Skip to content

Ex-Teamsters' boss gets 19 months in Chicago extortion case

A former Teamsters union boss who was once one of the most powerful labor leaders in Chicago was sentenced Wednesday to 19 months in federal prison for extorting $325,000 from the head of a film studio in the city.

Associated Press
Associated Press
| 2 min read
Ex-Teamsters' boss gets 19 months in Chicago extortion case
John Coli Sr. pleaded guilty to extortion after secret recordings made by Cinespace Chicago Film Studios President Alex Pissios captured Coli threatening a union strike if Pissios didn't pay him $25,000 per quarter.

CHICAGO (AP) — A former Teamsters union boss who was once one of the most powerful labor leaders in Chicago was sentenced Wednesday to 19 months in federal prison for extorting $325,000 from the head of a film studio in the city.

The sentence comes more than three years after John Coli Sr. pleaded guilty to extortion, faced with secret recordings made by Cinespace Chicago Film Studios President Alex Pissios in which Coli could be heard threatening a union strike if Pissios didn't pay him.

In one tape, Coli tells Pissios that he would have union workers walking a picket line that would shut the studio down “within an hour” if he didn't continue making the secret payments.

Prosecutors agreed to dismiss several counts against the 63-year-old Coli in exchange for his guilty plea to receiving prohibited payments as a union official and making a false income tax return.

In exchange, Coli agreed to cooperate with federal investigators and that cooperation helped build an extortion case that landed former state Sen. Thomas Cullerton in prison this year. Cullerton pleaded guilty to embezzlement charges for improperly taking more than $248,000 from the Teamsters.


Subscribe to the Chicago Journal


The Chicago Journal needs your support.

At just $20/year, your subscription not only helps us grow, it helps maintain our commitment to independent publishing.

CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE

If you're already a subscriber and you'd like to send a tip to continue to support the Chicago Journal, which we would greatly appreciate, you can do so at the following link:

Send a tip to the Chicago Journal


Subscribe to the Chicago Journal

Chicago NewsNewsChicago Politics

Associated Press Twitter

News and content from The Associated Press, which has been covering the world's most important stories since 1846.


Related Posts

DNA tests identify man found slain in 1980 as Chicago man

The body was found in a wooden crate that had been nailed shut in the summer of 1980, in the water at the Lockport Locks power plant in Will County.

DNA tests identify man found slain in 1980 as Chicago man

Cooperating ex-guard gets 6 years in Illinois inmate's death

The last of three ex-correctional officers convicted in the beating death of an Illinois prison inmate, was sentenced Wednesday to six years in federal prison after pleading guilty to civil rights violations and obstruction and testifying against his codefendants.

Cooperating ex-guard gets 6 years in Illinois inmate's death

Floor collapses onto Chicago firefighters battling fire

Crews arrived at the townhouse about 4 a.m. on the city's far South Side to find flames shooting from the building's roof. As firefighters were fighting the fire, the building's second floor collapsed, trapping the two firefighters and prompting a mayday response, the Chicago Fire Department said.

Floor collapses onto Chicago firefighters battling fire