August 15, 2024
Thom Carroll/for PhillyVoice
John Dougherty was sentenced to six years in federal prison last month bribery and embezzlement crimes. He will not be retried in a separate extortion case that ended in a mistrial in April, federal prosecutors said.
Federal prosecutors have dropped their extortion case against John Dougherty, the former union boss who was sentenced to prison last month after being convicted of embezzlement and bribery in two other cases. The extortion case had ended in a mistrial in April.
Dougherty's nephew, his co-defendant in the extortion trial, will be retried on his own, prosecutors said Thursday.
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Dougherty, 64, is scheduled to report to federal prison early next month to begin serving a six-year sentence. The former business manager of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98 was indicted in 2019 after a lengthy investigation into how he used his position to influence city politics, punish rivals and raid union bank accounts.
Court documents filed on Thursday by the Philadelphia U.S. Attorney's Office included a request that the court dismiss the charges against Dougherty "in the interests of justice" now that he has been sentenced in the other cases. Prosecutors did not say why they chose to drop the charges against Dougherty only.
In the extortion case, Dougherty and his nephew, Greg Fiocca, were charged for their alleged handling of a payment dispute with a contractor during the construction of Live! Casino in South Philadelphia.
Fiocca allegedly threatened and became violent with the contractor after claiming he hadn't been paid in full for his work. The contractor said Fiocca, 31, hadn't been showing up for work and that the paycheck he was given reflected the hours he was there. Fiocca allegedly grabbed the contractor by the throat and threw him onto a desk.
Prosecutors said Dougherty later intervened on behalf of his nephew and threatened to pull all Local 98 workers from the job. Dougherty also had been accused of threatening to use his influence to prevent the contractor from getting future work.
Dougherty and Fiocca each had faced 19 counts of conspiracy and extortion. The six-day trial in Reading included testimony from two dozen witnesses. It ended in a mistrial with the jury deadlocked.
Dougherty had been found guilty on bribery charges in 2021. In that case, prosecutors said the union boss bought the loyalty of former City Councilmember Bobby Henon by giving him a union salary, benefits, tickets to Eagles games and other perks. In exchange, Henon cast his votes to help carry out Dougherty's agenda. Henon was convicted last year and sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison.
In the embezzlement case, Dougherty was found guilty in December of taking more than $600,000 from Local 98 funds to cover personal expenses like concert tickets, travel and home renovations.
At his sentencing in Reading last month, prosecutors had sought a prison sentence in the range of 11 to 14 years. Dougherty's attorney, Greg Pagano, sought leniency from U.S. District Judge Jeffrey L. Schmehl, who heard testimony from prosecutors and Dougherty's legal team.
In addition to his prison term, Dougherty is required to pay as much as $2.25 million in fines, including restitution to Local 98. He also must serve three years of supervised release and complete 100 hours of community service when he gets out of prison.
