CHICAGO (AP) -- A federal judge set bond Monday for five members of a movie projectionists union charged with trying to settle labor disputes by arson and assaults at theaters in 10 states.
U.S. District Judge Sidney Schenkier set bond at $100,000 for Albin C. Brenkus, 60, business manager of Chicago-based Local 110, and Carl A. Covelli, Jr., 48.
Bond was set at $50,000 for union members Keith J. Dutton, 48, Peter C. Lipa, 48, and Gregory J. Tortorello.
It was Tortorello's first court appearance Monday. The others were charged in court Friday, shortly after their arrests.
Federal prosecutors say the crimes were intended to frighten officials at three theater chains into giving in during contract negotiations. In two cases, theater managers were beaten _ one with a pipe, another with a bat.
Attorneys for the five defendants did not comment after a court hearing.
A total of seven union members and two associates have been charged. The associates, Peter Macari and Michael Rossi, are serving state prison sentences in the August 1999 baseball-bat beating of a suburban Chicago theater manager.
The remaining defendants will be arraigned Thursday.
According to prosecutors, the violence occurred at theaters owned by AMC Entertainment, Cinemark U.S.A. and Loews Cineplex Entertainment in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas and Wisconsin.
The Motion Picture Projectionists, Operators and Video Technician Local 110 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees of the United States and Canada has an image, acquired decades ago, of corruption and alleged mob links. In the early 1980s, the Chicago Crime Commission said at least 24 relatives of reputed hoodlums held ghost jobs with the union.
