Former NY Union Head From Pearl River Pleads Guilty In Bribery Scheme

by Peggy Spellman Hoey, Patch Staff

LONG ISLAND, NY — Eleven former union officers including Pearl River resident James Cahill have pleaded guilty to charges stemming from bribe-taking and illegal cash payments from a construction contractor, the U.S. Attorney's office announced Tuesday.

Cahill was the president of the New York State Building and Construction Trades Council, representing over 200,000 unionized construction, and a member of the Executive Council for the New York State American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations.

Cahill was formerly a union representative of the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the United States and Canada, which has headquarters in Annapolis, Maryland, prosecutors said.

In addition to Cahill, the plea included Christopher Kraft; Patrick Hill; Matthew Norton; William Brian Wangerman; Kevin McCarron; Jeremy Sheeran; who also went by “Max;” Andrew McKeon; Robert Egan; Scott Roche; and Arthur Gipson.

Cahill lives in Rockland County and has a home in Long Beach, prosecutors said. Most of the others reside in Suffolk County, though some live in Nassau, according to prosecutors.

In the conspiracy, Cahill accepted about $44,500 in bribes from an unnamed construction contractor, and as part of his guilty plea, he acknowledged having previously accepted at least $100,000 in bribes from the contractor in connection with his union positions, prosecutors said.

Kraft, Hill, Norton, Wangerman, McCarron, Sherran, and McKeon were business agents, while Egan was the secretary-treasurer; Roche was the business agent-at-large of the UA's Local 638 based in Long Island City and Gipson was a business agent of the UA's Local Union 200 based in Ronkonkoma, according to prosecutors.

Each man accepted thousands of dollars and, in some cases, tens of thousands of dollars of cash bribes from the contractor, who had projects and potential projects within the jurisdiction of Local 638 and Local 200, prosecutors said.

Cash was usually stuffed in envelopes and handed off inside the restrooms of restaurants, according to prosecutors.

During the meetings at which the payments were made, the contractor "repeatedly requested favorable action" from Local 638 and/or the Local 200, including union support for bids on various projects, and consideration to sign favorable labor agreements that would pay union workers lower rates than their experience merited, prosecutors said.

The contractor also requested the union would allow false claims that developers employ union workers, according to prosecutors.

Cahill led the operation, introducing the contractor to many of his co-conspirators while advising the contractor "could reap the benefits of being associated with the unions without actually signing union agreements or employing union workers," prosecutors said.

The contractor would work or bid on projects that could have otherwise employed union workers belonging to the Local 638 and/or Local 200, prosecutors said, adding that at the time the contractor was bribing the defendants, the business employed workers who were not members of Local 638 and/or Local 200, but would have been eligible for membership.

Patch reached out to the unions and trade organizations for comment.

A woman who answered the phone at the Local 200 told a reporter that there was no one there to speak to.

On the website for the Local 638, there was a letter from U.S. Attorney Damian Williams to the union's attorney, Brendan Quigley of Manhattan, asking that anyone who might feel victimized to complete a victim impact statement.

Williams said the group "exploited their union positions and hard-working union members to feed their own greed."

"They accepted bribes to corruptly favor non-union employers and influence the construction trade in New York," he said. "The convictions in this case reflect our continuing commitment to root out corruption and bring to justice those who abuse positions of power out of personal greed."

Williams thanked the Suffolk District Attorney’s office for its partnership in the case.

DA Ray Tierney said the guilty pleas "highlight a shocking level of corruption among powerful labor officials" in the state.

"Through their greed and self-dealing, these defendants betrayed the hard-working members of their respective unions, and undermined the protections meant to be afforded by organized labor," he said. "While their members were performing difficult work at job sites throughout the region, these defendants sold out their membership by accepting bribes and cash payments in restaurant bathrooms."

"My office will continue to uncover and prosecute corruption of all kinds, including that committed by union officials," he said. "I would like to thank the U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York for partnering with my office on these cases, and for bringing these prosecutions to a successful conclusion."

Prosecutors said that McCarron and Egan pleaded guilty earlier Tuesday to violating the Taft-Hartley Act, and the remaining defendants previously pleaded guilty either to honest services fraud conspiracy or to violating the Taft-Hartley Act.

Each defendant has or will be sentenced by Judge McMahon in Manhattan federal court, prosecutors said.