The nephew of former Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Business Manager John Dougherty was sentenced for demanding money for hours he did not work in 2020. Gregory Fiocca allegedly did so by assaulting a project manager.
Over the course of one week in August of 2020, Fiocca allegedly didn't do much work and was absent a lot of the time. When he received a paycheck for less than 40 hours worked, he confronted and assaulted a Local 98 union member who was the project manager.
According to officials, Fiocca, who was a union representative at the time, choked the project manager, threw him across a desk, spit on him and threatened to beat him and the owner.
Fiocca made these threats demanding that the project manager and owner stop monitoring his attendance and performance at the job before asking for the money he believed he was owed.
Get top local stories in Philly delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC Philadelphia's News Headlines newsletter.
Fiocca was charged by superseding information and pleaded guilty in September 2024.
"Fiocca, as the nephew of then-Local 98 Business Manager John Dougherty, abused his power and influence and resorted to violence to unlawfully claim wages he did not rightfully earn," U.S. Attorney Jacqueline Romero said in a statement. "That force and intimidation is detrimental to the integrity of hardworking and law-abiding members of Local 98, and such actions cannot be tolerated as business as usual."
Fiocca was charged and pleaded guilty in September of 2024. He was sentenced to two years of probation on Feb. 4, 2025.
For nearly three decades, John Dougherty ran the union and he was a Democratic power broker in Pennsylvania politics, steering tens of millions in union campaign contributions to candidates for office.
“I’m here to take full responsibility. It’s embarrassing. I’m sick,” the Associated Press quoted Dougherty saying during his sentencing hearing earlier this year.
Dougherty was sentenced to serve six years in prison on a case that found he and others embezzled nearly $600,000 from Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) between 2010 and 2016.
Dougherty -- the former business manager of IBEW Local 98 and the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council -- spent the money on home renovations, meals, concerts and groceries for himself and his family and friends, prosecutors claimed.
