A prominent Toronto boss was beaten Jan. 29 by four or five men armed with metal bars in a daylight attack that left him with a broken arm and a gash in his head. The victim was John Stefanini, the executive director of the Residential Alliance of Building Trade Unions and ex-boss of the Laborers Int’l Union of No. Am. Local 183. A witness said moaning outside his window turned into cries for help and that Stefanini’s “head was cracked right open.” Police are looking into labor-related motives. “It’s vigilantism at its best and we would like to have it stopped,” said a police detective.
Stefanini, who lost consciousness after the beating, later refused to speculate about the attack. “I prefer not to make any comment. There’s a police investigation and I’ll leave it to them,” he said. While at LIUNA, Stefanini was also the subject of violence. FBI informant Ronald M. Fino has described how top mob bosses debated in the late 1980s over whether Stefanini should be “dumped.” Last year Stefanini came out of early retirement to head the Residential Alliance, a partnership of eight building trade unions. LIUNA isn’t part of the alliance. [Toronto Star 2/5/99]
Kentucky Embezzler Pleads Guilty
Sabrina A. Goddard pled guilty Feb. 3 to embezzling $53,310 from LIUNA Local 1392 in Owensboro, Ky. According to the U.S. Atty.’s Office in Louisville, the scheme ran from Mar. 1996 – Aug. 1997. She identified only as an employee of LIUNA Local 1392. She faces 5 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Goddard is free on a $25,000 unsecured bond pending her May 10 sentencing hearing in U.S. Dist. Court. The U.S. Dep’t of Labor and FBI, not the failed LIUNA “internal reform effort,” uncovered the corruption.