Mob Boss Gets 18 Months For '1181' Extortion

By RICHARD STEIER

The man Federal prosecutors identify as the acting boss of the Genovese Crime Family was sentenced April 17 to 18 months in prison for his role in corrupting the union representing school bus drivers.

Matthew "Matty The Horse" Ianniello drew that sentence for his guilty plea to collecting unlawful payments from Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union and obstructing a Federal grand jury probe into the crime family's influence over the union.

Union Officials Guilty

A Local 1181 official with ties to Mr. Ianniello dating back at least three decades, Julius "Spike" Bernstein, has entered a sealed guilty plea - usually a sign that someone is cooperating with prosecutors - and stepped down from his long-held post as the union's secretary-treasurer. Mr. Bernstein's girlfriend, Ann Chiarovano, who had been director of the Local 1181 pension and welfare fund, is serving a five-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice.

The president of Local 1181, Salvatore "Hot Dogs" Battaglia, is awaiting trial on charges that, as a Genovese crime family associate, he extorted payoffs from bus company owners and other vendors and shared part of the illicit proceeds with Mr. Ianniello. As a condition of his being granted bail, Mr. Battaglia took a leave of absence from his position last November, leading the International ATU to place the local - which with roughly 15,000 members is its largest - under trusteeship.

Reformers within Local 1181 have asserted recently, however, that the trustees are permitting the union's 11 delegates - including Mr. Battaglia's son Anthony - to control the union's day-to-day operations.

In addition to Mr. Ianniello's prison term, U.S. Southern District Court Chief Judge Kimba M. Wood fined him $25,000 and ordered him to forfeit $75,000, which U.S. Attorney Michael J. Garcia described as the crime boss's share of the payoff money.