EX-LEADER OF BUS DRIVERS’ UNION IS SENTENCED IN BRIBERY CASE

The former president of a union representing 15,000 New York City school bus drivers was sentenced on Thursday to four years and nine months in federal prison after pleading guilty to extortion and receiving bribes in a Mafia-controlled racketeering conspiracy.

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The former president, Salvatore Battaglia, admitted his role in the conspiracy in January, four days before his trial was to begin. Mr. Battaglia, 61, of Staten Island, acknowledged taking payoffs from mobsters under the employ of Matthew Ianniello, the former acting boss of the Genovese crime family, in exchange for agreeing not to unionize certain bus companies with contracts with the city.

Mr. Battaglia was the president of Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union from 2002 to 2006, when he lost the job because of his indictment in the case. In that indictment, he was accused of being a member of the Genovese family.

Two other union officials have pleaded guilty to charges in the case. Julius Bernstein, an employee and officer of Local 1181 for more than 30 years, pleaded guilty in August 2006 to working with the Genovese family since the 1950s and admitted crimes including labor racketeering, extortion, bribery, gambling and obstruction of justice. Ann Chiarovano, an employee of the union for more than 40 years, also pleaded guilty in August 2006 to charges of obstruction of justice.

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Mr. Battaglia’s sentencing, by Magistrate Judge Andrew J. Peck in Federal District Court in Manhattan, came slightly more than a month after four City Department of Education employees were charged in a federal indictment with soliciting bribes in exchange for promising special treatment – including on safety inspections – to bus companies that serve thousands of special education students.

SOURCE: This ARTICLE was published by The New York Times, on June 27, 2008.