were being used on this application as petitioners for the application?
Mr. Zakman. Some of them, to my knowledge, whose names I put down there, I informed him about the fact. Some of tliem, I believe, did not know.
The Chairman. You informed them before or after you printed their names ?
Mr. Zakman. After, sir.
The Chairman. After you printed their names. Who was present with you when this application was made out, and when you placed or printed your name on it ?
Mr. Zakman. Mr. Berger, and George Semelmacher.
The Chairman. Mr. Berger, and George who?
Mr. Zakman. Semelmacher.
Mr. Kennedy. Semelmacher.
IMPROPER ACTrVirrES IN THE LABOR FIELD 3645
The Chairman. Was Paul Dorf man present ?
Mr. Kennedy. No, sir.
The Chairman. Did he authorize you to use his name ?
Mr. Zakman. No, sir.
The Chairman. Who suggested the use of his name?
Mr. Zakman. It might have been 1 of the other 2 gentlemen; I didn't.
The Chairman. You didn't. In other words, did you then sug- gest some names that you could put on here ?
Mr. Zakman. I suggested some of the names.
The Chairman. And they suggested some of them. But the 3 of you, Sam Berger, yourself, and Semelmacher, are the 3 who actuallj^ prepared this petition and printed the names on it ?
Mr. Zakman. 1 believe so, sir.
The Chairman. All right, Mr. Counsel. You may proceed.
Mr. Kennedy. You have some of your relatives on there?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Mr. Kennedy. "Wlio are your relatives on that first original applica- tion?
Mr. Zakman. Esposito, Dwyer, and Jangel.
Mr. Kennedy. John Dwyer, Albert Esposito, and who is the other one ?
Mr. Zakman. Albert Jangel.
Mr. Kennedy. George Semelmacher, he has another name; does he not?
Mr. Zakman. I believe it is Baker. He had his name changed.
Mr. Kennedy. Is Semelmacher the German name for Baker?
Mr. Zakman. I believe that is it.
Mr. Kennedy. So he is known as George Baker and also as George Semelmacher; is that right?
Mr. Zakman. t believe so.
Mr. Kennedy. You have another name on here, Tlieodore Ray. Who is Theodore Ray? Who suggested his name?
Mr. Zakinian. Well, I didn't, because I didn't know him at that time.
Mr. Kennedy. Did you know him after that?
Mr. Zakman. Y'es, sir.
Mr. Kennedy. You met him ; did you ?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Mr. Kennedy. He was an fissociate of Mr. Johnny Dio?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Mr. Kennedy. Do you understand that he is now under indictment in New York?
Ml-. Zakman. Y^es, sir.
Mr. Kennedy. In connection with the throwing of the acid in Victor Riesel's eyes?
Mr. Zakman. Y'es, sir.
Mr. Ken NED V. He is under indictment with Mr. Johnny Dioguardi ; is that right?
Mr. Zakman. Tliat is right.
The Chairman. Let me ask you this : How long after you signed this application, after you three printed those names on there, and gave it to Sam Berger, was it before you got your charter?
Mr. Zakman. I would say a couple of weeks, maybe.
3646 IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD
The Chairman. Was it during that period of time that Mr. Berger is supposed to have made the trip to Milwaukee ?
Mr. Zakman. I wouldn't know about that, sir.
The Chairman. You wouldn't know about that?
Mr. Zakman. No, sir.
The Chairman. You say you never knew that he actually made the trip ?
Mr. Zakman. That is right.
The Chairman. He just told you. He called j^ou and told you that the charter would be mailed to you?
Mr. Zakman. When we made this application out, he stiid we would send it in and it w^ould be mailed to us.
The Chairman. All right.
Mr. Kennedy. Mr. Chairman, the application was made out Sej)- tember 12 and they received a charter on September 18. 6 days later.
After you received the charter from the International Union. UAW-AFL, did you, within a short time, meet Mr. Johnny Dio- guardi ?
Mr. Zakman. I would say about a few weeks later.
