Report on City of Boston involvement in Teamsters Top Chef indictment

TO: Henry C. Luthin, Esq.

First Assistant Corporation Counsel

City of Boston

FROM: Brian T. Kelly

Nixon Peabody LLP

RE: United States v. John Fidler et al., No.

15-cr-10300 (D. Mass. Sept. 29, 2015)

Report of Investigation

DATE: December 27, 2015

Introduction

On September 29, 2015, a federal grand jury in the District of Massachusetts returned anindictment charging multiple members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Teamsters Local25, with various federal offenses related to an alleged attempt to extort a television production company(referred to in the indictment as “Company A”) that was filming the reality television series Top Chef inBoston. See generally Indictment, United States v. John Fidler et al., No. 15-cr-10300 (D. Mass. Sept.29, 2015). Paragraph 7 of the indictment alleged:

On or about June 9, 2014, a representative from the City of Boston called the OmniParker House to inform it that Local 25 was planning to picket Company A’s filming atthe Omni Parker House on June 10, 2014. The City of Boston representative madesimilar calls to Menton.[1]

In the wake of this development, the City of Boston (“City”) retained Nixon Peabody LLP to conductan investigation into the facts and circumstances surrounding the allegations contained in this paragraphof the indictment and to provide legal advice regarding these matters. This memorandum summarizesNixon Peabody’s findings and conclusions to date.

Methodology of Investigation

The investigation encompassed both witness interviews and a review and analysis of documentspertaining to the Top Chef filming and the City’s involvement in this matter.

The majority of the documents reviewed in connection with the investigation were identified byconducting a search for written and electronic documents that contained the terms “Top Chef,”“Magical Elves,” “Bravo,” “NBC Universal,” “Mission Productions,” “Boston Scouting,” “Teamsters,”

1 The grand jury returned a superseding indictment on October 6, 2015, in which the name of defendantMichael Ross was substituted for that of defendant Richard Jeffrey. The remainder of the indictment,including Paragraph 7, was unchanged.

Henry C. Luthin, Esq.First Assistant Corporation CounselCity of Boston

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“Local 25,” or “Teamsters Local 25,” and then reviewing those documents that pertained to the TopChef filming and permitting. The reviewed documents included the following:

E-mail and text message files for City of Boston employees; Electronic calendar entries for City of Boston employees; Cellular phone records for City of Boston employees; and Permits issued in connection with Top Chef filming.

Nine City employees, including Mayor Martin J. Walsh, were interviewed in connection withthe investigation; two former City employees agreed to answer written questions submitted to theircounsel in lieu of interviews. We also interviewed the two individuals who received the telephone callsreferenced in Paragraph 7 of the Fidler indictment: John Murtha, General Manager of the Omni ParkerHouse, and Barbara Lynch, Owner and Operator of Menton. Four other individuals who were not Cityemployees at the time of the events in question declined our requests for interviews.

Additional interviews with City personnel were considered, but were decided against. Theadditional expense to the City that such interviews would have entailed was determined to beunwarranted in light of the likelihood that the individuals in question did not possess uniqueinformation concerning the events related in paragraph 7 of the Fidler indictment.

Nixon Peabody did not have access to grand jury materials related to the Fidler indictment thatmay be in the possession of the U.S. Attorney’s Office. While obvious, it must also be noted thatbecause Nixon Peabody does not possess grand jury subpoena power or the ability to immunizewitnesses, we could not compel any individuals to appear for interviews, nor could we require them toturn over relevant documents in their possession. The witnesses who agreed to be interviewed andprovided documents in connection with the investigation did so voluntarily.

Given the limits to our authority, the findings and conclusions related herein are necessarilylimited as well. As the events at issue occurred over a year before our investigation, moreover, thepassage of time may have affected witnesses’ memories of those events. Accordingly, this report is notintended to be an authoritative statement of historical fact, nor should it be taken as such. It simplyrepresents our conclusions regarding what most likely occurred in light of all the evidence we haveassembled to date.

