For Jimmy Deamicis, union organizing was a license to extort and defraud. Now he’s found out the wages of his misguided thinking. On March 23, Deamicis, a former member of now-defunct International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 82, was sentenced in Boston federal court to a year and a day in confinement and another year of probation for his participation in a racket in which union members forced cash and other tribute from businesses, especially exhibitors at Boston-area trade shows. He had been convicted by a jury in November on three counts of extortion; later in the month he pleaded guilty to three counts of mail fraud and one count of theft of government funds. He also was ordered to pay $42,091 in restitution and a $700 assessment. The actions follow a Labor Department probe.
James “Jimmy the Bull” Deamicis had been indicted in September 2012 along with three other members of Local 82 on a combined 30 counts of racketeering, extortion, mail fraud and other crimes. For years, the crew would accost representatives at trade show booths and demand cash payments or commitments to hire union family members or friends for no-show jobs, threatening to picket or otherwise disrupt business operations if their demands were not met. In addition to taking part in the extortion ring, Deamicis during 2008-11 received $41,391 in unemployment benefits to which he was not entitled. Local 82 since has been taken over by Teamsters Local 25, at the behest of international union headquarters. Not too many people are complaining.
Related:
Ex-Boston Teamster Convicted of Extortion; Pleads Guilty to Benefit Fraud
Boston Teamsters Convicted of Extortion, Racketeering
Four Ex-Members of Boston Teamsters Local Indicted for Racketeering