An independent counsel appointed to investigate the union representing 15,000 New York City school bus drivers has concluded that there is substantial evidence that ?organized crime has infiltrated and controlled? it. The counsel?s report, written in January and made public yesterday by dissident union members, said that top officers of the union, Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, were involved in what it called racketeering activity that included extortion, kickbacks and bribes. Salvatore Battaglia, the local?s former president, is facing trial on federal charges accusing him of extortion, receiving bribes and hiding Mafia involvement in the union. He has pleaded not guilty.
See "Report Says Mobsters Controlled Bus Union", Steven Greenhouse, The New York Times, September 6, 2007