Who’s who in former labor leader John Dougherty’s second trial

Seven defendants, five plea agreements, more than 100 counts, and over $600,000 in allegedly embezzled union cash are at the center of the case set to play out starting this week as former Philadelphia labor leader John J. Dougherty stands trial, accused of stealing from Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, a union he led for nearly 30 years.

But prosecutors say he did not act alone. Dougherty and six others are charged in the embezzlement scheme, while prosecutors say others in their orbit benefited from the cash siphoned from the union between 2010 and 2016.

Here’s what you need to know about the players in the case:

Dougherty, widely known as “Johnny Doc,” is the former longtime business manager of Local 98 and once led the Philadelphia Building Trades Union. He was forced to resign from both positions after a Philadelphia jury in 2021 convicted him and former Councilmember Bobby Henon on federal bribery charges.

During his nearly three decades of leading Local 98, Dougherty transformed his 5,000-member union into a political powerhouse and the largest independent source of campaign cash in the state, helping to elect Philadelphia mayors, City Council members, state legislators, governors, judges, and members of Congress.

At the center of the embezzlement indictment, Dougherty faces 78 counts, including conspiracy, embezzlement, and falsification of union records, wire fraud, filing false tax returns, and accepting unlawful payments to a labor union official — the most serious of which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Prosecutors allege that between 2010 and 2016, Dougherty treated Local 98′s member dues like a personal slush fund, paying for thousands in home repairs for himself and his family, groceries, meals, and trips.

» READ MORE: What Johnny Doc allegedly bought with Local 98′s money: Concert tickets, pricey restaurant meals, and more than $8,000 at Target

Burrows served as president of Local 98 from 2008 until earlier this year, following demands for his resignation amid a heated election for new union leadership.

He’s the only other defendant out of the five union leaders and members charged alongside Dougherty with embezzling to take his case to trial. Burrows — along with Dougherty and Michael Neill — once co-owned Doc’s Union Pub (now the Mifflin Tavern) in South Philadelphia, where they are accused of paying for thousands for dollars in renovations to the property out of Local 98′s coffers.

Prosecutors also allege Burrows received, on the union’s tab, more than $48,000 in improvements to his Mount Laurel home, including a new walk-in closet and fence, master bathroom renovations, and air-conditioning repairs.

He faces 24 counts, including conspiracy, embezzlement of labor union assets, and falsification of union records, and filing false tax returns. If convicted, he faces a five-year sentence on the most serious charge.

Crawford served as the political director of Local 98 for more than a decade. In December 2022, she resigned from her post as the face of the union’s influential political lobbying operation, and admitted in court to using Local 98 funds for upscale birthday dinners for herself and Dougherty, and a 2015 hotel stay on a $2,370 personal trip to watch the Belmont Stakes.

Her plea agreement does not require her to cooperate with investigators or testify against Dougherty or her other codefendants. She pleaded guilty to four felony counts of wire fraud, and faces up to 20 years in prison on each.

» READ MORE: One of Johnny Doc’s closest allies has pleaded guilty weeks before the labor leader’s next trial — and she’s not alone

During Dougherty’s 2021 bribery trial, Crawford’s voice was often featured in wiretapped phone conversations played for jurors. She spent hours on the phone with the former union chief as they devised ways to exert the union’s influence over local and state officials.

She, too, regularly dipped into union members’ dues for personal expenses, prosecutors said, expensing thousands in gift cards for clothing for her and Dougherty, and hundreds in beauty and makeup services.

In 2015, prosecutors accused Crawford of treating family members and friends to tickets and luxury suites at concerts for Taylor Swift, Bette Midler, and Billy Joel — together worth thousands of dollars — all on the union’s dime.

“You know the way we roll,” she said in a recorded wiretap while inviting a family member to one of those events.

The longtime head of the union’s apprentice training program, Neill resigned from his post in December 2022, when he pleaded guilty to six counts, including embezzling labor union assets, theft from the union benefit plan, and filing a false federal income tax return.

