TESTIMONY OF JOHN JOSEPH AMALFITANO

The CHAIRMAN. State your name, your place of residence, and your business or occupation.

Mr. AMALFITANO. John Joseph Amalfitano, 311 President Street, Brooklyn, N.Y.

The CHAIRMAN. What did you say your business or occupation was, please?

Mr. AMALFITANO. I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you have a lawyer representing you?

Mr. AMALFITANO. No, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you waive counsel?

Mr. AMALFITANO. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Proceed.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Amalfitano, as we understand, at the present time you are a business agent for Laundry Workers Union Local 12 of the FSWU?

Mr. AMALFITANO. I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me.

Mr. KENNEDY. And that you are also secretary-treasurer of the Restaurant and Cafeteria Employees Local 26, FSWU, and you were president of the now-defunct Cigarette and Coin Vending Machine Employees Local 19, FSWU, and you were a member of the board of trustees of the FSWU; is that right?

Mr. AMALFITANO. I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me.

Mr. KENNEDY. Now, as far as your background, you were employed as a longshoreman on the Brooklyn docks, a member of Tony Anastasia's local, and you drove trucks and cranes; is that right?

Mr. AMALFITANO. I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me.

Mr. KENNEDY. And then, in the early 1950's, you helped form the international union called the FSWU; that is, the Federated Service Workers Union; is that right?

Mr. AMALFITANO. I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me.

Mr. KENNEDY. Could you tell us if you had done any work in the labor field prior to that time?

Mr. AMALFITANO. I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me.

Mr. KENNEDY. According to the testimony of a previous witness, Javors, who testified last week, he stated that all charters were issued upon the request and recommendation of you, and that no request by you for the issuance of a charter was ever refused, and that as a practical matter you were the international union; is that right?

Mr. AMALFITANO. I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me.

Mr. KENNEDY. And you were the one that set up this local 19 about which we have had considerable amount of information; is that right? Mr. AMALFITANO. I respect fully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me.

Mr. KENNEDY. Now, local 26 of the Restaurant and Cafeteria Workers was set up upon the request of Al Gallo, who is another brother

of the two Gallo brothers who appeared here, and he was the one that was primarily responsible, together with Gallo's uncle, by the name of Joseph Iovine; is that right?

Mr. AMALFITANO. I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me.

Mr. KENNEDY. Iovine became president of the union, and you became secretary-treasurer; is that right?

Mr. AMALFITANO. I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me.

Mr. KENNEDY. As part of your organizing activities, you were trying to organize the Fra-Mar Restaurant at 2302 Avenue U, Brooklyn, and at 4:30 a.m., on June 20, 1957, at the time when this organization drive was going on, all of the windows in the restaurant were smashed, for a total damage of $1,200; is that right?

Subsequently, immediately following that, the owner of the restaurant signed up with your union and there was no further damage? Mr. AMALFITANO. I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me.

Mr. KENNEDY. You participated, did you not, in the picketing of that store?

Mr. AMALFITANO. I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me.

Mr. KENNEDY. Now, interestingly enough, when Joe Profaci was picked up at the meeting at Apalachin, he had on his possessionafter the meeting at Apalachin, and not at the time, but subsequently when he was picked up and questioned-he had on his possession a card of local 26 of the Restaurant and Cafeteria Workers, FSWU. Could you tell us anything about that? Do you know Joe Profaci? Mr. AMALFITANO. I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me.

Mr. KENNEDY. He is one of the most notorious importers of narcotics in the United States; is he not?

Mr. AMALFITANO. I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me.

Mr. KENNEDY. And then talking about another local of FSWU, local 19, the jukebox local, when that local was set up it was instructed that all correspondence should go to Biagio Latriano; is that not correct? Here is a letter on that, and here is a picture, I believe, of Biagio.

The CHAIRMAN. I hand you here for your inspection a letter dated October 16, 1957, addressed to Federated Service Workers Union, and it has already been made exhibit 28 to the testimony in this hearing. It bears your signature or your name, of the first signer of this letter, and I will ask you to examine it and state if you identify the letter and your signature thereon.

(A document was handed to the witness.)

Mr. AMALFITANO. I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me.

The CHAIRMAN. Let the record show that the witness did examine the document, exhibit 28, presented to him by the Chair.

Proceed.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Chairman, I would like to call your attention to the last paragraph of this letter, which says:

Kindly refer all correspondence to Biagio Latriano.

Now here is a picture of Biagio Latriano.

The CHAIRMAN. I present to you a photograph that shows the full face of one man in the center and about four-fifths of a man on his right, and about three-fifths or two-fifths of the face of another man on his left. I will ask you to examine that photograph and state whose picture it is in the center.

(Photograph handed to the witness.)

Mr. AMALFITANO. I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me.

The CHAIRMAN. Are they some of your pals?

Mr. AMALFITANO. I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me.

The CHAIRMAN. What business are they in?

Mr. AMALFITANO. I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me.

The CHAIRMAN. Where was the picture made?

Mr. AMALFITANO. I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me.

The CHAIRMAN. Were you present on that occasion?

Mr. AMALFITANO. I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me.

The CHAIRMAN. Let the picture be made exhibit No. 31.

(Photograph referred to was marked "Exhibit 31" for reference and may be found in the files of the select committee.)

Mr. KENNEDY. Here is a picture of Mr. Latriano approximately 8 months later, with 11 bullets in his head.