Mr. Kennedy, AYliat were the circumstances surrounding your meeting ? "\'\^io introduced you to Mr. Johnny Dio ?
Mr. Zakman. I believe it was Mr. Baker.
Mr. Kennedy. Known also as George Semelmaclier?
Mr. Zakman. I had to meet him. I met him down in a restaurant. At that time he introduced me to Mr. Dio.
Mr. Kennedy. And what business was Mr. Dio in at that time ?
Mr. Zakman. I didn't know.
Mr. Kennedy. Did he express an interest in your newly acquired charter, local 102?
Mr. Zakman. No. When I was introduced to him, they told him that I was the fellow that was going to organize the union, and he said he was very glad to meet me. Then Baker told liim that he had secured a headquarters, and he needed a downpayment or a couple of months' rent, or something, and Mr, Dio then loaned him the money.
Mr. Kennedy, Dio then put up the money for your rent i
Mr. Zakman. Yes ; secured the headquarters.
Mr. Kennedy, You were supposed to do the organizing work. After they secured the headquarters, which was a couple of weeks after you got the charter, Mr, Dio put up the money for the rent for your headquarters ; is that right ?
Mr, Zakman. That is right, sir.
Mr, Kennedy, Then you moved along. In October, did Mr. Dio take an active interest in your local, your union, after that?
Mr, Zakman, Not at that time. The first few months he took na active interest,
Mr, Kennedy, Did he put any money up during those first few months ?
Mr, Zakman, Yes; from time to time he would loan us various sums of money,
Mr, Kennedy. To finance your operation?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Mr. Kennedy. For what reason was Johnny Dioguardi interested in financing the operation of your union ?
IMPROPER ACTIVITIES ENT THE LABOR FIELD 3647
Mr. Zakman. Well, at that time I didn't know what he was in- terested in. Wlien I was introduced to him, I was told that he would loan us the money and as soon as we got enough in the treasury we would pay him back. He was a friend of ours, and was to help us.
Mr. KJENNEDT. Who was he a friend of? He wasn't a friend of yours.
Mr. Zakman. Well, I hadn't known him.
Mr. Kennedy, Who was he a friend of ?
Mr. Zakman. He could have been a friend of Mr. Berger's or Mr. Baker's.
Mr. Kennedy. Did you understand that he was a friend of Mr. Berger's or Mr. Baker's at that time ?
Mr. Zakman. I assumed so from the conversation.
Mr. Kennedy. You moved along and you started organizing some shops ; did you ?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Mr. Kennedy. And Mr. Dio was financing the operation. Were you getting a salary during this period of time?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Mr. Kennedy. Was that monej^ coming from Dio?
Mr. Zakman. Not all of it, because at that time we had a few hundred members that came into the organization.
Mr. Kennedy. Was he advancing some of the money for your expenses and salary?
Mr. Zakman. Some of it he was.
Mr. Kennedy. Would you go on and tell us what happened then? Did he take any active control over the operation of the union?
Mr. Zakman. Not at that time.
Mr. Kennedy. Subsequently?
Mr. Zakman. Subsequently; yes.
Mr. Kennedy. Did you have conversations preceding that with him about the operation of the union?
Mr. Zakman. Well, he would frequently ask me questions, how we were doing, or would ask me questions how I go about organiz- ing shops. He took a normal interest that anybody would that in- vested money in anything. He seemed to be very interested. I would have discussions with him about how you go about organizing a plant.
Senator Curtis. Tell us about that discussion. l^Hiat answer did you give him as to how you would go about organizing a plant ?
Mr. Zakman. Well, I told him that first you approach the people in the plant and find out their grievances. Then you make up the necessary propaganda, the leaflets. Then you attach application cards to these leaflets. You appeal to the workers to join your local. You tell the workers something about yourself in the leaflets. You tell them about some of the things you have accomplished in other similar situations in their industry. You ask them to send in the cards.