Summary of Findings

The basic facts related in paragraph 7 of the Fidler indictment are accurate. However, ourinvestigation uncovered no evidence indicating that any City employee colluded or conspired withmembers of Teamsters Local 25 to intimidate or extort Top Chef. Rather, the evidence revealed that thetelephone calls referred to in paragraph 7 of the indictment were placed by Kenneth Brissette, the City’sDirector of Tourism, Sports and Entertainment, in an effort to notify personal acquaintances of adeveloping situation that could affect their businesses. The recipients of those phone calls both deniedthat Brissette threatened them in any way, and both also denied that Brissette ever requested that theycancel the scheduled Top Chef filmings. No one from City Hall instructed Brissette to make these calls,


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and City Hall staff remained unaware that the calls had occurred until they were disclosed in the Fidlerindictment.

Some media outlets reported that the City revoked or attempted to revoke permits issued for TopChef’s filming. We found no evidence to substantiate these reports. In fact, the evidence revealed thatCity Hall staff lacks the authority to revoke permits, and that the sole involvement City Hall has inpermitting for film shoots is ensuring that productions are connected with the appropriate permittingauthorities.

Detailed Analysis

On April 30, 2014, roughly four months into the administration of Boston Mayor Martin Walsh,Top Chef, a reality television program aired on the Bravo network, announced that it would be filmingits twelfth season in the city. When Mayor Walsh learned of the filming at around the same time it wasannounced, he was excited at the opportunity to promote and garner publicity for the city and itsculinary scene. Neither Mayor Walsh nor anyone else at City Hall knew anything about the unionstatus of the production at that time. As it would turn out, the production was nonunion. Among otherthings, it employed independent drivers rather than members of the International Brotherhood ofTeamsters—a fact that, when it became known to the Teamsters, was not well received.

I. Top Chef filming in May 2014

Throughout the month of May 2014, agents and employees of Top Chef exchanged numerous e-mails with the City regarding scheduling and permitting for the production. Representatives from TopChef attended several meetings of the City’s Film Bureau2 in order to obtain permits to film at variouslocations throughout Boston. Present at these meetings were representatives from the Boston Police,Fire, Parks, Public Works, and Transportation Departments; the Massachusetts Bay TransportationAuthority; the Mayor’s Office of Tourism, Sports and Entertainment; and various other agencies.Patricia Papa, the City’s Events and Film Director and an employee of the Office of Tourism, Sportsand Entertainment, ordinarily presided over the meetings, which took place in the City’s Office ofTourism, Sports and Entertainment. Kenneth Brissette, the City’s Director of Tourism, Sports andEntertainment, was not an active participant in these meetings, and was not always in attendance.

At the Film Bureau’s meetings, Top Chef’s representatives presented site plans and proposalsfor filming at the locations they had selected. The Committee members in attendance vetted theproposals to ensure that they were safe and appropriate. Based upon the plans presented, differentdepartments then issued any necessary permits. The Departments of Transportation and Public Worksissued permits for street closures and public parking; the Department of Public Works also ensured thatthe proposals did not conflict with any scheduled construction projects. The Parks Department issuedpermits for use of the Boston Common and other City parks. The Office of Tourism, Sports andEntertainment did not have the authority to grant or deny any of these permits, responsibility for whichlaid solely with the issuing agencies. The role of representatives from that Office was limited toconnecting presenters with the appropriate agencies.

2 The Film Bureau is sometimes also referred to as the Film Committee.


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Top Chef was a relatively small production with predominantly interior filming locations.Accordingly, it did not encounter significant difficulty or delay in obtaining the necessary permits.3

Top Chef ultimately received approval for each of its proposals, and the permits issued in due course.At no point during any of the Film Bureau meetings did any of the attendees inquire whether Top Chefwas a union or nonunion production. At no point were any of the issued permits revoked.

On Sunday, May 18, 2014, Mayor Walsh, after appearing in the Haitian Flag Day Parade,filmed a segment for Top Chef at the Museum of Science. Prior to the Mayor’s appearance on theshow, Top Chef’s producers sent Brissette a draft release permitting the use of the Mayor’s imageduring the promotion and broadcast of the program. Brissette placed the release into the Mayor’s “readfile” – a collection of documents the Mayor reviews on a nightly basis – and the Mayor ultimatelyexecuted the release.

