Crooked School-Bus Union President Gets 57-Month Jail Term

By ARI PAUL

A mob soldier and former school-bus union president has been sentenced to 57 months in jail on Federal charges of racketeering and extorting money from bus companies under contract with the Department of Education.

EDDIE KAY: 'Battaglia got off easy.'

U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood handed down the sentence June 26 to Salvatore "Hot Dogs" Battaglia, who served as president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1181 from 2002 to 2006. He also must pay a $50,000 fine and make restitution in the amount of $180,000.

Took Payoffs Not to Organize

Mr. Battaglia admitted in court earlier this year that he had shaken down two bus company owners who employed his members and one owner who sought to avoid having his employees unionized. He also received tens of thousands of dollars in bribes of bus company bosses whose workers he represented.

Mr. Battaglia is the latest of several Genovese Crime Family operatives who have admitted wrongdoing within Local 1181. Boss Matthew "Matty the Horse" Ianniello pleaded guilty in September 2006 to having controlled Local 1181 and influenced the payment of bribes to officials of the union. The late Julius "Spike" Bernstein, a close associate of Mr. Ianniello who served as the union's secretary-treasurer, had also pleaded guilty to participating in shakedowns of bus company owners.

The family has had considerable influence on the union at least since the 1980s, according to Federal prosecutors. Judge Wood said that Mr. Battaglia's crimes "contributed to the costs to the union and to bus owners and likely, eventually, to anyone who uses a bus, and because his crime was part of a large conspiracy, it is an extraordinarily serious offense."

Eddie Kay, an organizer with Local 1181's dissident caucus, said that the members of the union are still feeling the burden of Mr. Battaglia's crimes.

"He did irreparable harm to our medical plan in our negotiations," Mr. Kay said. "We got the worst pension of all bus drivers."

Points Finger at ATU

He claimed that throughout Mr. Battaglia's tenure, union members lacked representation and had little recourse in battling managers. Mr. Kay said grievances were constantly ignored and pointed out that the International ATU defended Mr. Battaglia even after he was indicted.

"We would feel that he deserved much more with all the robbing that he did, and he did it the smart way," he said. "We now know that you don't rob the pension, you just don't put in enough money and take kickbacks, and that's how he avoided investigation."