WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court let stand Monday the conviction of New York mobster Louis Giardina, who was sentenced to five years in prison for his part in a union bribery scheme.
The justices rejected an appeal by Giardina's lawyers of a 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling affirming his conviction for bribery, racketeering and obstructing a criminal investigation.
Giardina, an associate of the Gambino organized crime family, was one of three defendants charged with accepting bribes in exchange for agreeing to stifle union picketing of Matthews Industrial Piping Co., which wanted to use non-union welders at a Mobil Oil pipeline project on Staten Island, N.Y.
In all, $110,000 in bribes were paid to Giardina, George Daly and Julie Miron.
Court documents show Giardina received the bribe because of his position as aide to Paul Castellano, the head of the Gambino family, which, among other things, had infliltrated and gained control of a number of labor unions in New York.
Despite the payments he made to Giardina and his colleagues, Robert Matthews, the piping company owner, ultimately signed a collective bargaining agreement requiring him to hire union welders. He then tried to recover the bribe money and collected about half of it.
In his appeal, Giardina's lawyers argued that the judge who oversaw Giardina's trial improperly allowed jurors to hear evidence about organized crime and the Gambino family.
The federal government opposed the appeal, saying the judge properly told the jury it was 'not to consider the testimony as evidence of any crime 'except as proof of the overall continuing enterprise.''