After that, then you sign a substantial number of the employees, and you petition for an election. If you win, the employer is required to sit down and negotiate a contract.
Senator Curtis. Did Johnny Dio agree with that method, or did he suggest there were sometimes more rapid and direct methods?
3648 IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD
Mr. Zakman. He made very few suggestions at that time. He used to do a lot of listening and ask a lot of questions, but he didn't make any suggestions that there were other ways.
Mr. Kennedy. You moved along into the end of 1950 and through early 1951, Did he take any control over the operations then in early 1951?
(At this point, Senator Goldwater entered the hearing room.)
Mr. Zakman. "Well, he actually didn't take control until he became business manager.
Mr. Kennedy. When did he become business manager?
Mr. ZakMan. To the best of my knowledge, I believe around June 1951.
Mr. Kennedy. Prior to that time, did he have an office in your local ?
Mr. Zakman. Well, when we moved to the new headquarters, he did have a place.
Mr. Kennedy. When was that, approximately ?
Mr. Zakman. That was, I believe, about a month prior to the time he became business manager.
Mr. Kennedy. So that would have been about May of 1951 ?
Mr. Zakman. I believe around that time.
Mr. Kennedy. Prior to that time, prior to the time you moved into the new headquarters, had you received a new charter from the international ?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Senator Ives. While you are hunting that up, I would like to ask a question of Mr. Zakman.
What was the membership of your union at the time that Dioguardi took over?
Mr. Zakman. At the time he became business manager, sir?
Senator Ives. Yes.
Mr. Zakman. I would say about 700 or so, 700 members.
Senator Ives. What was the membership when he became presi- dent, when he took it over entirely ?
Mr. Zakman. I wasn't in the organization at that time, sir.
Senator Ives. You were not a part of it?
Mr. Zakman. No, sir.
Senator Ives. That is as much as you know it ever was — 700 ?
Mr. Zakman. That is about what it was.
Senator Ives. What does that mean in the amount of dues paid? What were the annual dues paid ?
Mr. Zakman. They paid $3 a month.
Senator Ives. $3 a month, $36 a year, for 700 ?
Mr. Zakman. That is right, sir.
Senator Ives. What was the initiation fee?
Mr. Zakman. It varied, from $2 to $25, depending upon the situation.
Senator Ives. Wliy did it vary ?
Mr. Zakman. Well, if a shop was a tough shop to organize, and the question of initiation would held back the workers from joining, we would lower the initiation.
Senator Ives. It was a matter of convenience; is that it?
Mr. Zakman. No. It is a question of holding up the entire organ- ization over the question of the few dollars of initiation.
Senator Ives. That is a pretty good thing, it seems to me.
IMPROPER ACTIVITIES EST THE LABOR FIELD 3649
The Chairman. You spoke a while ago about the first charter you received. That was what date ?
Mr. Kennedy. September 18, 1950.
The Chairman. September 18, 1950. Did you later apply for a new charter?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. For the same local ?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
The Chairman, What year did you apply for that?
Mr. Zakman. I believe it was the early part of 1951,
Mr. Kennedy. It was granted April 23, 1951, Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. You obtained your first charter September 18, 1950, for local 102, and then you applied for your second charter, or for a new charter, on April 23, 1951. Is that correct ?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. I hand you here what purports to be a photostatic copy of the application for a new charter and ask you to examine it and state whether you recognize it as a photostatic copy of the original.
(A document was handed to the witness.)
Mr. Zakman. I believe it is a true copy, sir.
The Chairman. It is a true copy. That may be made exhibit No. 2.
(The document referred to was marked "Exhibit No. 2" for refer- ence, and will be found in the appendix on pp. 3970-3971.)
The Chairman. I note on this new application the following in handwriting. It says, "Cancel old charter and reissue to above names."
What new names are on this second application that were not on the first?
Mr. Zakman. There are several new names, sir.
