[SOLVED] 300 word discussion response Crime Statutes and Racketeering

Can you help me understand this Political Science question?

Please respond to the below post. This can be an opinion, follow-up question, discussion, remark, argument, or agreement about what was stated. Remember to stay professional in your postings. You are free to disagree or agree with something that someone has said, but you must clearly show why. Discuss how you feel their postings relate or are different from your own. Feel free to debate points, and hold a discussion!

Note: Each participation response should be a “minimum” of 300 words each (does not count references and or restating what a classmate said) and include “at least” one properly referenced source each (in accordance with APA 6th edition), for full credit. Please see the syllabus for what constitutes a “substantive” participation response.

Respond to Richard:

Labor racketeering and union corruption have been associated/synonymous terms since the early 1900s (Jacobs, 2013, p. 1057); but most likely was occurring long before then. With John Landesco’s publication of Organized Crime in Chicago (1929), union corruption in association with organized crime (OC) figures, union leaders, and employers was brought out into the light (p. 1058). Landesco pointed out how businesses could potentially be disrupted to a small or large degree by the influence of OC-led groups of employees performing their jobs less efficiently, or perhaps not at all, under the guise of benefits for better working conditions, higher pay, or other amenities for the working class.

The New York City’s International Longshoremen’s Association was first formed in 1864; then referred to as the Longshoremen’s Union Protective Association (LUPA) (International Longshoremen’s Union, 2019). Unions from the onset were strife with conflict between competing ethnic groups, the Germans, Irish, and Southern Mediterranean immigrants (Italians most notably), and anti-union large businesses were in the habit of pitting unions against one another. “Between 1881 and 1905 there were more than 30,000 strikes” (Longshoremen’s Union, 2019). Violence by gunfire and explosives was not uncommon. More recently, in July of 2005, RICO charges were filed against the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) for rigging elections, awarding contracts to companies with ties to OC, and placing OC members in “high-ranking union offices (Labor Notes, 2005, para. 4).

In 1891, the Hotel & Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union was established through the American Federation of Labor (Online Archive of California (2010). In 1976, New Jersey passed legislation, the Casino Control Act (CCA), to their state constitution to allow casino gambling in Atlantic City (Fick, 1984, p. 439). Atlantic City’s Local 54 (of the above mentioned union) represents about 12,000 workers, of which 8,000 are casino employees; “waiters, bartenders, cooks and housekeepers” (p. 439). Eighty-five percent of Local 54’s income is received from dues and initiation fees derived from employees working casinos and hotels. Local 54 ran into problems when one of the governing bodies, the Casino Control Commission, learned that Section 93 of the CCA had been violated by the fact that some of the Local 54 officials, president Frank Gerace and executive board member Frank Materio, had ties to Nicodemo Scarfo, a career offender and OC member (p. 440). The commission also discovered that Karlos LaSane, another official of Local 54, in charge of handling discrimination cases, had been convicted in 1973 of extortion while employed as a City commissioner of Atlantic City. In the end, the case was remanded from the federal court to a district court for further deliberation because Section 93 was preempted by the Employment Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), stating that employees have a right to choose which unions represent them.

The Laborers’ International Union was established in 1903, and was established to protect the bargaining rights of construction workers (DOJ, 2018). Today, they have over 500,000 members and are involved with infrastructure work both in Canada and the U.S. They build roads, bridges, schools, and skyscrapers (LIUNA, 2019). Members also work on catchment systems as well as water and sewer systems. In addition, they work solar plants, wind farms, natural gas and oil pipelines, as well as maintain nuclear and coal plant facilities. Unfortunately, LIUNA has had their union corruption problems as well. On January 18, 2016, Roderick Marvin Bennett, a former chief-of-staff for LIUNA, was indicted for theft from the labor organization and conspiracy in health care fraud. Bennett made several personal charges against his LIUNA account totaling about $170,000. The charges included boat slip payments, trips to Las Vegas, hotel and restaurant charges in excess of $33,000, electronic toy purchases, and lavish jewelry and clothing purchases.

Last but not least, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) was established in 1903, and has over 1.4 million members. Originally begun as predominantly a trucking and warehouse union, they have expanded into organizing workers in professional and nonprofessional sectors including, but not limited to, vegetables workers out of California, New York sanitation workers, Seattle newspaper employees, Pennsylvania zoo keepers, Main bakery workers (Teamsters, 2019). The Teamsters have their contributions to the OC dilema.

As recently as 2012, charges for racketeering, extortion, mail fraud, along with about 30 others were levied against four members of the IBT Local 82; John Perry, Joseph Burhoe, James Deamicis, and Thomas Flaherty (Horowitz, 2015). These men allegedly forced payments from booth exhibitors to provide cash prior to having their booths unloaded as well as providing work for union members. Not doing so often ended up in having their booths picketed just prior to the opening of the event. They were also accused of providing no-show jobs, as well as extorting money from engagement organizers of hotels, catering companies, entertainment companies, and non-profit organizations (Horowitz, 2015). Eventually, Teamster General President James P. Hoffa took over and dissolved Local 82.

With regards to potential advantages for a company to enter into a corrupt relationship with their employees union, “employers may pay off union officials to obtain sweetheart deals or waivers of collective bargaining provisions (Jacobs, 2013, p. 1064). Corrupt union officials can also assist employers by making agreements so as to not contribute to employee benefit funding (p. 1065).

