United 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.

Date: 1980-05-08
Kind: court-opinion
Source: CourtListener (Free Law Project), text of the opinion
Retrieved: 2026-10-12
Docket: Nos. 79-1912, 79-1913, 79-1956, 79-2381 and 79-2387 (3d Cir.); 620 F.2d 985
Rights: Opinion of a United States court. Works of the federal judiciary are in the public domain in the United States (17 U.S.C. § 105). The text was read on CourtListener (Free Law Project).

United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit, argued 25 March 1980 and decided 8 May 1980. The court affirmed the convictions of Anthony Provenzano, Thomas Andretta and Stephen Andretta for violating and conspiring to violate the RICO statute.

As the opinion summarizes the Government’s theory, the scheme extorted money for “labor peace” from Interocean Services, Inc., and a successor company, “in house” truckers for Seatrain Lines, Inc. The money moved through billing by a front company run by the Government’s chief witness, Ralph Picardo. The opinion says the target was chosen “inasmuch as Provenzano was allegedly able to control the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Union in New Jersey,” and states that “appellants used their influence at Teamsters Local 560 in Union City, New Jersey.”

The opinion mentions a man who “disappeared” in 1972, with the quotation marks in the original. This page does not restate that as a finding.

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. 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.itemOrganized Crime Control Act of 1970, Title IX: Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (18 U.S.C. 1961-1968), 84 Stat. 941-948Title IX of the 1970 Act, the RICO statute: it made it unlawful to conduct an enterprise's affairs through a "pattern of racketeering activity", defined the predicate offenses, and provided prison terms, fines and forfeiture. Section 904 directs that it "be liberally construed to effectuate its remedial purposes."