The (^HxMRman. There are several new names. Among them is Johnny Dioguardi ; is that correct ?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. What do you note there with reference to Johnny Dioguardi? Does it appear to you that his name has been circled and a notation made at the top to send all correspondence to Johnny Dioguardi ?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. Is that when he took over this union?
Mr. Zakman. This piece of correspondence, as it is right now, was not called to my attention until much later. I had not seen it when it went out. In fact, the first time I had ever seen the circling of his name was when some of the investigator showed it to me.
The Chairman. In other words, when it went out, you did not know it was going to be circled that way, and sent in in that fashion ?
Mr. Zakman. No, sir.
The Chairman. I notice down at the bottom it says, "Charter reissued 4-23-1951."
Did you ever see that writing on it before ?
Mr. Zakman. Not until the members of the committee showed it to me, sir.
The Chairman. And I notice it says, "Have charter cover" and this is in handwriting, and an arrow points down "Greater New York and vicinity."
89330 — 57 — pt. 10 5
3650 IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IX THE LABOR FIELD
Was that handwriting on it when you applied for the new charter, or when you reapplied for it?
Mr. Zakman. No, sir.
The Chairman. So what actually happened was when this appli- cation went in for a new charter and was granted, apparently Johnny Dio took over the whole operation. In other words, he became boss of it?
Mr. Zakman. It was shortly thereafter that he became business manager.
The Chairman. He became business manager as soon as the new charter was issued?
Mr. Zakman. About a month afterward.
Mr. Kennedy. Ostensibly, you were still in charge of the union: is that right?
Mr. Zakman. I was the president.
Mr. Kennedy. You were president of the union and Johnny Dioguardi, first by financing your operations and then by moving in, having an office, was gradually taking over control of the union from you ; is that right ?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. Let me ask you this: Did he suggest this new charter business?
Mr. Zakman. No. This new charter business actually came up during a discussion of the executive board, when, since we had mem- bers now, it was felt that it was no more than fair that we put mem- bers names on the charter.
The Chairman. Was Johnny Dioguardi a member at that time of your union ?
Mr. Zakman. I believe he was a member of the union.
The Chairman. You believe he had joined in the meantime?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. Did he pay any initiation fee?
Mr. Zakman. Well, that actually wasn't my department. The secretary-treasurer would know best. But in order to get a card, he would have to.
The Chairman. You don't recall his having paid either $2 or $25, do you ?
Mr. Zakman. No; I don't recall.
The Chairman. Did he work in any shop at that time?
Mr. Zakman. No, sir.
The Chairman. So he was neither eligible nor was he charged aji initiation fee.
Senator Ives. Did he pay the $3 a month regular dues ?
Mr. Zakman. He paid his dues.
The Chairman. Proceed.
Mr. Kennedy. Also on this second charter, Mr. Chairman, there is a notation saying, "April 22, 1955, Okay, Doria."
Doria at that time was secretary-treasurer of the international, is that right? In 1951, I mean.
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Mr. Kennedy. Doria was secretary-treasurer of the international ?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir
Senator Curtis. I would like to ask a question, Mr. Chairman.
IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD 3651
The Chairman. What Doria is that?
Mr. Kennedy. Anthony Doria, on the left hand side of the chart, Doria, Washburn, and Heaton.
The Chairman. He was head of the union, was he, at that time?
Mr. Zakman. He was the international secretary-treasurer. The Chairman. Senator Curtis,
Senator Curtis. On that application, I do not know whether the witness can answer this question or not, but maybe the counsel can advise me, this writino; and circling- directs all correspondence to be carried on with John Dio^uardi. Wliat does the evidence show? Was that on the application when it was submitted to the interna- tional union, or does that lo} i'e:-int a decision made in the inter- national union?
Mr. Kennedy. We believe. Senator, that it was a decision by the in- ternational union, that the writing is Mr. Anthony Doria's writing.
Senator Curtis. In other words, it would reveal an understanding- on the part of Anthony Doria as to what was taking place, that this union was being tui'ued over to Johnny Dioguardi ?