The Mayor was accompanied to the May 18, 2014 filming by his advance aide Sam Chambers,Press Secretary Kate Norton, and Brissette. The filming, which took about an hour, wasunremarkable.4 Also filmed to appear on the show at around the same time as the Mayor were theCity’s Police and Fire Commissioners and other members of the City’s Police and Fire Departments.

II. Events of June 5-8, 2014

Top Chef continued to film in the city for the two weeks following the Mayor’s appearancewithout incident. Shortly after 10:30 p.m. on the evening of June 5, 2014, however, DerekCunningham of Boston Scouting, who had been working as a location scout for Top Chef, e-mailedBrissette, copying Patricia Papa. Cunningham, who had been approached by a member of TeamstersLocal 25 at a Top Chef shoot at Revere Hotel earlier in the day and subsequently received intimidatingphone calls from members of Teamsters Local 25, wrote:

At the moment I will no longer be working on Top Chef. As I predicted the Teamstershave found the film set and are really really pissed. As they should be. This was a veryreal conversation I had with the producers. I told them this would come up. I told themthat in my opinion the production should reach out to the teamsters. The executives atBravo decided against this advice.

3 The Top Chef production team was often disorganized, and regularly made late or last-minute changesto planned film shoots. Nonetheless, the Film Bureau worked to accommodate the requested changeswhere possible. The production did run into minor problems with the Boston Fire Code, as its planscalled for the construction of temporary full kitchens and the Fire Code imposes strict requirements forsuch installations. Notwithstanding this hurdle, Top Chef succeeded in bringing its kitchens up to codeand received approval from the Fire Department for most of its shoots. In addition, the productioncancelled a planned “Food Truck Challenge,” in which “cheftestants” serve culinary creations frommobile food service locations, as the producers did not wish to bear the expense associated withpermitting the shoot.4 A June 5, 2014 date for filming the Mayor’s Top Chef appearance was considered as an alternative toMay 18. Because the May 18 shoot went forward, the Mayor did not film on June 5.


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Unfortunately the teamsters are blaming me for this. So the coming days/weeks/monthsshould be interesting.

The phone calls to my cell have started. I know it’s only going to get worse.

I will be in City Hall tomorrow to finish up the permitting for next week but most likelywill not be able to attend anymore [sic] meetings. I do not need to meet tomorrow. Ijust have to pick up the permits from Public Works.

Sadly this is another black eye on the production world here in MA and the City. It’sanother major issue that productions have to face if they choose to come to Boston.

Brissette read Cunningham’s e-mail upon awakening the next morning. Although the e-mail did notexplicitly state that Top Chef was not using union laborers, that implication was clear from its content.This appears to be the first time that anyone from the City learned that Top Chef was a nonunionproduction.

Brissette had joined City Hall less than a month before, after Top Chef had already begunfilming in Boston, and his first reaction to this news was dismay that no one had told him that Top Chefwas nonunion. According to Brissette, he was not upset by the fact that the production was nonunion,but rather because he felt that he was responsible for the Mayor, Police and Fire Commissioners, andactive uniformed police and firemen appearing on the show, and he was afraid that their appearance ona nonunion show would embarrass them. Brissette was also concerned that if he had known about TopChef’s nonunion status, he could have provided that information to the Mayor before his appearance.5

Brissette responded to Cunningham early on the morning of June 6, 2014, inviting him to stop byBrissette’s office at City Hall later that day.

At this point in time, Top Chef had completed the vast majority of its planned filming in Boston.Only three main planned filming locations remained: Omni Parker House, scheduled for a shoot on thefollowing Tuesday, June 10, 2014; Emerson College, scheduled for June 11; and Menton, scheduled forJune 12. Top Chef had applied for permits in connection with the shoots scheduled to take place atOmni Parker House and Menton, which the Public Works and Transportation Departments issued onJune 6. As Cunningham had stated, he was planning on picking up the permits at City Hall that day.

During his visit to City Hall on June 6, Cunningham obtained permits from the Public WorksDepartment for the shoots at Omni Parker House and Menton. He spoke to Papa while he was there,discussing his departure from Top Chef and the fact that the Teamsters were planning on picketing theremaining film locations. Brissette was not present during Cunningham’s initial visit to City Hall, butspoke to Cunningham later in the day. Brissette recalls discussing the fact that Cunningham had knownof Top Chef’s nonunion status but had not apprised anyone at City Hall of that fact, and tellingCunningham that he wished Cunningham had informed him earlier.

