U.S. v. International Broth. of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, AFL-CIO
| Citation | 941 F.2d 1292 |
| Decision Date | 06 August 1991 |
| Docket Number | AFL-CIO,No. 1642,D,1642 |
| Parties | 138 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2219, 60 USLW 2223, 120 Lab.Cas. P 10,951 UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA,; the Commission of La Cosa Nostra; Anthony Salerno, also known as Fat Tony; Matthew Ianniello, also known as Matty the Horse; Anthony Provenzano, also known as Tony Pro; Nunzio Provenzano, also known as Nunzi Pro; Anthony Corallo, also known as Tony Ducks; Salvatore Santoro, also known as Tom Mix; Christopher Furnari, Sr., also known as Christie Tick; Frank Manzo; Carmine Persico, also known as Junior, also known as The Snake; Gennaro Langella, also known as Gerry Lang; Philip Rastelli, also known as Rusty; Nicholas Marangello, also known as Nicky Glasses; Joseph Massino, also known as Joey Messina; Anthony Ficarotta, also known as Figgy; Eugene Boffa, Sr.; Francis Sheeran; Milton Rockman, also known as Maishe; John Tronolone, also known as Peanuts; Joseph John Aiuppa, also known as Joey O'Brien, also known as Joe Doves, also known as Joey Aiuppa; John Phillip Cerone, also known as Jackie the Lackie, also known as Jackie Cerone; Joseph Lombardo, also known as Joey the Clown; Angelo LaPietra, also known as The Nutcracker; Frank Balistrieri, also known as Mr. B; Carl Angelo DeLuna, also known as Toughy; Carl Civella, also known as Corky; Anthony Thomas Civella, also known as Tony Ripe; General Executive Board, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America; Jackie Presser, General President; Weldon Mathis, General Secretary-Treasurer; Joseph Trerotola, also known as Joe T; Robert Holmes, Sr., Second Vice President; William J. McCarthy, Third Vice President; Joseph W. Morgan, Fourth Vice President; Edward M. Larson, Fifth Vice President; Arnold Weinmeister, Sixth Vice President; John H. Cleveland, Seventh Vice President; Maurice R. Schurr, Eighth Vice President; Donald Peters, Ninth Vice President; Walter J. Shea, Tenth Vice Presiden |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit) |
Patrick J. Calihan, Chicago, Ill. (Edward J. Calihan, Jr., John Toomey, of counsel), for respondents-appellants.
Peter C. Sprung, New York City (Otto G. Obermaier, U.S. Atty., S.D.N.Y., Edward T. Ferguson, III, of counsel), for plaintiff-appellee U.S.
Charles M. Carberry, New York City, Investigations Officer-appellee, pro se.
Before OAKES, Chief Judge, and PRATT and ALTIMARI, Circuit Judges.
Dominic Senese and Joseph Talerico, former members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, AFL-CIO ("IBT") and former officials of IBT-affiliated local unions, appeal from orders of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, David N. Edelstein, Judge, upholding internal union disciplinary sanctions imposed on them by reason of, among other things, their association with organized crime. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.
On March 14, 1989, Judge Edelstein entered a consent decree (the "Decree") settling civil racketeering charges brought by the Government against the IBT and members of the IBT General Executive Board. The Decree has already engendered a staggering amount of litigation, and, as a result, we have had many occasions to discuss in detail the nature of the underlying racketeering charges and the contents of the Decree itself. See, e.g., United States v. International Broth. of Teamsters, 931 F.2d 177 (2d Cir.1991). In our discussion here, therefore, we provide only a brief background of the facts giving rise to this particular appeal.
A central feature of the Decree was the establishment of three Court-appointed offices which were designed to oversee the IBT's internal affairs. First, the Decree provided for an Independent Administrator (the "IA"), to oversee the Decree's remedial provisions. Second, it provided for an Investigations Officer, to bring charges against corrupt IBT members. Finally, it established an Elections Officer, to oversee the electoral process leading up to and including the election for International Officers at the 1991 IBT Convention.
