NickleCity, do you believe the feds and the Mafia in Buffalo work together? I'll have to read the detailed articles you posted when I get home soon.
My conversation with William Iannaconne they definitely used to and very well may still today. He certainly thinks so and thinks that is why 210 was never really cleaned up. ...And if 210 was never really rid of mafia influence, Louis Ciminelli at some point was a crime family associate--just like his Dad (according to Fino), then is it a stretch to think the Ciminelli scandal could be tied to the mob? After all Peter and Sam Capitano are still in leadership at 210 like they were in the mid to late 90's.
The Peter Capitano in charge is not the one that Joe Todaro said he trusted. That is his father I think. Peter Jr. and Sam Capitano have not being implicated in the mob, but Peter Sr. was one of Joe Todaro's favorite guys.
""Local 210 is now an aggressive but clean union that works hard to represent its members, according to Hill and James C. Logan, who represents 25 area contractors as executive vice president of the Construction Industry Employers Association. Both described Capitano, 46, as a tough but honest labor leader. Two other local contractors reached out to The News to speak in favor of Capitano."" ""Retired FBI Special Agent John "Jack" McDonnell said he believes the government cleanup of Local 210 and the Laborers - with Fino's help - was a major success. From 2000 until 2006, McDonnell oversaw all of Local 210's operations as a court-appointed liaison officer to the local. "I know that Ron Fino supplied interesting and accurate information about how unions worked and how organized crime infiltrated Local 210," McDonnell said. "As for Sam Capitano, he was a very active, very vocal union guy who did fight against the takeover. He's an old-style, combative guy, but I have no information that he is involved with the mob."""
""Fino pointed out that, in the 1990s, Sam Capitano, the current business manager of Local 210, was an outspoken critic of efforts to remove mob influences from the Buffalo local. In March 1995, then serving as a Local 210 steward, Capitano repeatedly told The News the federal government was greatly exaggerating the influence of mobsters on the local. He was a vocal leader of a group that filed a lawsuit, claiming there was absolutely no mob influence on Local 210 and no need for a cleanup. Yet speaking to The News on Sept. 14 this year, Capitano said he is now convinced that the government takeover was needed and was successful in removing mob influences from the Laborers' leadership. "We weren't against the reforms. We were against the way the trusteeship was put on us," Capitano said. "The reform plan that was put in place prevents [organized crime] from having any influence in our union...I feel these changes were good and necessary."""
