Walsh facing awkward questions as feds hammer Teamsters in 'Top Chef' extortion rap
U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz slammed members of Teamsters Local 25 for engaging in “old-school thug tactics” after her office said they tried intimidating the TV crew of the popular Bravo network cooking show to give the union jobs while it filmed in Boston in 2014.
At one restaurant in Milton, the Teamsters chest-bumped members of the crew, yelled “racial and homophobic slurs” and loitered near their cars, whose tires were later found slashed, authorities said.
“This kind of conduct reflects poorly on our city and must be addressed for what it is — not union organizing, but criminal extortion,” Ortiz said in a statement.
But the indictment also centered on City Hall, noting that an unnamed “representative from the City of Boston” called the Omni Parker House hotel and later the Seaport restaurant Menton, telling the businesses that Local 25 members were planning to picket while “Top Chef” filmed there last June. Omni Parker House later canceled its invite because “the hotel did not want to be associated with a Local 25 picket,” according to the indictment.
The general manager of the Omni Parker declined comment yesterday and a spokeswoman for Menton did not return a call and an email.
Walsh — who rode a wave of union support to City Hall in 2013 — said he had “no idea” who called the restaurants, but added the city approved the permits the “Top Chef” crew needed and he later appeared in an episode of the show.
“If these allegations come out to be true, then certainly I’ll be very disappointed about it,” Walsh said.
But he declined to describe his relationship with Teamsters, only to say he had no contact with union members during the show or since.
Walsh, a former Dorchester lawmaker, was once the $175,000-a-year head of the Boston Building Trades that represents unions, including the Local 25, which has forked over nearly $15,500 in political donations to him since 2013, records show.
Local 25 has had a tempestuous relationship with Hollywood and the feds for years, with members convicted of money-laundering, extortion, racketeering and shaking down movie producers who tried to film in Boston. But they’ve also remained politically active, donating to Walsh, every current member of the City Council and Attorney General Maura Healey in the past two years.
Walsh, noting the federal case is still ongoing, said, “If we need to be cooperative in any matters, we’re certainly going to be.”
Teamsters Mark Harrington, 61; John Fidler, 51; Daniel Redmond, 47; and Robert Cafarelli, 45, each face charges of conspiracy to extort, attempted extortion and aiding and abetting. Three of the accused — Redmond, Cafarelli and Harrington — pleaded not guilty yesterday and were released on $50,000 bond.
Neither Teamster officials nor a past spokeswoman for the union returned requests for comment yesterday.
The Teamsters first confronted the show’s crew on June 5, 2014, when Redmond approached the production teams while they were filming at the Revere Hotel and “demanded that members of Local 25 be hired as drivers,” the indictment says.
Redmond was told no jobs were available. He then insisted the producers speak with Harrington, secretary treasurer of Local 25, who warned them if he didn’t cut a deal with the union, they would start to follow the crew and picket, according to the feds.
A Herald report last year, quoting a Bravo source, stated that Teamsters picketers at the Milton site called “Top Chef” star Padma Lakshmi a “(expletive) whore,” and threatened to “bash that pretty face in.”
A Bravo spokeswoman declined to comment yesterday.
Erin Smith, Owen Boss and Gayle Fee contributed to this report.
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