5 When the Mayor is scheduled to appear at an event, the City staff responsible for arranging theappearance brief the Mayor with all relevant background information regarding the event.


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Brissette and Cunningham probably also discussed the Teamsters’ plan to picket the remainingTop Chef filming locations. Phone records indicate that Brissette and Cunningham had a six-minuteconversation at 5:34 p.m. on the evening of June 6, less than an hour after Cunningham had sent Papaan e-mail with the subject line “Top Chef Teamsters.” The e-mail attached a screenshot of a textmessage Cunningham had received from Dan Redmond, a member of Teamsters Local 25,6 reading“Help me out and I’ll make it all good with you on this! Where are t[h]ey today and where will they beon Monday?” In his e-mail to Papa, Cunningham wrote:

FYI… I will help the teamsters out as I care more for anyone here and [sic] than I do foranyone from out of town.

However here is the latest text I received from Danny Redmond who showed up lastnight. I’ve known him for years but don’t trust him.

So if I’m providing info and they still harass me I will be forced to go to the police andfile another police report.7 This is for the immediate future and anytime later on for aslong as this doesn’t expire in statute of limitations for the state is MA.

Given the length of Brissette’s phone call with Cunningham, and the obvious distress conveyed by thise-mail, the topic of Redmond’s text message most likely came up in their conversation.8

Following his phone call with Cunningham, Brissette called Joseph Rull, then the Chief ofOperations for the Mayor’s Office. Because Brissette was still new in his position, he had not yetgotten to know many of Mayor Walsh’s senior staff well. He was, however, acquainted with Rull fromthe Mayor’s campaign, and therefore called him. During this phone call, Brissette informed Rull of theMayor’s appearance on Top Chef and the fact that the show was a nonunion production, and asked forRull’s advice.

Rull’s duties at this time included labor relations, and Rull expressed concern that the Mayor’sappearance on Top Chef could negatively affect his reputation with labor, one of his chiefconstituencies. Brissette asked Rull whether they should attempt to get the Mayor’s image out of theshow. Rull responded that he would have to brief the Mayor on the situation, and ended theconversation with Brissette.

6 Redmond is also one of the defendants named in the Fidler indictment.7 According to public filings in the Fidler case, after receiving Redmond’s text message, Cunninghamprovided Redmond with the information he had requested. As a further aside, because Cunninghamdeclined our request for an interview, we were unable to obtain clarification of what he meant by“another” police report.8 Even if Brissette did not learn of Redmond’s text message directly from Cunningham himself, hespoke to Papa at least four separate times on the evening of June 6 after Cunningham forwardedRedmond’s message to her. Brissette did not recall discussing Cunningham’s e-mail with Papa.


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Shortly after speaking with Brissette, Rull spoke to Mayor Walsh and relayed the informationthat he had learned from Brissette. Neither participant recalled the exact substance of that conversation,but both were unequivocal that the Mayor never directed Rull to try to get Top Chef’s permits revokedat that or any other time. Nor did Mayor Walsh give Rull any instruction to contact the locations wherethe show was scheduled to shoot in the coming days. The Mayor does, however, recall being interestedin looking into what his options were with respect to his own appearance on Top Chef, and it isprobable that he expressed this interest to Rull at some point.

After speaking to Rull, the Mayor placed a call to Sean O’Brien, the President of TeamstersLocal 25, who the Mayor knew from his prior position as head of the Boston Metropolitan DistrictBuilding Trades Council. O’Brien and Local 25 had supported the Mayor during his campaign, and theMayor felt he owed O’Brien a courtesy phone call so he would not be surprised by the Mayor’sappearance on the nonunion show.

O’Brien did not express any anger or surprise at the Mayor’s appearance on Top Chef, nor didhe ask the Mayor to take any action on his behalf. Given this conversation, and O’Brien’s apparentlack of concern, the Mayor did not believe that his appearance would lead to any negative politicalfallout. The Mayor and O’Brien also discussed an Autism Speaks charity event before ending the call.They did not discuss Top Chef again after their call.

