The ninth official of the incorrigibly corrupt Carpenters Union in New York has pleaded guilty to racketeering and racketeering conspiracy, leaving just one defendant left to face the music. Brian Hayes, former Business Agent of the District Council of New York City and Vicinity of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, faces up to 20 years in prison each for the two counts. The only official left to face the jury in this long-running FBI racketeering case, Joseph Olivieri, is scheduled to begin on Oct. 18. In a related story, another Carpenters official, Joe Firth, president of Carpenters Union Local 608, has been stripped of his job as president and banned from holding office for 10 years. Firth has been charged with rigging hiring lists in his former post as Business Agent for the union in its work at the World Trade Center Ground Zero site.
