[news] Transportation Union Chief Admits to Racketeering

[ron]

Transportation Union Chief Admits to Racketeering
Fri Mar 12, 4:21 PM ET  Add U.S. National - Reuters
  HOUSTON (Reuters) - The president of the United Transportation Union (news
- web sites) pleaded guilty to a racketeering conspiracy on Thursday,
admitting that he solicited bribes from lawyers trying to get access to
lucrative legal work for rail workers.



Byron Boyd, 57, pleaded guilty during a brief hearing before U.S. District
Judge Sim Lake in Houston, becoming the fourth and final defendant to admit
his guilt in a scheme that ran back as far as 1995.


The four men, all former union officials, solicited cash from lawyers who
wished to represent injured rail workers in personal injury lawsuits
against rail employers. Those are potentially very lucrative suits since
there is no limit to legal damages under federal law.


"These gentlemen used their official positions to basically extort money
from lawyers who wanted to do business with the union. They would shake
down those lawyers," U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas
Michael Shelby told reporters.


The 125,000-member union, based in Cleveland, and with offices in Ottawa
and Washington, is North America's largest for rail operating workers but
also has members from the bus, mass transit and airline industries.


Boyd admitted using his position to solicit and collect cash payments from
lawyers, and admitted directing other union officials to do the same.


"What I have pleaded to is a burden that falls squarely on my shoulders, as
it should. To all I am truly sorry for the anguish I have put you through,"
Boyd said in a statement released on the union's Web Site after his plea.


Three other union officials -- former Boyd special assistant John Rookard,
58; former president Charles Little, 66; and former insurance director
Ralph Dennis, 52; have already pleaded guilty.


The four each face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000
fine. Little and Boyd each agreed to forfeit $100,000 in proceeds from the
scheme, while Rookard and Dennis agreed to surrender $45,000 apiece.


The men got at least $477,000 in cash in the alleged scheme dating back to
1995, prosecutors have said.


The charges were brought in Houston because five lawyers who were shaken
down came from Houston, Shelby said.