In separate charges filed on November 30, 1989, the Investigations Officer charged Senese and Talerico with violating the IBT Constitution "by conducting [themselves] in a manner to bring reproach upon the [IBT]." 1 At that time, Senese was the President of IBT Local 703 in Chicago, and Talerico was a business agent for Chicago IBT Local 727. The basis for the allegations against Senese was his association with La Cosa Nostra and his knowing association with La Cosa Nostra members Joseph Aiuppa and John Cerone. The charges against Talerico were premised The IA held a hearing on the charges against Senese and Talerico on March 22 and 23, 1990. In support of the charges, the Investigations Officer relied principally on the oral testimony and written declaration of Peter J. Wacks, a Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"), as well as the declaration of FBI Special Agent Charlie J. Parsons. The Wacks and Parsons declarations summarized voluminous evidence concerning Senese and Talerico and their involvement with the Chicago La Cosa Nostra family, and contained extensive supporting documentation.
upon his unlawful refusal to answer questions before a federal grand jury investigating the skimming of money from a Las Vegas casino, and his knowing association with La Cosa Nostra members Joseph Aiuppa and Philip Ponto. 2
On July 12, 1990, after reviewing the hearing record and post-hearing memoranda submitted by counsel, the IA issued a 42-page opinion concluding that there was just cause to sustain each of the charges against Senese and Talerico. As a sanction, the IA permanently removed Senese and Talerico from all of their IBT positions, expelled them from the IBT, and prohibited them from drawing any money from the IBT or its affiliates. 3
On July 12, 1990, the IA submitted his opinion to the district court, seeking review of his decision on the disciplinary charges against Senese and Talerico. On August 27, 1990, the district court issued an opinion and order upholding the IA's permanent bar of Senese and Talerico, but remanding the case for the IA to determine the proper treatment of Senese's health and welfare benefits. 4 See 745 F.Supp. 908. On remand, the IA issued a supplemental opinion terminating Senese's IBT-related employee benefits. On December 29, 1990, the district court affirmed this supplemental opinion in all respects. See 753 F.Supp. 1181.
Senese and Talerico now appeal from the district court's August 27 and December 29, 1990 orders.
Senese and Talerico argue that the IA's imposition of sanctions violated their First, Fifth, and Eighth Amendment rights under the United States Constitution. In addition, Senese argues that the termination of his IBT-related benefits violated both the terms of the Decree and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA"), 29 U.S.C. § 1001, et seq. (1988). We reject Senese and Talerico's constitutional challenges on two grounds. First, we believe that the IA's imposition of sanctions did not constitute "state action," and that, as a result, the constitutional provisions that Senese and Talerico cite do not apply. Second, even assuming that the IA's conduct did constitute state action, we believe that his decision comported with all the constitutional provisions that might conceivably apply. Accordingly, because we also believe that the IA's termination of Senese's employee benefit plans was proper, we affirm.
Because the United States Constitution regulates only the Government, not private parties, a litigant claiming that his constitutional rights have been violated must first establish that the challenged conduct constitutes "state action." See, e.g., Blum v. Yaretsky, 457 U.S. 991, 1002 102 S.Ct. 2777, 2784-85, 73 L.Ed.2d 534 (1982). To qualify as state action, the conduct in question "must be caused by the exercise of some right or privilege created by the State or by a rule of conduct imposed by the State or by a person for whom the State is responsible," and "the party charged with the [conduct] must be a person who may fairly be said to be a state actor." Lugar v. Edmondson Oil Co., 457 U.S. 922, 937, 102 S.Ct. 2744, 2754, 73 L.Ed.2d 482 (1982). The IA's imposition of sanctions on Senese and Talerico meets neither of these criteria.
First, in sanctioning Senese and Talerico, the IA acted pursuant to the IBT Constitution--a private agreement--and not pursuant to a "right or privilege created by the State." Id. Thus, the charges he brought were premised on violations of Article II, section 2(a) of the IBT Constitution, not on violations of any federal or state law. Similarly, the IA's authority to impose the sanctions stemmed from the post-Decree amendments to the IBT Constitution, which established the IA and empowered him to oversee the IBT's internal disciplinary affairs, see United States v. International Broth. of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers, AFL-CIO, 905 F.2d 610, 622 (2d Cir.1990), and not from any provision of federal or state law. Thus, Senese and Talerico fail to satisfy the first element of the definition of state action set forth above. 5
Senese and Talerico are also unable to establish that...
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