NYC labor union officials charged in bribery probe

AP ^ | Aug 5 09 | Tom Hays

[GSP.FAN]

NEW YORK — The leader of a powerful labor union that recently endorsed Mayor Michael Bloomberg in his re-election campaign was charged Wednesday with taking bribes from contractors who were scheming to cut labor costs.

[GSP.FAN]

Nine other men — seven lower-ranking union officials, a construction contractor and a trade group representative — also were named in an indictment in federal court in Manhattan. There was no immediate response to a telephone message left Wednesday with Forde's attorney.

Prosecutors said that in exchange for about $1 million in bribes, the union leadership let contractors pay workers with cash at below-union rate wages and employ nonunion and undocumented laborers. The defendants concealed the conspiracy by falsifying and destroying paperwork meant to keep the jobs honest, authorities said.

[the invisib1e hand]

imshockedshockeditellyou.