Union Boss Testifies on Union Violence

James Minter, former union organizer, recounted a reign of terror for nonunion employers, including threatening letters and ruining expensive construction machines at nonunon sites. Phil Fairbanks has the story in The Buffalo News.

James L. Minter III was at the center of it all, one of three men accused of orchestrating the “Local 17 Criminal Enterprise,” a union leader known for his anonymous letter threatening the wife of a contractor.

But Minter changed sides soon after his arrest, becoming the government’s first prize witness, a role that earned him leniency and, it turns out, $9,000 in cash from the FBI.

Minter’s involvement in the union’s wrongdoing and his subsequent role as a government informant were front and center Thursday as the Local 17 racketeering and extortion trial unfolded in Buffalo federal court.

The former organizer for the union testified about his involvement in a wide range of activities designed to intimidate construction companies into hiring union workers over a 10-

Under questioning by Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony M. Bruce, Minter told of the time he handed out stars – sharp metal objects designed to flatten truck tires – at a picket line on Delaware Avenue in Buffalo.

And he spoke of the day he took part in the sanding – pouring a destructive abrasive into the engine of a truck or piece of heavy equipment – of an excavator at another work site.

The goal, Minter said, was always the same – make life miserable for construction contractors who refused to hire members of Local 17, Operating Engineers.year period ending in 2007.