“Throughout the morning, the defendants continued to use and threaten to use physical violence against members of the Crew and others,” the indictment reads. “The defendants yelled profanities and racial and homophobic slurs at the Crew and others. The defendants blocked vehicles from the entryway to the set and used actual physical violence and threats of physical violence to try and prevent people from entering the set.”
Four Teamsters have been slapped with federal indictments for allegedly threatening a production company filming Bravo’s “Top Chef” reality cooking show in Boston in an “old-school thug” attempt at getting union members jobs, according to U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz.
A fifth Teamster had charges dismissed after his defense lawyer said it was a case of mistaken identity.
“The indictment alleges that a group of rogue Teamsters employed old school thug tactics to get no-work jobs from an out of town production company,” said United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz. “In the course of this alleged conspiracy, they managed to chase a legitimate business out of the City of Boston and then harassed the cast and crew when they set up shop in Milton. This kind of conduct reflects poorly on our city and must be addressed for what it is – not union organizing, but criminal extortion.”
Indicted for conspiracy to extort, attempted extortion and aiding and abetting from Local 25 were Teamsters Mark Harrington, 61, of Andover; John Fidler, 51, of Holbrook; Daniel Redmond, 47, of Medford; and Robert Cafarelli, 45, of Middleton. Three of the accused — Redmond, Cafarelli and Harrington — pleaded not guilty this afternoon and were released on $50,000 bond.
A detention hearing was set for tomorrow for Fidler. The last Teamster previously named today was not in court and the U.S. Attorney’s Office has dismissed his case due to “misidentification.”
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