Deadline: IATSE Projectionists Local 110 in Chicago was once widely believed to be one of the most mobbed up unions in America — a crooked outfit packed with members of the Chicago mob and their relatives, some of whom who are now drawing generous pensions from the local’s endangered pension plan.
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We all know the terrible things that went on in the name of greed back in mid 1900s. Many lives where take by those who were outwardly pillars of the community and had their hands in even the smallest business ventures. It’s not surprising that with the loose morals and lack of care for fellow man that where rampant in Chicago at the time, that many people ended up being related to and orphaned by the various mobs active in the area. What surprises me more than relatives and distant descendants drawing their pensions from the local is that the government didn’t shut it down sooner. The relatives seem like not a big deal, many of them could have actually had nothing to do with the crime of their forbearers. What really surprises me is that with how quick the government was in seizing assets back then, that this mob riddled union managed to stay in business as long as it has. That there is even still money to draw from.
The local where I'm from, local 16, drives a hard bargain, that much I know. I've heard whispers about the comparatively generous overtime and the lengthy and difficult apprenticeship process. I've also heard of union guys giving their teenage sons, guys with little technical experience, finding their way onto union calls with union overtime. However, as someone with very little exposure to any other IATSE chapter, I hesitate to call myself in any way knowledgeable of the union dynamic. With that out of the way, this article was fascinating. I had no idea that IATSE had a Teamsters-esque relationship with organized crime at any point. It was engrossing to read about the sway that both the union and the Chicago Mafia held over the workings of the city's entertainment industry. The idea that a small group of criminal minds and entertainment professionals could band together and bring a city's leisure activities to a stand-still, and then proceed to exhort money out of said city, is a notion I've never devoted significant thought to.
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