Fred Mader was president of the influential Chicago Building and Construction Trades Council, a coalition of construction unions, for nine months in 1922.
15 Facts About Fred Mader
1.
2.
Fred Mader worked for a stockbroker for three years, and then spent a year working for a company which installed light fixtures in homes and apartment buildings.
3.
Fred Mader moved to New York City for nine months and worked as a fixture hanger there for nine months before returning to Chicago.
4.
Once back in Chicago, Mader joined Local 381 of the Fixture Hangers' Union, and by 1915 was the local's assistant business agent.
5.
Fred Mader's job was to roam construction sites, ensuring that the terms of union contracts were honored by employers.
6.
Fred Mader 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.
7.
In 1915, Fred 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.
8.
Fred Mader was sentenced to three years in prison for extortion.
9.
Fred 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 on February 17,1922.
10.
Just six weeks after his election, Fred Mader was indicted for assault with a deadly weapon after allegedly attacking an electrician who had performed work assigned to the fixture hangers.
11.
Fred 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.
12.
Fred Mader hesitated, but agreed on May 28,1922, and was released on a $75,000 bond.
13.
On June 8,1922, Fred Mader offered to plead guilty to the charge to avoid a prison term, but the plea deal was refused.
14.
Fred Mader was convicted of this charge on June 19,1922, and sentenced to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine.
15.
The jury was unconvinced by the state's case, and Fred Mader was declared not-guilty on November 25,1922.