Fred "Frenchy" Mader (born 1883 - died ?)Kinsley, Philip. "Mader Fights to Keep Jail Record Away From Jury." ''Chicago Daily Tribune.'' August 6, 1922. was an American labor leader and

organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

figure active in the

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, labor movement in the 1910s and 1920s. He was president of the influential Chicago Building and Construction Trades Council, a coalition of construction unions, for nine months in 1922.

Early career

Fred Mader was born in Chicago in 1883. When he was 14 years old, he went to work for a year at Marshall Field's running cash from the safe to the counters. He worked for a

stockbroker A stockbroker is a regulated broker, broker-dealer, or registered investment adviser (in the United States) who may provide financial advisory and investment management services and execute transactions such as the purchase or sale of stocks an ...

for three years, and then spent a year working for a company which installed light fixtures in homes and apartment buildings. He moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

for nine months and worked as a fixture hanger there for nine months before returning to Chicago. Once back in Chicago, Mader joined Local 381 of the Fixture Hangers' Union, and by 1915 was the local's assistant business agent. His job was to roam construction sites, ensuring that the terms of union contracts were honored by employers. Mader also became involved with organized crime. He was an associate of Timothy D. "Big Tim" Murphy, a mobster and labor racketeer who controlled several major railroad, laundry and dye workers' unions during the 1910s and early 1920s. In 1915, Mader was accused in court testimony of asking local business owners for protection money in exchange for not having their expensive glass windows constantly broken. Mader was sentenced to three years in prison for

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, ...

. After his release from prison, Mader rose quickly within Local 381, becoming its president."Curran Resigns Presidency of Trades Council." ''Chicago Daily Tribune.'' February 18, 1922. He was also influential in the electrical workers' union. Mader's growing importance and power within Chicago's labor movement led him to be elected president of the Chicago Building and Construction Trades Council (BCTC) on February 17, 1922. A split had emerged in the BCTC over whether to accept an arbitration award lowering wages throughout the city's construction industry, and the faction opposing the award was ousted from its leadership positions. It was later alleged that Mader won election as BCTC president due to the strong-arm tactics of "Big Tim" Murphy.Kinsley, Philip. "Terror Rule of Mader Rings Told in Court." ''Chicago Daily Tribune.'' July 26, 1922.

Presidency of the BCTC

Just six weeks after his election, Mader was indicted for assault with a deadly weapon after allegedly attacking an electrician who had performed work assigned to the fixture hangers."Mader and Four Others Indicted In Labor Inquiry." ''Chicago Daily Tribune.'' March 30, 1922. Mader strongly denounced the indictment, pointing out that the alleged victim had not bothered to file charges or show up in court as a witness, and that an employer's secretary had lodged the complaint with the police.

On May 6, 1922, Mader, Murphy,

Cornelius Shea Cornelius P. Shea (September 7, 1872 – January 12, 1929) was an American labor leader and organized crime figure. He was the founding president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, holding the position from 1903 until 1907. He becam ...

, and six other labor leaders were arrested and charged with the murder of a Chicago police officer. On May 24, the state asked for

nolle prosequi , abbreviated or , is legal Latin meaning "to be unwilling to pursue".Nolle prosequi
. refe ...

and the court agreed to withdraw the indictments. The trial ended Mader's presidency of the BCTC. A Chicago court refused to release Mader on bail unless he pledged to step down as BCTC president. He hesitated, but agreed on May 28, 1922, and was released on a $75,000 bond (about $982,000 in 2008 inflation-adjusted dollars). During the murder trial, Mader was also indicted on a charge of conspiring to delay the construction of the Drake Hotel."Mader Offers Guilty Plea for Freedom." ''Chicago Daily Tribune.'' June 9, 1922. On June 8, 1922, Mader offered to plead guilty to the charge to avoid a prison term, but the plea deal was refused. During the trial,

eyewitness Eyewitness or eye witness may refer to: Witness * Witness, someone who has knowledge acquired through first-hand experience ** Eyewitness memory ** Eyewitness testimony Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Eyewitness'' (1956 film), a Britis ...

testimony accused Mader of bribery, running a gang of "sluggers" to beat and intimidate others in the labor movement, extortion, bombings, and other crimes. Mader was convicted of this charge on June 19, 1922, and sentenced to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine. The sentence was overturned by the

Supreme Court of Illinois The Supreme Court of Illinois is the state supreme court, the highest court of the State of Illinois. The court's authority is granted in Article VI of the current Illinois Constitution, which provides for seven justices elected from the five ap ...

in 1924. The state of Illinois issued a new indictment against Mader and two others in August. The charges were the murder of a police lieutenant, extortion, assault, and bombing. As Mader's second murder trial began, Mader attempted to withdraw his resignation as president of the BCTC (which was to have been effective at the BCTC's regular board meeting in November)."Oust Mader." ''Chicago Daily Tribune.'' November 14, 1922. Reacting to Mader's refusal, international unions belonging to the

Building and Construction Trades Department North America's Building Trades Unions (NABTU) is a labor federation of 14 North American unions in the building trade, founded by the American Federation of Labor in 1907. History North America's Building Trades Unions was founded by the American ...

of the

American Federation of Labor The American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States that continues today as the AFL-CIO. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions eager to provide mutu ...

, the BCTC's parent organization, acted to build a consensus against Mader, have him removed from office, and a new president elected. These efforts proved successful on November 13, 1922, ending Mader's presidency after just nine months. Edward Ryan, a business agent for the ornamental ironworkers' union, succeeded him. Mader's second murder trial opened a day after his removal as BCTC president. The

Illinois Attorney General The Illinois Attorney General is the highest legal officer of the state of Illinois in the United States. Originally an appointed office, it is now an office filled by statewide election. Based in Chicago and Springfield, Illinois, the attorney ...

's case was somewhat weak, however, and the trial court judge rebuked the state several times on the opening day for abusing the judicial process. The prosecution rested after two days. Mader's attorneys first produced a witness who not only provided an alibi for Mader at the time of the murder, but who claimed he had been taken by Chicago police to Colorado and prevented from testifying in Mader's behalf during the first trial. The following day, Mader's attorneys dropped a bombshell when an ex-police lieutenant testified that the

Chicago Police Department The Chicago Police Department (CPD) is the municipal law enforcement agency of the U.S. city of Chicago, Illinois, under the jurisdiction of the City Council. It is the second-largest municipal police department in the United States, behind t ...

had framed Mader and planted evidence used in the trial."Denies Dynamite 'Frameup Tale' in Mader Trial." ''Chicago Daily Tribune.'' November 23, 1922. The jury was unconvinced by the state's case, and Mader was declared not-guilty on November 25, 1922.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mader, Fred 1883 births American trade union leaders Activists from Chicago Trade unionists from Illinois Year of death missing Stockbrokers