The Harrison Narcotics Tax Act of 1914 was the beginning of America’s policies meant to address drug addiction, what may be done about it in the U.S., and the many peripheral unintended consequences in society due to drug addition and the availability, or lack thereof, of desired intoxicating substances (Redford & Powell, 2016, pp. 509-510). As seen with Prohibition of alcohol, the prohibition of opium created a market for organized crime (OC) to provide the people what they wanted (opium and related substances) in spite of authoritative restrictions to a free market society (p. 511). The Angell Treaty (1887) was an attempt to restrict opium from entering the U.S. Apparently, the import tariff on opium in 1883, raising it from $6.00 per pound to $10.00 per pound was not enough to dissuade people from carrying through with continued importation of the naturally occurring substance (p. 512). Subsequently, between the years of 1880 and 1886 646,280 pounds of opium made its way into the U.S. through legal channels (p. 512). And because of the 1887 ban on opium importation, naturally Americans sought it out in higher numbers; no pun intended. Smoking opium spread from the Chinese of California to twenty-two states and territories, and was felt to be a bane to society (p. 513); as would alcohol two decades later, ending in similar, perhaps grander and more bullet-ridden and explosive results; once again, no pun intended.

By 1890, the importation of unprocessed (for smoking) crude opium began to occur, and by 1897 increased to over 1 million pounds entering the U.S.; in addition to the tariff having been raised to $12.00 per pound; clearly a good government tax enterprise (p. 514). Seeing that raising the tariff only increased financial opportunities for smugglers (OC) to increase their profits, the tariff was lowered back down to $6.00 per pound (p. 516). In addition, opium dens expanded to America’s elite socioeconomic crowd, and while dens were being busted by police in the poorer districts, the elite simply set up their own dens where police would not be around to interrupt the high life; once again . . . never mind.

The medical industry was apparently understanding of the addictive processes involving opium and morphine use; however, it was not considered a national threat in the late 1800s. It is estimated there were only about 220,000 morphine and opium addicts; most of them in middle-class to upper-class societies (Redford & Powell, 2016, p. 518). In fact, many people addicted to alcohol were often prescribed morphine; not dissimilar to methadone being used to treat heroin addiction today. And should someone become addicted to morphine, the next step would be getting a prescription for heroin; available and sold commercially by the Bayer company (p. 518). However, by 1914 it was becoming apparent that restrictions were needed for cocaine, morphine, heroin, and opium, and they could only be legally prescribed by a doctor (p. 519). Thus, enter the Harrison Act of 1914.

The Harrison Act was created to ensure that narcotics were relegated to the proper handling and distribution by the medical profession (Redford & Powell, 2016, p. 524). It was designed to stop narcotics sales “peddling,” provide data for the “narcotics supply chain,” and to stop interstate transportation of what were seen as dangerous narcotics on a federal level; making southern states uncomfortable with limiting states’ rights (p. 524-525). Neither were physicians happy with the Harrison Act because it muddied the water where a physician’s right to acquire then distribute opium products to patients became confusing (p. 526). In addition, federal department confusion ensued, as between the Internal Revenue Service and the Narcotics divisions, arguing over budget allocations. The Narcotics divisions would, according to their way of thinking, need budgets large enough to take on the new roles for enforcing criminal violations of narcotics sales, distribution, and illegal use of designated narcotic substances (p. 526). It had also come to the attention of the public and government that heroin was particularly addictive, and a ban on it was further sauce for the goose in budgetary allowances or restrictions; hence, the Heroin Act of 1924 (p. 527).

In closing, the Harrison Act of 1914, as well as other acts limiting or banning narcotic substances results in unanticipated consequences; such as, but not limited to (1) OC efforts to smuggle, store, sell, and distribute narcotics to a demanding public; (2) increased profits for said OC groups; (3) inflated prison populations from convictions for narcotics trafficking and use; and (4) criminal offenses against an otherwise law abiding public who are victimized by those seeking money or illegal materials for personal use or tangent gains. Better to invest in treatment programs; court appointed or voluntary, as each situation may require.

-Richard

References

Fick, B. (1984). Labor Racketeering and Labor Law: State Regulation v. Federal Rights: An Analysis of Brown v. Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union Local 54, 1983-1984 Preview U.S. Sup. Ct. Cas. 439 (1983-1984). Available at:https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholar…

Horowitz, C. (2015). Boston teamsters convicted of extortion, racketeering. National Legal and Policy Center. https://nlpc.org/2015/01/07/boston-teamsters-convi…

International Longshoremen’s Union. (2019). Overview of ILA History. https://ilaunion.org/ila-history/

Jacobs, J. B. (2013). Is labor union corruption special? Social Research, 80(4), 1057-1086,1322. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy1.apus.edu/docv…

Labor Notes. (2005). Feds file racketeering lawsuit against longshore union. https://www.labornotes.org/2005/07/feds-file-racke…

Laborers International Union of North America. LIUNA. (2018). https://www.liuna.org/about

Online Archive of California. (2010). Finding aid to the hotel & restaurant employees and bartenders international union records, 1937-1980MS 458A. http://pdf.oac.cdlib.org/pdf/chs/hotelres.pdf

Redford, A., & Powell, B. (2016). Dynamics of intervention in the war on drugs: The buildup to the harrison act of 1914. The Independent Review, 20(4), 509-530. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy1.apus.edu/docv…

Teamsters. (2019). Who are the teamsters. https://teamster.org/about/who-are-teamsters

U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). (2018). Former chief-of-staff for Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA) and former D.C. attorney charged with healthcare fraud and thefts from LIUNA. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-chief-staff-…

Forum Rubric