NYC Union Official Pleads Guilty

Michael Brennan, a shop steward for the Carpenters Union New York City District Council, “pleaded guilty Tuesday to letting a contractor-turned-informant defraud the union in exchange for $100,000 in bribes” as reported by Robert Gearty for the Daily News:  “Prosecutors said the bribes to Brennan benefitted drywall contractor On Par Contracting. Last August, the Daily News reported that On Par owner James Murray had emerged from hiding after three years on the lam and was helping the feds.”  Brennan was among ten union officials and contractors variously indicted last August on racketeering, bribery, fraud and perjury charges.  To date, four shop stewards and a drywall contractor, reputed Lucchese associate Finbar O’Neill, have pleaded guilty in the case, and the others, including District Council of Carpenters head Michael Forde and benefit funds trustee Joseph Oliveri, are scheduled for trial on September 7.  Last month the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced in a press release that federal Judge Charles S. Haight Jr. ”has appointed a Review Officer to oversee the operations of the Carpenters Union New York City District Council and its Benefit Funds.”