John Paul Spica

Raiding the Unions

"Well, as far as I'm concerned, f--- the rank-and-file." - Art Berne

Retaliation from Civella was only one of Spica's problems in the autumn of 1979. Other forces, no less deadly, were preparing to make a move against him. Only this time, Spica apparently was unaware of the conspiracy swirling around him. He should not have been because, driven by his unbridled passion to make it big, he had stepped on the wrong toes. One did not threaten Ray "The Fish" Flynn and expect to survive very long.

Flynn, then 49, was an associate of Berne's. Inside and outside the mob he was considered to be the most ruthless and violent labor racketeer in St. Louis. By underworld standards, his arrest record was unimpressive and did not reflect his propensity for violence. He had accumulated only seven arrests for burglary, robbery and arson in 25 years. He never went to trial on any of these charges, instead pleading guilty to two of them. In the first, in 1954, he was sentenced to 10 years. In the second, in April 1979, he was placed on five years' probation for burglary.

Collectivism in the union movement took on new meaning with the St. Louis mob. For the common good meant for its own profit. Construction industry unions were the outfit's principal power base. They provided the gangsters with facades of legitimacy and income in the form of salaries they could report. More than that, they offered opportunities for graft. Giordano shook down contractors in return for permitting them to use non-union workers at a tremendous saving. Welfare funds were raided through phony insurance claims. Kickbacks were common on property purchased by the unions at inflated prices. Jobs on construction projects became leverage with which to get members indebted to the mob and an inducement to vote favorably in elections of officers.

Berne, who inherited the East Side rackets from Frank "Buster" Wortman with the approval of Tony "Big Tuna" Accardo of Chicago, controlled Operating Engineers Local 513, known as the Steamfitters. The union was good to him and in recognition of his underworld status it hired him as a security consultant at $500 a week – almost $300,000 over the 10 years he served in that capacity – and gave him a credit card and gasoline for his car. But Berne was a phantom on the union's payroll. He did no work and only showed up at the office to collect his paycheck.

The Italians reigned over Teamsters Local 682, representing construction drivers. Anthony "Nino" Parino, a Giordano lieutenant, was installed as vice-president and essentially ran the union.

But it was St. Louis' three Laborers' Union locals that were most lucrative for the mob and it was Giordano who oversaw them. They were divided equally among the three underworld factions. Berne, representing the East Side, controlled Local 42. Local 53 was under the Mafia's jurisdiction and was ruled by Joe Tocco, a cousin of Giordano's. Local 110 was the realm of the Syrian gang of the venerable Jimmy Michaels Sr.

By the autumn of 1979, the Syrians' control of Local 110 was eroding apparently with the approval of Michaels. Giordano appointed his nephew, Matthew "Mike" Trupiano, a bungling Mafioso, as president and another nephew, Vincent Giordano, as an organizer. Through his connections, Giordano also had Trupiano made an international representative of the Laborers' Union.

Neither Trupiano nor Berne had the working man's interests at heart. Stoneking later recorded a conversation in which Berne expounded on their approach to unionism. "'It's like Mike said. 'Well, as far as I'm concerned, f--- the rank and file'. I feel the same way'."

Tony Giordano, suffering from incurable cancer, was grooming Trupiano to take over as outfit boss. The nephew was an improbable mob leader who would add little criminal dignity to the high office of Mafia don. Unlike his uncle, he commanded little respect. Strict discipline was not a part of his style of governing. Nor did he fit the decisive, tough guy image of a crime lord. He was prone to whimpering when things did not go his way. He became the joke of the underworld when it was learned he had lost money with his $1 million-a-year bookmaking ring.

What Trupiano lacked in criminal acumen, he made up with bravado. In 1982, he met with Joseph "Joey Doves" Aiuppa, head of the Chicago Syndicate, and was ordained boss of the St. Louis Mafia. Berne as well as Giordano were answerable to Aiuppa and made no important decisions without his approval. A few days after Trupiano was made boss, this reporter announced the promotion on the front page of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Aiuppa was convinced that Trupiano – a braggart – had leaked the story. He recalled Trupiano to Chicago for a meeting and admonished him for breaking the mob's code about talking to the media about underworld activities.

Stoneking secretly recorded a conversation he had with Trupiano after he had been made boss. In it, Trupiano complained about the lack of respect he was receiving and bemoaned the rigors of mob leadership: "Well, it's just ... to be honest with you, it's a lot of responsibility, a lot of headaches that goes with it. I don't think there's too many people who can handle it."