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5 expected to plead guilty in Ironworkers case

Another attorney confirmed that his client will plead guilty in the RICO-conspiracy case.

Sections of steel beams that were cut with a torch sit in front of the Quaker meeting house construction site in Chestnut Hill in January 2013. (RON TARVER / Staff Photographer )
Sections of steel beams that were cut with a torch sit in front of the Quaker meeting house construction site in Chestnut Hill in January 2013. (RON TARVER / Staff Photographer )Read more
    by BY JULIE SHAW, Daily News Staff Writer <a href="mailto:shawj@phillynews.com">shawj@phillynews.com</a>, 215-854-2592
    Published 

NOW IT APPEARS that five of the 10 defendants in the Ironworkers union racketeering-conspiracy case will plead guilty next month.

The attorney for Edward Sweeney said yesterday that Sweeney, 55, who was one of Ironworkers Local Union 401's business agents, will plead guilty to some charges at a hearing Sept. 30 in federal court.

Attorney Carmen Nasuti III said he met with Sweeney Monday. "We talked about other people pleading guilty, and had another chance to review the case," Nasuti said. "After reviewing the evidence thoroughly," Sweeney decided he will plead guilty, the lawyer said.

Sweeney was part of the union's leadership along with its former longtime head, Joseph Dougherty. Dougherty and three other defendants will face trial Jan. 5.

Last week, three defense lawyers told the Daily News that their clients - James Walsh, William Gillin and Francis Sean O'Donnell - would plead guilty at hearings next month. Another attorney, Rocco Cipparone Jr., who represents defendant Greg Sullivan, would not confirm whether Sullivan is going to plead guilty, even though Sullivan has a change-of-plea hearing scheduled for Sept. 23.

Robert Gamburg, lawyer for a 10th defendant, Daniel Hennigar, has said that his client is "weighing his options."