Mr. Kennedy. That is right. And this started with his financing the union's operations in 1950 and continuing in the early part of 1951. Then they put Johnny Dioguardi's name on the application, and made a decision that all correspondence would be sent to Johnny Dioguardi. At the same time, Mr. Sam Zakman was allegedly or supposedly still head of the union and running the union.
The Chairman. Let me ask you a question.
After this charter was issued, was all correspondence from the national headquarters of the international sent to Johnny Dioguardi?
Mr. Zakman. Well, I know I received correspondence from them myself. They might have sent him a duplicate of all correspondence, whether it was to himself or anyone else. I also received correspond- ence.
The Chairman. You also received correspondence?
Mr. Zakman. Yes.
The Chairman. There might have been some more confidential correspondence that went direct to Mr. Johnny Dioguardi that you didn't see ?
Mr. Zakman. That is quite possible, sir.
The Chairman. Thank you.
Mr. Kennedy. During 1951, did you start a drive on the taxicabs in New York City ?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Mr. Kennedy. And you ran that drive, did you, at least initially ?
Mr. Zakman. At the beginning I did.
Mr. Kennedy. And then Mr. Dioguardi began to take over that drive also?
Mr. Zakman. After I left.
Mr. Kennedy. Would you explain to the committee the circum- stances of your leaving local 102 (
Mr. Zakman. Well, there were many circumstances leading up to it. For one thing, there Avere dis])utes about the method of organizing.
The Chairman. About what?
Mr. Zakman. About the methods of organizing. There were dis- putes about staff members. We didn't see eye to eye on several things.
3652 IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD
Senator Curtis. 'Wliat was the dispute as to the methods of organ- izing? Did you want to follow the methods or go along the lines that you stated awhile ago?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Senator Curtis. Who had different ideas on that?
Mr. Zakman, Well, they wanted to use untrained organizers, peo- ple who didn't work in the industry. I was opposed to that.
Senator Curtis. Who are you talking about as "they"?
Mr. Zakman. Well, other members of the executive. Dioguardi.
Senator Curtis. Dioguardi primarily?
Mr. Zakman. As business manager; yes.
Senator Curtis. What did he want to do about organizing?
]Mr. Zakman. Well, he wanted to organize, but I told him that the only proper organizer to put on the staff is someone who would come from the industry. He felt that anybody could be an organizer who wanted to be one. I told him that when you organize an automobile worker, you should send an automobile worker after him, and the same for dress workers, that you take them right out of the shops. He felt that he could hire them from the street if he felt like it and train them to be organizers.
Senator Curtis. Is there any difference in the approach that he wanted to make as to the approach that you fellows wanted?
Mr. Zakman. No, sir. At that time he made no other suggestion. He was satisfied the way the organization was going, especially the taxi drive. We were pretty successful in a few short months.
Mv. Kennedy. Was there anybody in particular that you had ob- jections to as far as working for the union ?
Mr. Zakman. Well, I had objections to about 95 percent of those lie put on the payroll.
Mr. Kennedy. Did you object to Joe Curcio, for instance?
Mr. Zakman. Yes.
Mr. Kennedy. Did you object to Teddy Ray ?
Mr. Zakman. Yes.
Mr. Kennedy. Did you object to Joe Cohen ?
Mr. Zakman. Yes.
Mr. Kennedy. Were these people all brought in by Johnny Dio- guardi ?
Mr. Zakman. I don't know if they were directly brought in, as you say, but some of them were directly introduced to us through him and some through other people. Rut I just couldn't go along in put- ting them on the staff. I felt that I was in charge of the organization, and that I should have the last say as to who would be put on the staff as an organizer.
Mr. Kennedy. Did you object to Benny the Bug, Benny the Bug Ross?
Mr. Zakman. There is a fellow that did everything wrong and organized better than the rest of them.
Mr. Kennedy. You didn't object to him?
Mr. Zakman. No ; not after I saw what he did.