Following his conversation with O’Brien, the Mayor called Rull and spoke with him briefly;again, neither participant could recall the exact substance of this conversation. After speaking to theMayor, Rull again spoke to Brissette, and told Brissette that they should find out more about the releasethe Mayor had signed before appearing on Top Chef, to see whether they could get the Mayor’s imageout of the show or limit its use. Both Rull and Brissette deny discussing any revocation of Top Chef’spermits during either of their conversations that evening.

In the meantime, Brissette and Papa had already contacted Cunningham to try to obtain a copyof the release the Mayor had signed from Top Chef, which was not in Brissette’s possession. Brissetteand Cunningham spoke several more times over the course of the evening, and exchanged several moree-mails. Responding to an earlier request by Cunningham for Top Chef to film “beauty shots” with acamera jib at Boston Common, the Public Gardens, and outside the housing for Top Chef’s cast,Brissette wrote, “[n]o shooting until I speak with bravo on this.” According to Brissette, in sending thise-mail his primary concern was that Bravo had not discussed its plans to film on the Common at theweekly meeting of the Film Bureau, and he needed time to look into whether or not a permit wasrequired for that filming. And, while traveling to and attending his niece’s high school graduation thatevening, Brissette—continuing to brood over the situation—wrote Cunningham an e-mail stating “Weare going to have to talk about this mess,” a reference to the Teamsters’ displeasure upon learning ofTop Chef’s nonunion status.

In replying to Brissette, Cunningham copied Ellie Carbajal, a producer for Top Chef,introducing Brissette and Carbajal to one another and expressing his intention to “step out of thissituation.” Not long thereafter, Carbajal e-mailed Brissette directly, writing:


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I just left you a message. Derek [Cunningham] mentioned that our permits are going tobe revoked starting Tuesday. Can you please fill me in?

Please give me a call when you have a moment.9

Brissette and Carbajal spoke for about 15 minutes later that evening. During this conversation,Brissette explained his concern regarding the appearance of the Mayor and Police and FireCommissioners on the show. Brissette had no knowledge of anyone attempting to revoke Top Chefpermits, had never discussed the topic with Cunningham, and did not know why Carbajal had theimpression that the show’s permits might be revoked.

Following this discussion, Carbajal sent Brissette an e-mail thanking him for taking the time tospeak to her and seeking to confirm “that we will have our permits for the week.”10 Carbajal also askedBrissette to “tell the Mayor that we are having a call/meeting with Mark Harrington”—Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 25, and one of the five defendants named in the Fidler indictment—“onTuesday at 1 pm.” Brissette called both Carbajal and Cunningham the next morning, and spoke to Papaon several occasions throughout the day on Saturday, June 7. Carbajal also sent Brissette two e-mails,in one of which she again indicated an intention to “touch base with the teamsters.” Brissette did notrespond to either e-mail, and did not relay any message to Mayor Walsh about Top Chef’s discussionswith Teamsters Local 25.

III. June 9, 2014 and beyond

Brissette and Carbajal spoke again on the morning of Monday, June 9, 2014, and Brissette hadseveral conversations throughout the remainder of the day with both Carbajal and Cunningham.Despite his stated intent to stop working on Top Chef, Cunningham continued to communicate with theCity on the show’s behalf, and requested that Top Chef be allowed to present on upcoming locations atthe Film Bureau meeting scheduled to take place on June 10. This request was granted (although TopChef later decided against presenting at the meeting).

Brissette also spoke to Sean O’Brien of Teamsters Local 25 at some point during this timeperiod, although he was unable to recall exactly when this conversation occurred in relation to other

9 This was the first time any written correspondence mentioned the possibility of Top Chef’s permitsbeing revoked. No City personnel had any recollection of having ever discussed or so much as heard ofthe revocation of Top Chef’s permits, and could not speculate as to why Cunningham had told Carbajalthat this was a possibility. As already discussed, permitting is the responsibility of individual agencieswithin the City of Boston, and neither the Mayor’s Office of Sports, Tourism and Entertainment norany of the Mayor’s other staff have any authority over permits. While it is theoretically possible for apermit to be revoked, the only time that anyone could recall a permit revocation being requested wasduring the filming of the motion picture The Town, where a filming location interfered with a pollinglocation. The permits for Top Chef were, in any event, never revoked.10 As already discussed, at the time of Carbajal’s e-mail, Cunningham had already obtained permits forthe upcoming shoots at Omni Parker House and Menton from City Hall.


