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Straw Boss. Bateson received a six months' extension of its deadline, but by then it was obvious that what was needed was more practical assistance from Local 210. At the suggestion of Mafiosi already on the payroll, the contractor hired a "job coordinator"—Magaddino Capo John Cammillieri. In his sharply tailored suits, pointed-toe shoes, dark glasses and pinkie ring, Cammillieri was an unlikely looking straw boss for an office building construction gang. But his effect on the work force was immediate and far-reaching. For $7.10 an hour, Cammillieri did with one memo what Bateson foremen had tried to do for two years: he got the laborers to work.
He simply tacked a notice on the bulletin board at Bateson's Buffalo headquarters. In it he stated that the laborers' attendance record was a "disgrace." From then on, wrote Cammillieri, there was to be "no excuse" for missing work—not even illness. "If you are able to go to the doctor, you are able to come to work." Additionally, there would be no more leaves of absence for surgery: "We hired you as you are and to have anything removed would certainly make you less than we bargained for. Anyone having an operation will be fired immediately." Trips to the rest room had taken too much time away from their work, Cammillieri stated. He set up an alphabetical schedule for using the toilet, complete with a 15-minute limit on the time spent in the lavatories. "If you are unable to go at your time, it will be necessary to wait until the next day when your turn comes again."
Best of Health. The memorandum concluded with an example of Mafia morbidity: "Death (other than your own) is no excuse. If the funeral can be held in the late afternoon, we will be glad to let you off for one hour, provided that your share of the work is ahead." Should one of the workers die, Cammillieri wrote, his demise "will be accepted as an excuse. But we would like two weeks' notice, as we feel it is your duty to teach someone else your job." The grim humor was an adequate hint; Cammillieri is not known as a jokester in Buffalo Mob circles. He closed the notice with the classic Mafia double entendre: "Best of health." The workers had no trouble translating the threat of the Mafioso.
The building is now near completion, though the time lost before Cammillieri's arrival will still make the contractor about eight months behind the extended deadline in finishing the job—at a penalty rate of $917 a day. Federal agencies in Buffalo have been in chaos due to the delays. Leases on present space in other buildings are expiring, and one agency has attempted to move in despite the fact that the building is unfinished. The office workers must pick their way through mud and construction material to reach their still incomplete quarters. The role of the Mafia in the construction of the building—first in slowing down work, then in Cammillieri's speedup—is dismissed with studied ignorance by the contractor. Said Bateson Superintendent Paul Boyd: "Cammillieri kept Local 210 off my back. That alone was worth what we paid him. He did a job for us—but I don't know how he did it."