Mr. Kennedy. Did Johnny Dioguardi brino; him into the organi- zation of 102 ?
Mr. Zakman. Frankly I don't know how he came in. We just in- herited him somehow.
IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD 3653
The Chairman. You inherited liim?
Mr. Zakman. We inherited him.
The Chairman. You don't know who from?
Mr. Zakman. No. The organization was getting bigger and people were coming and going. At times it was pretty difficult to keep up with them.
The Chairman. Senator Goldwater?
Senator Goldwater. Mr. Zakman, you said that Benny the Bug had a little different method of organizing and he brought in quite a few members.
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Senator Goldwater. What was different about his procedure ?
Mr. Zakman. Well, Benny, as we call him, used the methods that were used about 40 or 50 years ago. He would just walk into a shop and pull the switch and say, "Everybody out on strike.'' That is all there was to it.
Everybody thought he was crazy and they would walk out and the boss would sign a contract. It was as simple as that. I know it sounds unbelievable, but he organized many shops by the same methods.
Senator Goldwater. By pulling the switch ?
Mr. Zakman. He didn't believe in elections at that time.
Senator Goldwater. Did he use any other method of persuasion that might have been used 40 years ago ?
Mr. Zakman. No. He was a hard worker. He just ran from shop to shop.
Senator Goldwater. He did not use an}- physical approach?
Mr. Zakman. No. He did a lot of yelling and made innuendoes, but I have actually never seen him get into any pliysical disputes, not wliile I Avas with liim, anyway.
(At tliis point, Senator McNamara entered the hearing room.)
Senator Goldwater. I Avas curious to know, and thanks for telling me. I wondered what methods he used that might not be used regularly.
Mr. Zakman. They were completely unetliical, but they worked.
The Chairman. Proceed, Mr. Counsel.
Mr. Kennedy. You were discussing the disputes that you had with Johnny Dioguardi which eventually led to your resigning from the union.
Did you have a dispute with him at the headquarters?
Mr. Zakman. Well, I had previously resigned once before as a result of him making promotions and putting so many of these people on the staff', but they asked me to continue to stay on for a while longer and reconsider.
When this taxi thing became big, other conflicts and differences of opinion arose and then the newspapers started to lambast Dioguardi. As a matter of fact, I knew Dioguardi several months before I knew his name was Dioguardi. I only Knew him as Dio.
I read about him in the New York Post, Murray Kenton's column, one day.
Mr. Kennedy. So did you raise a question with him, and did you have a fight with him ?
Mr. Zakman. At that time I asked him if the article that was about him was true and he asked me if I believed everything that was written
3654 IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IX THE LABOR FIELD
in the papers, that is about tlie whole explanation he gave me about that.
Mr. Kexnedy. Did he hit you?
Mr. Zakman. No. There have been a lot of stories about that so- called hitting. He didn't liit me. As he stood up there, I bent over to take some of my personal things, and his hand came back and the ring scratched my eye. That is all there was to it. I was never thrown downstairs as some of the papers say.
Mr. Kennedy. You were not thrown downstairs by him ?
Mr. Zakman. No, sir.
Mr. Kennedy. He just happened to hit you across the eye?
Mr. Zakivian. Well, it really wasn't a hit in that sense.
Mr. Kennedy. It was with his ring?
Mr. Zakman. It was with his ring and it scratched me. It was an accident.
Mr. Kennedy. And you left the union after that ?
Mr. Zakman. I very happ)ily left the union.
Mr. Kennedy. You Avere out of it after that, is that right ?
Mr. Zakman. Yes.
Mr. Kennedy. Did you ever have any connection with the taxicab drive there ?
Mr. Zakman. No, sir.
Mr, Kennedy. Did you ever have any connection with Johnny Dioguardi ?
Mr. Zakman. I only spoke to liini once after that in my life.
Mr. Kennedy. You went back to work for another union ?
Mr. Zakman. No, I organized an independent union at that time.
Mr. Kennedy. Why did you come to speak to him ?