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events.11 During their conversation, Brissette asked O’Brien about the state of affairs with Top Chef,and O’Brien told Brissette that the Teamsters wanted two union drivers on Top Chef. Brissette toldO’Brien that he did not want any picketing, and said that he would try to find out who the producerswere so the Teamsters could work out any issues with them directly.

It appears that representatives from Top Chef, including Carbajal, did speak with representativesof Teamsters Local 25 throughout the day on June 9 in an effort to come to an agreement regarding theshow’s use of union labor. Shortly after 5:00 p.m. that evening, Sean O’Brien sent Carbajal an e-mailreferencing a conversation they had had. Attached to the e-mail was the Collective BargainingAgreement Teamsters Local 25 had entered with the New England Motion Picture and TelevisionProduction Producers Association. Both Carbajal and O’Brien subsequently forwarded this e-mail toBrissette.

Later that evening, Brissette had a telephone conversation with David O’Connell, a Senior VicePresident for Bravo, following which Brissette spoke to both Carbajal and Cunningham again. Duringthese conversations, it became clear that Top Chef would not be able to reach agreement with theTeamsters, and that the Teamsters were likely to picket the show’s future shoots.

Brissette was aware that the show was scheduled to shoot at both Omni Parker House andMenton over the next several days. He was acquainted with both John Murtha, General Manager ofOmni Parker House, and Barbara Lynch, owner and operator of Menton, from his work in the tourismindustry,12 and believed that both had pro-union ties. Omni Parker House, for example, is a historicallyunion hotel at which all of the staff members are unionized. Believing that the Teamsters’ picketingcould harm Murtha’s and Lynch’s businesses and/or cause them personal embarrassment, Brissette—without receiving direction from, or giving notice to, anyone else at City Hall—took it upon himself tocall both Murtha and Lynch and inform them of the situation. Brissette denied any intent to preventTop Chef from filming in Boston, and stated that the purpose of his calls to Murtha and Lynch was onlyto be helpful to acquaintances that he knew may have business concerns due to picketing. Brissette didnot inform anyone at City Hall of his calls to Murtha and Lynch.

While Murtha could not remember the exact substance of his call with Brissette, he recallsBrissette telling him that if he proceeded with the Top Chef filming, there was a possibility thatTeamsters Local 25 would picket the shoot. Murtha described Brissette’s call as a “friendly heads-up”that a picket might happen, and said that Brissette did not guarantee a picket if the filming proceeded.Murtha specifically volunteered that Brissette did not in any way threaten or bully him, and denied thatBrissette either told him to cancel the filming or otherwise suggested a particular course of action.

11 Brissette was acquainted with O’Brien from their previous work together on a movie that had filmedin Dedham, Massachusetts, while Brissette was serving as Chief Operating Officer for theMassachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism. O’Brien declined Nixon Peabody’s request to answer anyquestions related to this investigation.12 Among other things, Brissette and Murtha served (and continue to serve) together on the Board ofDirectors for the Greater Boston Convention and Vistors Bureau.


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After thanking Brissette and ending the call, Murtha independently concluded that a picketcould cause bad publicity for his hotel. In Murtha’s view, it was possible that Brissette was wrongabout the picket, or that only a few picketers would show up. However, because he was concerned that(1) a picket could potentially disturb his guests, and (2) his own unionized employees would not crossthe picket line, Murtha decided to cancel the Top Chef shoot. About a half-hour after speaking toBrissette, Murtha spoke with someone from Top Chef’s local production team and informed that personof his decision to cancel the shoot in light of the possibility of a picket. He encountered little, if any,resistance from the Top Chef representative with whom he spoke.

