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As impressive as this litany of racketeering acts may appear
at first blush, it was open to debate whether they would suffice
to carry the day against the current leaders of the Provenzano
Regime within Local 560. The Executive Board defendants could
be expected to argue by way of defense, as they later did, in
essence: "So what! We were not convicted of those crimes; and,
the individuals who were convicted or otherwise involved in them
are either in jailor since murdered -- so leave us alone". This
response was not entirely devoid of substance. Of the then-current
Executive Board Members, Salvatore Provenzano and Michael Sciarra
had been charged with, but acquitted of, participation in the
City-man Labor Peace Payoff Scheme and Trustee Thomas Reynolds
had been jailed as a material witness-in the 1963 Glockner Murder,
but never prosecuted. Thus none of the current Executive Board
Members had been convicted of a predicate racketeering act and
none could be prosecuted for one at that time. Hence, only civil
remedies were available.
In order to make the predicate offenses relevant to the current
situation within Local 560, the Government averred that the Provenzal
Group had created and maintained a "climate of intimidation" within
the Local and that this had induced the members to surrender their
LMRDA rights (29 USC 411) to union democracy, all of which amounted
to a continuing Hobbs Act Extortion. The essential ingredients
of this extortion had been (1) the murders of Anthony Castellitto