The U.S. vs. Dougherty, round three edition | Inside Johnny Doc’s Trial
John Dougherty's back in court for his third federal felony trial in as many years. That means it's time for another edition of the "Inside Johnny Doc's Trial" newsletter.
Greetings, court watchers. It’s time for another trial, and that means another edition of the Inside Johnny Doc’s Trial newsletter. John Dougherty returns to court this week to take his chances before a federal jury for the third time in as many years — this time in an extortion case involving his nephew, Greg Fiocca.
The government has accused the two of shaking down a contractor during a dispute over pay, alleging that Fiocca assaulted his supervisor while working in 2020 on the construction of the Live! Casino in South Philadelphia, and that Dougherty later threatened to make sure the company would never work in this town again.
Dougherty’s lawyers contend that prosecutors have blown what was little more than a fistfight out of proportion and are now stretching to turn it into a 19-count federal case.
With a sentencing date looming next month for Dougherty’s two previous convictions on bribery and embezzlement charges, the stakes of this trial are high. It could mean even more prison time for the man once considered a political kingmaker and the most powerful union leader in the state.
Lawyers will start picking a jury this morning, and opening arguments are set for Wednesday.
So, let’s get to it.
— Jeremy Roebuck and Oona Goodin-Smith (@jeremyrroebuck, @oonagoodinsmith, insidejohnnydoc@inquirer.com)
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The briefing
👷 Fiocca, by all accounts, was a less-than model employee, with a long history of mouthing off to — and at one point spitting on — his bosses. “I am so sick and f — tired of it. It makes me ill,” Dougherty groused about his nephew in a 2016 phone conversation jurors will hear at trial. “He’s got to learn. He’s got to grow up.”
🔊 Prosecutors are also likely to play recordings by a controversial FBI informant — a mole from within Dougherty’s ranks who secretly taped the ex-union chief discussing the altercation between Fiocca and bosses. “We weren’t down there to make kumbaya,” Dougherty said, according to transcripts. “F — kumbaya.”
⏪ If the Fiocca name sounds familiar, it might be because Greg’s brother, Brian, was sentenced to probation last month after pleading guilty in Dougherty’s embezzlement case. Their younger sister, Maureen, testified during the trial, as prosecutors said she was one of several Dougherty family members paid by Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers for work they didn’t do. The three grew up in a home next door to Dougherty in Pennsport.
🎤 Whether Dougherty himself will take the witness stand this time, unlike in his earlier two trials, remains to be seen. But he’s recently had some practice. In a first, the labor leader testified under oath last month during a hearing on his messy split with his former lawyer.
Where things stand now
Dougherty’s two previous trials — his 2021 bribery case alongside former City Councilmember Bobby Henon and his embezzlement trial last year — featured dozens of witnesses, stretched out over weeks and involved multiple schemes occurring over several years. This one promises to be a much speedier affair focused on the events of a single day: Aug. 19, 2020.
That’s when prosecutors say Fiocca flew into a rage after learning his bosses planned to dock his pay for his poor work attendance during the Live! Casino project. According to the indictment, Fiocca grabbed supervisor Rich Gibson by the throat, threw him across a desk, and threatened to break his jaw.
“There’s nothing you can do to me … I’m calling my uncle already,” Fiocca reportedly said in a secret recording Gibson made of the encounter. “We’re pulling everyone off the job.”
That same afternoon, Dougherty told the project’s electrical contractor, Raymond Palmieri, that he’d pull all Local 98 electricians from the job site and block him from future work in Philadelphia if he didn’t pay Fiocca in full, prosecutors said.
Dougherty and Fiocca each face one count of conspiracy and 18 counts of extortion — one for each of the paychecks Fiocca received after those threats were made.
But Dougherty’s lawyers maintain this wasn’t extortion, it was just him doing what he, as Local 98′s leader, was supposed to do: Fighting for a member of his union who felt he’d been cheated out of pay.
What they’re saying
“The entire foundation of the indictment is not an extortionate scheme between Mr. Dougherty and Mr. Fiocca but rather a pay dispute between Mr. Fiocca and his employer. Mr. Dougherty’s crime? He took his union member’s side in that dispute.”
— Dougherty’s former attorney, Henry E. Hockeimer Jr.
Breaking it down: Fiocca’s resume
To counter Dougherty’s defense, prosecutors have said they intend to delve into Fiocca’s long history of workplace altercations and Dougherty’s continued willingness to back him up in spite of it. The list, laid out in government court filings, is quite something:
In 2013, a Local 98 business agent complained to Dougherty about Fiocca’s shoddy attendance at a job at Lincoln Financial Field. “I told Greg not to embarrass you, the family and himself,” the business agent said according to prosecutors.
Dougherty landed his nephew another job in 2015 working on the then-under-construction Four Seasons Hotel in Center City (not to be confused with the Northeast Philly landscaping company). He warned him at the time to “keep your mouth shut and work your [expletive] off.” Nevertheless, several weeks into the gig, Fiocca got into it with the foreman reportedly telling him, in Dougherty’s recounting of the affair, to “go f— himself or something.”
That same summer, another Local 98 member told Dougherty that Fiocca had been caught sleeping on another job site and then mouthed off to his supervisor when confronted.
The next year, while working on a Spring Garden Street development, Fiocca cursed out another supervisor, and as prosecutors describe it, failed to take any responsibility when his uncle called him to figure out what happened. Dougherty would later complain that Fiocca was putting him in a difficult position because no one wanted to hire him. “This is where he handcuffs us for no reason,” Dougherty said.
In April 2016, Fiocca was laid off from a job site in the Market East section of Center City after he spit on a safety supervisor during an argument.
And yet despite all that, when it came time to assign electricians for the Live! Casino project — the one at issue in this case — in late 2019, Dougherty appointed Fiocca as Local 98′s steward on the job, a plum position that ensured he’d be one of the last workers laid off once the job was complete.
“Fiocca knew,” prosecutors wrote in court filings in the run-up to the trial, “that Dougherty would make sure he remained employed, no matter how poorly he performed, how often he showed up to work, or how badly or violently he acted.”
The legal lens
Next on the docket
Watch this space: This trial is expected to move at a faster clip than Dougherty’s past proceedings, with lawyers indicating things could wrap up in a matter of days. We’ll be back in your inbox every Monday and perhaps even sooner should courtroom developments warrant.
And the weeks to come are shaping up to be just as busy. Here’s a look at the calendar:
📅 April 30: Former Local 98 president Brian Burrows’ sentencing for his role in the embezzlement of more than $600,000 from union coffers.
📅 May 2: John Dougherty faces sentencing for his embezzlement and bribery convictions
📅May 3: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is expected to hear oral arguments as Henon, the former council member, appeals his 2021 conviction in the bribery case.
📅 May 17: Anthony Massa, a Local 98-favored contractor turned star government witness, faces sentencing for billing the union for home repairs worth hundreds of thousands of dollars at the houses of Dougherty and his family members as well as those of other union officials.
As always, you can follow along with our daily coverage at inquirer.com.
See you soon. 👋
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