William Barthold became the 20th person to plead guilty, on Jan. 21, to his role in a racketeering scheme at more than 20 New York City construction sites from 1989-2001. The scheme of payments for no-show jobs and “labor peace” cost more than $6 million in lost wages and benefits.
Barthold, a representative of Local 1 of the Intl. Union of Elevator Constructors, and other union members submitted fraudulent time sheets to the construction sites. Many of the members participating in the no-show scheme actually claimed to have worked at multiple sites at the exact same time. Barthold and 26 other Local 1 officials were indicted on Feb. 7, 2002 on 137 counts of unlawful payments for labor under the Taft-Hartley Act and the laundering of those payments in violation of the Racketeering, Influenced & Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).
Barthold himself ended up strengthening the U.S. Attny’s case when an unidentified person turned over to the FBI a black, leather-bound book belonging to Barthold. In that book were the names of 22 of the 27 indicted members, along with their home and cell phone numbers. By pleading guilty, William Barthold will have to spend two years in prison and forfeit more than $200,000. But his son, Brian, who is also under investigation, will likely avoid a trial, acc. to the New York Post.
Barthold will be sentenced on April 23 by Federal Judge David Trager (U.S.D.C. E.D.N.Y., Clinton). [U.S.A.O. E.D.NY 1/26/03, New York Post 1/19/03]