For Immediate Release

July 31, 2009

United States Attorney's Office
District of Rhode Island
Contact: (401) 709-5000

Union Officials, Contractor, Plead Guilty in Illegal Payment Scheme

Nicholas Manocchio, the director of the New England Regional Organizing Fund (NEROF) of the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA), pleaded guilty today to conspiring to receive money and other things of value from building contractors whose employees LIUNA represented. Gerald Diodati, a construction contractor, also pleaded guilty today to conspiring to make unlawful payments to LUNA officials, including Manocchio.

Acting United States Attorney Luis M. Matos, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Department of Justice Criminal Division, and Warren T. Bamford, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, jointly announced the guilty pleas, which the defendants entered during separate hearings before U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith in U.S. District Court, Providence.

In May, a third defendant, Harold Tillinghast, a former organizer for NEROF, pleaded guilty to conspiring to receive money and other things of value from contractors whose employees LIUNA represented.

At the plea hearings, Trial Attorney Vincent Falvo of the Justice Department's Organized Crime and Racketeering Section said that, if the case went to trial, the government would prove that the defendants engaged in a conspiracy to direct cash payments and other things of value from Hemphill Construction and Rhode Island Demolition to LIUNA officials and employees.

The Labor Management Relations Act, known as the Taft-Hartley Act, prohibits employers from paying money or other things of value to "any labor organization, or any officer or employee thereof which represents, seeks to represent, or would admit to membership, any employees of such employer." The Act also prohibits union officers and employees from receiving any such payments.

LIUNA represents employees in the building and construction industry. Diodati was an estimator for Hemphill Construction, and owned and operated Rhode Island Demolition.

Beginning in April 2003, Tillinghast conspired with Diodati to accept things of value from Diodati and others who Tillinghast believed were acting in the interest of Hemphill Construction and Rhode Island Demolition. In May 2003, Diodati and another person acting on behalf of Hemphill Construction gave Tillinghast $2,000 in cash. In December 2003, a person acting in the interest of Hemphill Construction gave Tillinghast $500.

Also in December 2003, Manocchio and Tillinghast agreed that Manocchio would receive a "Christmas card" from a person acting for Hemphill Construction and Rhode Island Demolition. On December 22, Tillinghast met with a person representing Hemphill Construction and accepted a cash payment of $2,000 in a Christmas card for Manocchio, which he later gave to Manocchio in Manocchio's office.

The three defendants are free on bond pending sentencing, which is scheduled for November 13. The statutory maximum penalty is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Labor, Rhode Island State Police, and Providence Police conducted the investigation leading up to the indictment. Trial Attorney Falvo is prosecuting the case.