For the third time in a decade, federal prosecutors have charged building trades officials in Western New York with racketeering and corruption. Twelve union members in upstate New York were indicted by a federal grand jury this week after a five-year investigation led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Leaders of Hamburg, N.Y.-based Operating Engineers Local 17 used violence and intimidation in dozens of separate incidents since 1997 to extort construction jobs in the Erie County region, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Terrance P. Flynn. Charged are: Mark N. Kirsch, 48, Local 17 president and business manager; Carl A. Larson, 43, and James L. Minter III, 36, union organizers; Gerald H. Franz Jr., 45, and Jeffrey A. Peterson, 45, Gerald E. Bove, 62, and Thomas Freedenberg, 51, business representatives. Five other local members also were charged.