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Court opinion

1992-08-18

CourtListener (Free Law Project), text of the opinion

United States v. Local 560 (Sciarra), 974 F.2d 315 (3d Cir. 1992)

The Third Circuit affirms a permanent injunction barring Michael Sciarra, a former Local 560 president, from union office and influence, on findings that he remained under the influence of the Genovese organized crime family.

Date: 1992-08-18
Kind: court-opinion
Source: CourtListener (Free Law Project), text of the opinion
Retrieved: 2026-10-12
Docket: Nos. 91-5440, 91-5441
Rights: Opinion of a United States court. Works of the federal judiciary are in the public domain in the United States. The text was read on CourtListener.

Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Nos. 91-5440 and 91-5441, decided August 18, 1992, opinion by Judge Becker with Judges Roth and Higginbotham. The government sought an injunction only against Michael Sciarra, but the court first reviewed “the lengthy government-initiated litigation against Local 560,” beginning with the March 1982 complaint.

The opinion’s sections address whether tape-recorded 1984 conversations between Matthew Ianniello and Stephen Andretta about keeping control of the local could be used against Sciarra (“Were Sciarra and the Genovese Family Members Co-Conspirators?”), the sufficiency of the evidence, and the local’s First Amendment objection. The government conceded that the injunction would burden the members’ associational rights but argued that it was narrowly tailored. “For the reasons that follow, we reject the claims of Sciarra and the local and will affirm the judgment of the district court in all respects.”

Statements about the Genovese family here are the district court’s findings as the Third Circuit recites them. Sciarra may be living; this page goes no further than the opinion.

itemUnited States v. Provenzano, 334 F.2d 678 (3d Cir. 1964)The Third Circuit affirmed Anthony Provenzano's Hobbs Act conviction. He was indicted in 1960, as an officer of Teamsters Local 560, for extorting $17,100 from Dorn's Transportation Company between 1952 and 1959.itemUnited States v. Provenzano, 620 F.2d 985 (3d Cir. 1980)The Third Circuit affirmed the RICO and RICO-conspiracy convictions of Anthony Provenzano, Thomas Andretta and Stephen Andretta in a scheme to extort "labor peace" payments from Interocean Services, an in-house trucker for Seatrain Lines.itemUnited States v. Local 560, 550 F. Supp. 511 (D.N.J. 1982)In the government's civil RICO suit alleging that Teamsters Local 560 had become a "captive labor organization" controlled by the "Provenzano Group," the district court denies the union's motion to dismiss, calling the question one "of first impression."itemUnited States v. Local 560, 581 F. Supp. 279 (D.N.J. 1984)After a civil RICO trial, the district court finds that Teamsters Local 560 has been since 1961 "a captive labor organization" dominated by the "Provenzano Group" through fear and intimidation, and orders a trusteeship and injunctions.itemUnited States v. Local 560, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 780 F.2d 267 (3d Cir. 1985)The Third Circuit affirmed the civil RICO judgment that found Teamsters Local 560 a "captive labor organization," removed its executive board and imposed a trusteeship until free elections could be held.itemUnited States v. Local 560 (I.B.T.), 694 F. Supp. 1158 (D.N.J. 1988)On the court-appointed trustee's application, the district court bars two former Local 560 officers from union affairs. It restates the 1984 findings that the Provenzano Group was organized in the late 1940s as part of the Genovese family and that Anthony Provenzano "was a made-member" of it.

itemTestimony of Anthony Provenzano, July 6, 1959 (McClellan Committee, Part 55, pp. 19264–19268)Anthony Provenzano, with counsel, answers nearly every question from the McClellan Committee, including whether he was president of Teamsters Local 560 and whether he took money from Pitman and Dorn, with "I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me."