John DaBronzo’s compulsive gambling almost wrecked his union. Now his main concern is putting his own life back together. The former business agent for Local 89 of the International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Asbestos Workers, was sentenced on Friday, November 14 in federal court to two years in prison for thefts from the Trenton, N.J.-based union totaling nearly $830,000. He also will have to make full restitution.
DaBronzo, 57, a resident of Hamilton Square, N.J., near Trenton, had been a union member for nearly 20 years. He also had been a regular at the Atlantic City casinos – losing substantial sums. During the period January 2005-April 2007 he ripped off the union, covering losses by drawing on the union’s apprenticeship fund and then member dues checks. In all, he took $396,000 from the first source and $433,000 from the second. He pleaded guilty in June, acknowledging his losses at the casinos. He asked for leniency on grounds of having to care for his wife. But U.S. District Judge Joel Pisano declined to grant it after hearing testimony by a court psychiatrist. (Newark Star-Ledger, 11/15/08).