Brissette also called Barbara Lynch and explained that there was a possibility of TeamstersLocal 25 picketing the Top Chef filming at Menton. Like Murtha, Lynch characterized Brissette’s callas a friendly heads-up, and denied that Brissette in any way threatened her or instructed her what to do.After receiving the call, Lynch independently decided to cancel the Top Chef shoot at Menton out ofconcern that a picket could negatively affect her business. Lynch did not contact Bravo personallyconcerning this decision, but says that Bravo did not protest the decision. In fact, a Bravorepresentative had contacted Lynch at or around the same time as Brissette to inform her that theremight be a picketing issue and to see whether she could help calm the situation; Lynch stated inresponse that she could not help Bravo.

Although Top Chef had also been scheduled to shoot at Emerson College—a fact of whichBrissette was aware—Brissette says that he did not think to call Emerson because he did not knowanyone there, and did not believe Emerson would share Murtha’s and Lynch’s concerns regarding TopChef’s nonunion status.13 As representatives from Bravo and Emerson declined our interview requests,it is unknown whether the scheduled shoot at Emerson proceeded (although several Emerson studentsdid ultimately appear on the televised program). While David O’Connell of Bravo sent Brissette an e-mail on June 10, 2014 seeking Brissette’s assistance in ensuring that the Emerson shoot could happen,Brissette did not respond until the next morning, expressing hope that “everything went well” with theEmerson shoot.

With the Omni Parker House’s last-minute cancellation of the scheduled shoot, Top Chef’sproducers secured a replacement filming location at Steel & Rye, a restaurant in Milton, Massachusetts,outside the Boston city limits. We have not uncovered any evidence to suggest that anyone at City Hallwas aware of the change of location at any time before the late morning of June 10, 2014. At somepoint prior to that, however, several members of Teamsters Local 25 learned of the new location, andshowed up at Steel & Rye at around 9:00 a.m. on the morning of June 10. There, according to thefederal indictment in the Fidler case, they physically and verbally harassed and assaulted members ofthe Top Chef cast and crew.

13 In the early afternoon of June 9, 2014, Brissette did send an e-mail to Patrick Moscaritolo, Presidentand CEO of the Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau—who had been instrumental inbringing Top Chef to Boston—asking him to “not talk with Top Chef going forward.” According toBrissette, he wanted to apprise Moscaritolo of Top Chef’s problem with the Teamsters because it couldbe important to those members of Moscaritolo’s organization who were affiliated with unions.Brissette eventually spoke to Moscaritolo and filled him in on the details of the situation.


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In the early afternoon of June 10, 2014, Patricia Papa learned of the incident at Steel & Ryefrom Derek Cunningham, who was in City Hall for a Film Bureau meeting. After speaking withCunningham, she called Sean O’Brien, asking him whether everything was alright, as she had heardreports of tires getting slashed. Although Papa did not specifically mention Top Chef (or Cunningham),O’Brien knew what she was referring to, and assured her that “this has nothing to do with the City,nothing to do with you, don’t worry about it.” O’Brien also told her that the Teamsters were “not thatstupid” and that she should “not believe everything you hear.” After less than a minute, the call ended.There were no further discussions between any City employees and members of Teamsters Local 25regarding Top Chef after this call.

Following the incident at Steel & Rye, City staff continued to make efforts to obtain a signedcopy of the release Mayor Walsh signed prior to his Top Chef appearance. These efforts ultimatelyproved fruitless. The Mayor’s appearance on Top Chef aired in the show’s first episode of the season.

Finally, it should be noted that on the afternoon of Friday, June 13, 2014, Derek Cunninghamwrote an e-mail to Brissette and Papa in which he referenced the “recent[ ] events regarding Top Chef,and [their] lack of respect for the unions,” and asked for “the city’s policy moving forward with non-union shows and permits.” Neither Brissette nor Papa responded to this e-mail, and the City has neverexpressed a formal “policy” regarding permits and non-union productions. We were unable to uncoverany evidence that the City has ever conditioned the granting of film permits on the employment ofunion members, has ever revoked or withdrawn permits due to a production’s non-union status, or hasever delayed or altered the permitting process due to a production’s labor practices. So far as ourinvestigation revealed, there was and is no City policy, spoken or unspoken, concerning the permittingof film and television productions that do not employ union members.

Report on City of Boston involvement in Teamsters Top Chef indictment

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Transcript of Report on City of Boston involvement in Teamsters Top Chef indictment