Mr. Zakman. Well, at that time it came to my knowledge that he was made, I believe, a regional director and he had the power to issue charters. I was starting to organize three big shops.
Since I had onl}^ a small little local, I knew I could not do it myself. I came over to ask him if he could possibly give me a charter of my own, and if the international would send over some organizers to possibly hel]) me with the situation.
At that time he said he w^as too busy with the taxi drive and he couldn't help me himself, but he would send me over to Local 136 of the UAW and they would help me. That is the last time I spoke to Mr. Dio.
Mr. Kennedy. And they helped you out ; did they?
Mr. Zakman. No; they didn't help me out because local 512 itself could not exist as such. I began to work for local 136.
Mr. Kennedy. T^ocal .512 is what?
]\Ir. Z.vK.ArAN. Well, the Hrst local 512 was an independent union.
Mr. Kennedy. In that connection, will you tell the committee or relate to the connnittee how you get a charter for an independent union? What procedure do you have to follow and what have your expenditures been?
Mr. Zakman. Well, there are several procedures. One procedure is you have a group of people, or you organize some shops and get representatives of these shops to sign a petition, as we did the other one, and request a charter.
IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD 3655
You send in a letter to almost any union, or the union or your trade and ask them how much it would be, et cetera. In other situations, you do not have to apply to anybody for an independent charter.
You get together a group of people, whoever wants to help you organize a union or if it is the shop you have, you get the people to- gether and vote yourself a name and officers, and you write a normal petition to the National Labor Relations Board, file the normal forms as any other union, and you are a legal union in every sense of the word.
Senator Ives. Do you do this in collusion with management?
Mr. Zakman. No, sir. You do this on your own.
Senator Tvf.s. I wanted to make sure it was not a company union you were talking about.
Mr. Zakman. No, sir; this is an independent union.
Mr. Kennedy. If you were trying to get a charter from an inter- national? Have you ever heard of the practice of selling charters?
Mr. Zakman. Well, I have heard of it.
Mr. Kennedy. Do you know if it goes on ?
Mr. Zakman. It probably does.
(At this point Senator Kennedy entered the hearing r(X)m.)
Mr. Kennedy. You know that it goes on ; do you not ^
Mr. Zakivcan. Well, it does go on, but I do not know exactly who.
Mr. Kennedy. With some internationalists, are the charters for their locals more expensive than others ? Would you give the commit- tee a little bit of that?
I am sure you are not directly involved yourself, but I am sure you can give the committee a little information as to how these things are done.
Mr. Zakman. I myself have worked for man}^ unions. I never bought a charter. If you can organize and you know^ how tx) organize, it is not necessary. Once you have membership, they are only too glad to give you a charter.
If you have no membership and you want a charter, you apply to one of these unions. You could apply to the teamsters or to the carpenters or to the Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union, or other such unions, for a charter.
Sometimes they issue you a charter upon the application for just a normal fee. Other times they don't.
Ml-. Kennedy. What has been your knowledge about when they don't ? Wliat do you have to do then ?
Mr. Zakman. Well, sometimes they want a favor. They want you to put someone on the staff. They would say, "Well, we will give you a charter.'' Maybe one of the big shots in the international will say, "All right, we will help you out. We will give you a charter. But when your union is running along nicely, we would like to give a couple of jobs out to a couple of friends," or something like that.
That would be one way of returning a favor. Other times, you just ask them how much they want for the charter, period. If jf-ou have the finances, you pay for it.
Mr. Kennedy. You pay for it, if you want it?
Mr. Zakman. For the charter.
Mr. Kennedy. Are some unions more expensive to get chartei-s from than other unions ?
Mr. Zakman. I imagine so.
3656 IMPROPER ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR FIELD
Mr. Kennedy. Is there any going price on any of the unions ?
Mr. Zakman. No, sir. There is no open market for that.
Senator Kennedy. Woukl this sale take phice if you had members and wanted to get the charter, or would this be a case where there were no members, that you would have to do them a favor or pay something ?
