Labor Pains

Of moles and the Mob

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters meets next week in Las Vegas, where many of the casinos have been financed in part by loans from the pension funds of the union's 2 million members. The principal duty of the delegates will be to elect interim President Roy L. Williams, 66, to a full five-year term, and some will do so without much enthusiasm. The new head of the Teamsters, which has had trouble with the Justice Department for 25 years, has been indicted three times--in 1962, 1972 and 1974--on federal charges of embezzlement and records falsification, but was never convicted. In 1977 Williams was forced under Government pressure to resign as a trustee of the union's Central States Pension Fund, now worth $2.8 billion. Last week he was indicted again, this time on charges of trying to bribe Senator Howard Cannon of Nevada, ranking Democrat on the Commerce Committee.

The latest charges stem from "Operation Pendorf," an FBI investigation into labor racketeering. According to the indictment handed down by a Chicago federal grand jury, Williams, Chicago Insurance Broker Allen Dorfman and three others told Cannon that if he would delay consideration of a bill designed to deregulate trucking rates and routes, he would be allowed to buy some valuable Nevada property owned by the Teamsters pension fund. The deal never came off. Cannon voted for a weakened version of the trucking deregulation bill, which passed. The Justice Department has told the Senator that he will not be indicted, but one official in the Justice Department's organized crime unit said, "We're not about to canonize Cannon. We don't think he will come off looking very good at the trial."

The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations last week added to the Teamster boss's woes; it released a report charging that Williams has ties to organized crime and is under the "complete domination" of Kansas City reputed Mob Boss Nick Civella. The report called the new Teamster chief "an organized crime mole operating at senior levels of the Teamsters Union." It also cited evidence that Williams had been involved in a scheme to receive cash skimmed from Las Vegas casinos. The subcommittee asked the Labor Department to investigate Williams' suitability for the Teamster's job and to seek a federal court order to oust him if he cannot clear up the allegations of corruption.

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