On September 2, Steven Minella, former president and business agent of International Union of Operating Engineers Local 324, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan to one count of failing to report to appropriate authorities the commission of extortion by another official of the Bloomfield Hills, Mich. local. Minella had been charged in June following a joint investigation by the FBI, the IRS and the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards, Office of Inspector General, and Employee Benefits Security Administration.
