Former union leader from Roslyn Heights backs out of guilty plea

A onetime city school bus drivers union leader from Roslyn Heights fired his lawyer in court Thursday and backed out of a deal to plead guilty to conducting union business from behind bars while serving a federal prison sentence for extortion.

Warren J. Annunziata, 80, controlled pension and benefit funds of Local 91 of the United Craft and Industrial Workers Union, in Williston Park, and was paid more than $800,000 while serving 33 months from 2011 to 2013 for shaking down bus companies, authorities said.

Annunziata began pleading guilty before U.S. Magistrate Victor Pohorelsky, but after the plea was interrupted by a fire drill in federal court in Brooklyn, he told the magistrate he had cleared his head and wanted to talk about the money he was paid in prison.

As Annunziata veered off-script, defense lawyer Murray Richman tried to quiet him and urged the judge not to listen. "Then he's discharged, your honor!" Annunziata shouted.

"I agreed that I am guilty to get this over with," Annunziata told Pohorelsky. "I am not guilty of any of these charges that were brought before you here today."

The magistrate immediately ended the hearing and said he would send the case back to a trial judge. Annunziata pleaded guilty in 2010 in federal court in Manhattan to using his clout as Local 91 president to extorting more than $600,000 from bus operators. He owned a $1.6 million house and several luxury vehicles including a Rolls-Royce, prosecutors said.

The new charges, filed in July and unsealed this week, say although he was banned from the union and serving time, he was referred to as "Executive director Emeritus" in some pension fund records, and got monthly bank deposits from the two funds, which control $85 million in assets.

Prosecutors also quoted extensively from prison calls Annunziata made to union and fund officials in which he discussed business. "Keep your eyes and ears open and make a note of everything you see that you think I should know about," he allegedly said in one call.Under the plea deal he backed out of, Annunziata would have faced a maximum 5 years in prison, with sentencing guidelines calling for 0 to 6 months and forfeiture of $126,000.