RVC union leader arrested for corruption

Three union leaders, including one from Rockville Centre, were arrested last week and charged with taking kickbacks and embezzling union funds.

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Diego Rodriguez, the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the FBI, Cheryl Garcia, the Special Agent-in-Charge of the New York Regional Office of the United States Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations (DOL-OIG) and William J. Bratton, Commissioner of the NYPD announced the unsealing of charges against Rocco Miranti, the business manager of the International Union of Allied Novelty and Production Workers, Local 223, Johnnie Miranti, the recording secretary-treasurer of Local 223, and Louis Smith, the former president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 810, for allegedly accepting more than $1 million in kickback payments and embezzling money from Local 223 and Local 810. The three defendants were arrested on July 1 and arraigned in Manhattan federal court before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn.

“Rocco Miranti, Johnnie Miranti, and Louis Smith, by allegedly accepting more than a million dollars in bribes and embezzling union funds, put their self-interest above the interests of the union members they were supposed to represent,” Bharara said. “Rank-and-file union members are entitled to leadership that is supportive, not criminally exploitive, as alleged here.”

According to the allegations in the indictment filed in Manhattan federal court on June 29, from at least 2004 up to and including the present, the Mirantis were both officers of Local 223. From at least 2000 through 2013, Smith was the president of Local 810; from 2013 through December 2014, Smith was a trustee of Local 810. While they were officers of their respective unions, the three defendants were trustees of the unions’ health care benefit programs. In that capacity, they owed fiduciary duties to Local 223 and Local 810, respectively.