Phil myers

Spearheaded by antiracketeering agents from the US Department of Labor, the federal investigation has been looking at Local 25's dealings with the movie industry since early 2000. The investigation was spurred by complaints from film producers that they had been pressured by Local 25 chiefs to hire more drivers and pay more costly benefits for movies they were planning to shoot in the area.

The grand jury is also looking into whether moviemakers were forced to hire a local company to provide rental vehicles, such as wardrobe trailers, on movie sets, sources said. Flynn owns the company, Location Connection, and it was hired to provide rental vehicles on the set of ''Mystic River,'' one person familiar with the film's production said.

The same grand jury handed down a 179-count indictment in January 2002 against Teamsters Local 25 president George W. Cashman and vice president William Carnes. They were charged with embezzling from the union by fabricating work hours to allow 19 drivers, including a reputed Charlestown gangster, to collect illegal health benefits.

While the case against Cashman is scheduled to go to trial April 22 in federal court in Boston, law enforcement officials, who asked not to be identified, said that additional charges against Local 25 members involving the movie industry are likely. As recently as October, Fred M. Wyshak Jr., the lead federal prosecutor in the investigation, said in court that more charges against Teamsters officials are possible.

In June 2000, Labor investigators, as well as those from the US Drug Enforcement Administration and the Massachusetts State Police, raided Flynn's Weymouth home and seized records relating to the movie industry. Around the same time, the grand jury subpoenaed records from Local 25's Charlestown headquarters, detailing the union's contracts with producers of ''The Perfect Storm,'' ''Cider House Rules,'' ''Good Will Hunting,'' and ''Message in a Bottle.''

Wyshak said in court last October that an organized crime figure from Charlestown will testify at Cashman's trial that local movie crews are marbled with criminals and their friends and associates.

The witness, Philip Myers, testified at another trial last year that Cashman was forced at gunpoint to put reputed Charlestown gangster John ''Mick'' Murray on the Teamsters movie crew. Myers claimed that he, Murray, and another Teamster menaced Cashman during a 1995 meeting at the 99 Restaurant in Charlestown.

All major film companies must negotiate with Local 25 for the hiring of drivers for trucks, limousines, vans, and major pieces of equipment used on movies made in Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

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