Mr. Zakman. If you had members, they would more or less have to give you a charter, especially if they were in the same trade and you were applying to the same union, because it would break out into a scandal and the people would ask, "Why can't we get a charter?"
But if you did not have members, then there was no one to complain.
Senator Kennedy. Would the charters of some unions be more val- uable than others?
Mr. Zakman. Well, I guess because the unions are more powerful, more important. It would be easier to organize under their charters as against — for instance, certainly a teamsters' charter is better than a beauticians' charter. Nobody gets frightened when they see you picket with a beautician's sign.
The Chairman. Can we go back just a minute before we pass over this entirely, to this local 102, wdien you organized it and got your charter? You charged an initiation fee, you said, of from $2 to $25. To whom did that money go ? Did it go into your treasury or did it go to some of the organizers or individuals ?
Mr. Zakman. No, it went into the treasury.
The Chaipjman. Did you keep books on your expenditures and on all the dues?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir, there were books.
The Chair]man. And of the moneys received up to the time you left the union?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. Do you know what became of those records ?
Mr. Zakman. No, sir.
The Chairman. You left it in 1951, sometime, I believe, did you not?
Mr. Zakman. That is right, sir.
The Chairman. You do not know anything about the records since that time?
Mr. Zakman. No, sir.
The Chairman. Senator McNamara?
Senator McNamara. I do not know whether this happened before I came in or not, but has the present employment of the witness been established?
The (Chairman. The what?
Senator McNamara. The present occupation or employment.
The (^iiAiRMAN. You may state it again. Where are you employed?
Mr. Zakman. I am employed in a custommade lampshade factory in New York City.
Senator McNamara. In what capacity?
Mr. Zakman. Production manager.
Senator McNamara. Is it a union shop?
Mr. Zakman. No, sir.
Senator McNamara. That is all.
IMPROPER ACTIVITIES EV THE LABOR FIELD 3657
Senator Kennedy. In this period, did you consider that you were acting as an agent for Johnny Dio or as a front for Johnny Dio? You may not want to use that w^ord.
Mr. Zakman. Well, about the time that we started disputing, I saw that I was losing control of the local and I felt that I didn't want to be president anymore. In fact, I raised that question.
I told him that as long as I was president — I raised it at the executive board — as long as I was president, and I was recognized by the public as the head man, that is the way it would have to be.
If I got another title or if I was demoted, I said I would take orders from somebody underneath me, but otherwise, I would not. That I wanted tlie decisions pertaining to organizing to go to my office and if they did not, I did not want to work there.
One thing led to another and we quibbled and all that. We all tei-^ minated our relationship.
Senator Kennedy. AMiat was Johnny Dio's title at that time?
Mr. Zakman. He was business manager.
Senator Kennedy. Who appointed him business manager?
Mr. Zak:man. I believe the international did.
Senator Kennedy. So you, as president of the local, were obliged to take orders from Johnny Dio and you told him you would not con- tinue as president, that you had the responsibility and you did not want to take his instructions, and after you left, you felt that that was putting you in an impossible position ?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir.
Senator Kennedy. So Johnny Dio was, in fact, in control of the local ?
Mr. Zakman. Yes, sir ; at that time he was.
Senator Kennedy. Why do you think it was worth while for Johnny Dio to go to this effort to control this local ? "What was in it for him? He was not a trade-union man. Why would he want to do that ?
Mr. Zakman. Well, for one thing, the union was starting to grow and for another thing the taxi drive was going along pretty nicely. I had told him 30,000 taxidrivers, whoever controlled, them in New York City would be a powerful figure in New York.
Senator Kennedy. Now, do you think Johnny Dio was interested in raising the wages of the taxidrivers or in his own power controlling the taxidrivers?
Mr. Zakman. At that time, to the best of my opinion, I honestly felt that he wanted to make a success of this taxi drive. There were 30,000 people, and it would have brought in a legitimate million dollars a year in income, and it would