Neill’s plea agreement does not require him to cooperate with investigators or testify against Dougherty or his other codefendants.

» READ MORE: The guilty pleas keep coming in Johnny Doc’s embezzlement case as two more Local 98 members cut deals

As the head of the training program, Neill was one of two people in the union whose signatures were required on all checks drawn from the accounts set aside to train the next generation of electricians.

But prosecutors said he regularly dipped into those funds for construction work at his South Philadelphia home, repairs to Doc’s Union Pub, and thousands of dollars in work on a nearby commercial and residential building also co-owned by Neill, Dougherty, and Burrows.

In total, the personal construction work prosecutors say Dougherty, Burrows, and Neill billed to Local 98 between 2010 and 2016 topped $390,000.

Fiocca is Dougherty’s nephew and served in the union as a personal assistant to Dougherty. He pleaded guilty last year to five counts of embezzling labor union assets.

Like most of his codefendants, Fiocca’s plea agreement does not require him to cooperate with investigators or testify against Dougherty or others.

Prosecutors say Dougherty routinely relied on Fiocca and two other young Local 98 employees — collectively dubbed “the kids” — to run personal errands for the labor leader while on the clock at the union. According to the indictment, between 2014 and 2015, Fiocca purchased more than $5,000 in groceries, clothing, furniture, and home decor from stores like Target and Lowe’s Home Improvement. Almost all of those goods — charged to Local 98 credit cards and often reported as union office supplies or meeting expenses — were delivered to the homes of Dougherty of Maureen Fiocca, Dougherty’s sister and Brian Fiocca’s mother, the indictment said.

Another member of “the kids,” Rodriguez also worked at the union as a personal assistant to Dougherty. He pleaded guilty last year to six counts of embezzlement from a union, and resigned from Local 98. His plea agreement included admissions to buying $1,080 in goods on the union’s tab, and he agreed to pay nearly $13,5000 in restitution to Local 98.

His plea agreement also does not require him to cooperate with investigators or testify against Dougherty or others.

Like Fiocca, Rodriguez is alleged to have racked up thousands in bills on union credit cards for mainly mundane items for Dougherty and his family: diapers, cleaning supplies, breakfast cereal, and Christmas decorations from Target and Lowe’s.

Massa, a Northeast Philadelphia contractor, admitted in court in 2020 to providing hundreds of thousands of dollars in home repairs to Dougherty and his family, paid in money allegedly embezzled from the union’s coffers.

» READ MORE: Philly contractor pleads guilty to taking union money for work done on houses of John Dougherty and other Local 98 leaders

He pleaded guilty in federal court to charges including conspiracy, theft, and embezzlement of labor union assets.

He is believed to have agreed to become a witness for the government in exchange for his plea deal, and may testify during trial.

Peltz, a New Jersey electrical contractor and longtime ally of Dougherty, was sentenced in 2019 to 1½ years in prison after admitting to providing Dougherty nearly $57,000 in home and office improvements at no charge between 2012 and 2015.

» READ MORE: First defendant in feds’ case against ‘Johnny Doc’ and Local 98 gets 18-month sentence

In exchange, prosecutors said, Dougherty landed Peltz’s business, MJK Electrical Corp., millions of dollars in work, including a $2.1 million deal with Comcast, negotiated by Dougherty and Henon.

Peltz’s plea agreement said that he, too, had not agreed to testify against Dougherty or other union officials.

The indictment also lists 10 unnamed and uncharged members of Dougherty’s family who prosecutors say benefited from work by Massa and Peltz as well as other perks paid for by Local 98. Those include Dougherty’s late father, John J. Dougherty Sr., and his brother, Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Kevin Dougherty, who, according to the indictment, received home repairs and painting at his Bustleton home paid for by the union’s general fund.

That fund also paid for work at the homes of John Dougherty’s daughter — Erin, head of a Local 98-backed charter school in Center City — and sister, Maureen Fiocca, who for years lived next door to her brother.