Harold Daggettthe president of the International Longshoremen's Association, which went on a brief strike this week in a labor dispute that may have sparked a shipping crisis across the United States, has once faced federal racketeering charges related to the union's alleged ties to the Mafia. was spared.
Daggett's lawyer, her cousin George Daggett, said the 2005 charges were politically motivated and based on weak evidence.
“This trial was a farce,” he told FOX News Digital. “People say to me, 'Good job,' and I tell them that this lawsuit was brought by the New York Waterfront Commission, and they hated unions, so I went to law school. students could have won their case.”
Although the Justice Department did not reach a conviction, the case had deadly consequences. One of the co-defendants, a reputed Genovese family captain named Larry Rich, disappeared during the trial and was later found in the trunk of a car outside the Huck Finn Diner in Union, New Jersey, 32 miles west of New York City. was found dead.
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Harold J. Daggett, president of the International Longshoremen's Association, speaks during a strike by longshoremen at Port Newark's Maher Terminal in New Jersey on October 1, 2024. (Brian R. Smith/AFP via Getty Images)
“Either he was kidnapped – which is unlikely because he is too difficult a person to hold hostage – or he was kidnapped,” Martin Schmukler, Ricci's lawyer, said in court after Ricci disappeared mid-trial. Either he was murdered,” the Associated Press reported at the time. He was later acquitted in absentia.
George Daggett told Fox News Digital that the commission was a joint oversight effort between New York and New Jersey at the time to pressure federal prosecutors to bring charges that could not be proven.
This trial was a farce. People say to me, “You did a great job.'' And I told them that a law school student could have won that case. This was actually created by the New York Waterfront Commission, and they hated unions.
Harold Daggett denied the criminal charges and said he was the victim of mob extortion. He testified that another gangster, George Barone, put a gun to his head and threatened to massacre his family.
Huck Finn Diner in Union, New Jersey (shown in Google Maps photo). Mafia captain Larry Rich disappears during his extortion trial and is found dead in the trunk of his car, abandoned outside. He was acquitted in absentia.
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According to sources, he testified that at the time he was “so nervous that he urinated all over his body.'' new york post Report. In a separate deposition, he denied knowing that Barone was a Genoese “soldier,” according to court documents.
Prosecutors allege Daggett has ties to the Genovese crime family dating back to 2000, and the union has long been accused of arranging no-show jobs and offering kickbacks to gang relatives.
Prosecutors allege that the mob was supposed to protect the careers and salaries of corrupt ILA officials in exchange for union contracts.
Harold Daggett of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) Center speaks with picketers outside the APM Container Terminal at the Port of Newark on Tuesday, October 1, 2024 in Newark, New Jersey, USA. For the first time in nearly 50 years, it docks at every major port on the eastern U.S. and Gulf Coast. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The Department of Justice was unable to convince a jury that the defendant was guilty.
Attorney George Daggett said his cousin sought financial advice from a Catholic priest and was forced to place $18 million in union funds under the supervision of the same money manager who worked with Our Lady of the Lake Church in Sparta, New Jersey. He said the incident started because of this. .
“So in court, every time a gang member's name came up, the government set up a big bulletin board and formed a circle. [and] “Every time the gang story came up, they put his picture up on this big bulletin board. When the government case was over, I took a picture of Father Cassidy and put it in the middle of all the gangsters,” he said. said. That was a test. ”
Dennis Daggett, executive vice president of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA), speaks to picketers outside the APM Container Terminal at the Port of Newark on Tuesday, October 1, 2024 in Newark, New Jersey, United States. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Although the case involved charges of extortion and obstruction of commerce, prosecutors asked the first witness how many people he had killed, Daggett said.
“You knew everything would go downhill for the government after that,” he said.
After Rich's disappearance, his lawyer continued to work on his behalf in court to clear his name.
Longshoremen gather at the Bayport Container Terminal in Seabrook, Texas, on October 1, 2024. (Mark Felix/AFP via Getty Images)
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“What happened was that it wasn't a good fact pattern for the government, but the Eastern District gave the OK because the Waterfront Commission was pushing so hard,” Daggett told Fox News Digital. spoke. “I think Larry Rich lost his life because people thought everyone was going to be guilty. That wasn't the case.” [the verdict] He might have been guilty. ”
Another co-defendant, Albert Cernadas, pleaded guilty, but a jury found Daggett, Rich and another ILA official, Arthur Coffey, not guilty.
No one has been charged in Riches' death, but federal prosecutors said they heard a New Jersey gangster on a wiretap discussing the recovery of the murder weapon with his son. The man, Michael Coppola, was sent to prison for ILA kickbacks, identity fraud, and another RICO case involving the 1977 murder of a man named John “Johnny Coke” Lardiere.
Prosecutors also suggest that Rich's killing paved the way for other mob suspects to illegally profit from the ILA, according to court documents.
Harold Daggett became president of the union in 2011. He drives a yacht and a luxury Bentley, lives in a sprawling mansion in Sparta, New Jersey, and is said to have taken home more than $900,000 in union dues last year (he earned $728,000 as a union member). president, and an additional $173,000 for his past role in local 1804-1, from which he retired in 2011; FOX Business reported.
The ILA, which represents longshoremen on the East Coast and Gulf Coast, filed a lawsuit this week over what the union calls unfair wages, against a backdrop of soaring inflation, minimum wage increases that outpace union raises, and union intimidation. I woke up and went on strike. Automation will eliminate human jobs.
A container ship sits in New York Harbor awaiting the reopening of the Port of Newark after members of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) began walking off the job, October 2, 2024, in Staten Island, New York. (Spencer Pratt/Getty Images)
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The union had been demanding concessions from the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) until the two sides reached an agreement late Thursday.
The ILA, which represents 45,000 American workers at ports along the East Coast and Gulf Coast, said the two sides had reached an agreement. interim wage agreement This extends the current contract until January 15, 2025.
“It was tough back then. [in 1977, when] “We went on strike for 80 cents,” Harold Daggett told FOX Business Tuesday. Since Corona And they've been making billions of dollars since before the coronavirus. That's a completely different story, but they don't want to share it. They want a fully automated terminal here on the East Coast to make more money. They're crazy about money. ”
The strike crippled the U.S. supply chain and may have cost the country's economy more than $4. According to a JPMorgan analysis, that's billions of dollars a day.
