Federal authorities announced that Genovese Organized Crime Family Acting Boss and Capo Matthew Ianniello, also known as “Matty the Horse,” was sentenced in Manhattan federal court to 18 months in prison for using his status in the Genovese Organized Crime Family of La Cosa Nostra to collect unlawful labor payments from union officials of Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union and to obstruct a grand jury investigation into the illicit relationship between Local 1181 and the Genovese Organized Crime Family.

According to the information to which Ianniello pled guilty ANNIELLO pled guilty on September 14, 2006,and other documents filed in Manhattan federal court, various union officials at Local 1181, including the president of Local 1181, Salvatore Battaglia, also known as “Hotdogs,” regularly received illegal payments from the owners and operators of New York City Department of Education-contracted school bus  companies in exchange for favorable treatment from Local 1181, which for years has represented many of the drivers and matrons of New York City’s school buses.

Ianniello used his status in the Genovese Organized Crime Family to assist these union officials in obtaining the improper payments.