Former head of powerful construction labor association fesses to taking bribes

The former head of a powerful construction trade union association and 10 others pleaded guilty Monday to a bribery scheme that involved clandestine cash payoffs in restaurant bathrooms, federal prosecutors said.

James Cahill, ex-president of the state Building and Construction Trades Council, and 10 former union officials copped to taking bribes and other illegal payments from a construction company between October 2018 and October 2020.

James Cahill, the former President of the New York State Building and Construction Trades Council, represented over 200,000 unionized construction workers until his arrest in October on bribery charges along with 10 other members of Local 638.

“The defendants exploited their union positions and hard-working union members to feed their own greed,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. “They accepted bribes to corruptly favor non-union employers and influence the construction trade in New York.”

Suffolk County prosecutors were also involved in the case.

“These convictions highlight a shocking level of corruption among powerful labor officials in New York State,” Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said.

Cahill took about $44,500 in bribes between 2018 and 2020 and acknowledged taking abut $100,000 more prior to that period.

Others who pleaded guilty to the scheme included ex-top officials from two union locals, 638 and 200. They took thousands in bribes from the same company.

Federal prosecutors said the bribes were handed off in cash-stuffed envelopes usually in restaurant bathrooms.

The construction firm, not named in court papers, got the unions’ support in its bids for construction jobs and favorable deals in collective bargaining that allowed workers to be paid less.

The conspirators would also falsely claim the construction firm was employing union labor.

They will be sentenced by U. S. District Judge Colleen McMahon. Cahill faces 20 years in prison. The other defendants face 12 months to 20 years.

The trades council has more than 200,000 members.

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