Media accusations against LIUNA officials
December 2, 2006

Two major Toronto media have reported in the past week on possible links between the Labourer’s International Union of North America (LIUNA) and known crime families. The reports included video tapes of a union official meeting with Dominic Musitano Jr. whose father ruled the Musitano mob in Hamilton.

An investigative report broadcast by CTV’s W-Five program last Saturday evening, and now posted on their website, focused on the takeover of the Toronto LIUNA local and the on-going charges back and forth between the deposed leaders in Toronto and Joe Mancinelli, the international vice president of LIUNA who heads Hamilton local 837.

LIUNA placed the Toronto local in trusteeship in 2004 alleging that its leader Tony Dionisio had violated the union’s constitution and spied on its members. The takeover was subsequently approved by the Ontario Labour Relations Board but it has not released details of its decision.

CTV interviewed Mancinelli about the video tapes who argued there was nothing wrong with the meetings.

"I would suggest to you that there is no infiltration of organized crime within our organization," Mancinelli told W-Five. He went on to insist the complaints are "a smear campaign coming from Dionisio and a bunch of disgruntled employees, quite frankly, that we threw out of office."

The story is also being followed by Globe and Mail columnist John Barber who repeated some of the CTV material in his Wednesday column and noted that LIUNA’s political influence suffered a number of reversals in the November 13 elections.

“In the recent municipal elections, LIUNA threw its weight behind three prominent mayoral candidates, all of whom lost. Hamilton Mayor Larry Di Ianni, a close ally in the union's hometown, was the biggest loser. But former Liberal cabinet minister Joe Fontana, running for mayor of London, Ont. with LIUNA backing, made his own big splash in the shallow end of the vote pool. The last of them was Vaughan Mayor Michael Di Biase, ousted by challenger Linda Jackson, pending the results of a recount.”

Hamilton’s new mayor and council are expected to receive a report in January on modifications to a leasing deal with LIUNA for space in a restored Lister Block.