The CHAIRMAN. I doubt if you will recognize this. I present to you another picture, and ask you to examine it and state if you identify it. (Photograph handed to the witness.)

Mr. AMALFITANO. I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me.

The CHAIRMAN. Let the record show that the witness examined the photograph and let it be made exhibit No. 31A.

(Photograph referred to marked "Exhibit No. 31A" for reference and may be found in the files of the select committee.)

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Latriano was murdered around 4:20 a.m. on August 29, 1958, by being shot 11 times in the head, Mr. Chairman. The CHAIRMAN. Do you know the fellow who got killed?

Mr. AMALFITANO. I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me.

The CHAIRMAN. Is there anything in the world you know you could tell without self-incrimination?

Mr. AMALFITANO. I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you have a wife and children?

Mr. AMALFITANO. I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you have a wife without children?

Mr. AMALFITANO. I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you have a father and mother?

Mr. AMALFITANO. I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me.

The CHAIRMAN. Proceed, Mr. Kennedy.

I just wonder-he has been identified with some of these unions. Mr. KENNEDY. He is the one who set them up, these various locals that were established upon his request and he was the important official in the international union who granted these charters. One of the charters which was granted to these various locals I have mentioned, including No. 12, 19, and local 266 which we have been discussing over this period of time.

The CHAIRMAN. From the information we have, you were just a plain sorry gangster, a parasite upon humanity.

Do you want to make any comment on that? That is the information we have about you.

Mr. AMALFITANO. I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe that my answer might tend to incriminate me.

The CHAIRMAN. Proceed.

Mr. KENNEDY. Now as we have developed, local 19 was backed by the underworld attempting to move into the coin operating machine business, and the charter was granted at the request of Mr. Amalfitano, and the correspondence was to be sent to this Biagio Latriano, and Latriano was murdered some 8 or 9 months later, and this local operated under the direction of the Gallo brothers with Mr. Amalfitano being one of the officials.

The CHAIRMAN. We have already placed that information in the record, have we not, under sworn testimony?

Mr. KENNEDY. That is correct.

The CHAIRMAN. The remarks of the Chair here are based upon testimony produced here under oath.

You understand that, do you?

Mr. AMALFITANO. I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me.

The CHAIRMAN. I will answer for you, that you do understand, period.

Proceed.

Mr. KENNEDY. Do you want to place the charter in the record of local 19, Mr. Chairman?

The CHAIRMAN. Who knows about this?

You are a member of the staff.

Mr. CONSTANDY. That is right.

The CHAIRMAN. I present to you here a document which purports to be a charter from the Federated Service Workers Union of America, Local 19, and I ask you to examine it and state where you obtained this document, if you obtained it.

Mr. CONSTANDY. I did obtain the document from the office of Mr. Amalfitano, on, I believe, June 5, 1958.

The CHAIRMAN. The office of the witness who is now testifying? Mr. CONSTANDY. That is correct. At that time the office was the office of local 12 of the FSWU, the Laundry Workers. He turned it over to us at that time.

Mr. KENNEDY. Is that the only records that he said had been kept? Mr. CONSTANDY. That is correct.

The CHAIRMAN. This charter is dated the 22d day of October 1957 and it may be made exhibit No. 32.

(Document referred to was marked "Exhibit No. 32" for reference and may be found in the files of the select committee.)

The CHAIRMAN. I present to the witness exhibit 32 and ask him to examine it and state if that is the charter that was issued to local 19. Mr. AMALFITANO. I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me.

The CHAIRMAN. Is that your name right at the head of the list? Mr. AMALFITANO. I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me.

The CHAIRMAN. How many names does the document show, and how many were organizers to whom the charter was issued?

Mr. AMALFITANO. I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me.

The CHAIRMAN. Let me see the document. (Document handed to the chairman.)

The CHAIRMAN. Is your name "John J."?

Mr. AMALFITANO. I respect fully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me.

The CHAIRMAN. Read this witness his answer to me to the first question asked him. I asked him to state his name, and what did he state?

(The first answer of the witness was then read by the reporter.) The CHAIRMAN. Does the second initial "J" stand for Joseph? Is your name John Joseph?

Mr. AMALFITANO. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. How do you spell your last name?

Mr. AMALFITANO. A-m-a-l-f-i-t-a-n-o.

The CHAIRMAN. That is exactly what is on this document here, Cigarette and Coin Vending Machine Employees Union, Local 19, charter members, and your name is John J. Amalfitano, appearing first on the list.

Do you deny that that charter was issued to you?

Mr. AMALFITANO. I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me.

The CHAIRMAN. If it were issued to you, do you think that that might tend to incriminate you?

Mr. AMALFITANO. I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me.

The CHAIRMAN. If it was not issued to you, do you think the fact it was not issued to you would tend to incriminate you?

Mr. AMALFITANO. I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me. The CHAIRMAN. All right, Mr. Kennedy.

Mr. KENNEDY. Briefly, Mr. Chairman, as we have developed, local 19 was backed by the Gallo brothers and on the association side by the Jacobs.

Isn't that correct, Mr. Amalfitano?

Mr. AMALFITANO. I respectfully decline to answer because I honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me.

(At this point Senator Goldwater entered the hearing room.)

The CHAIRMAN. Gallo brothers are the two who testified before lunch?