Frank Muscare

AKA: Moon
Released
Full name:Frank J. Muscare
Date of birth:08. 11. 1925
Date of death:28. 02. 2005
Age:79† Deceased
Gender:Male
Race:White
Era:1980s
State:Illinois
Time Imprisoned:
22 Days
Support
Labor Organizing
Frank Muscare

Biography

Frank "Moon" Muscare was the president of Chicago Fire Fighters Union Local 2 during the bitter 1980 Chicago firefighters' strike against Mayor Jane Byrne. In February 1980, after contract talks collapsed, roughly 4,000 firefighters walked out in defiance of a court restraining order — the first firefighters' strike in the city's history. Muscare refused to order his members back to work, and a judge jailed him for contempt of court, sentencing him to five months and reportedly citing his "big mouth," while levying fines that reached $40,000 a day against the union and its officials. The walkout lasted 23 days before the union ended it on March 8, 1980. Muscare died in 2005.

Case

Cook County Jail
Charges: Criminal contempt of court.
Incarcerated: Feb 21, 1980
Released: Mar 14, 1980
Sentence: Five months in jail (1980) for contempt. Charges as recorded: Criminal contempt of court for leading and refusing to end the February 1980 Chicago firefighters' strike — in which some 4,000 members of Fire Fighters Union Local 2 walked out against Mayor Jane Byrne in defiance of a court restraining order. He served 23 days of the five-month term before being released on a $100,000 appeal bond once the strike was settled. This was not a purge of the contempt and not time served: on March 13, 1980 the trial court refused to reconsider or commute the criminal contempt, converting only the daily fines to fixed sums of $5,000 for Muscare and $40,000 for the union. The Illinois Appellate Court affirmed both the sentence and the fine on August 12, 1981, and on March 22, 1982 the Illinois Supreme Court declined review, leaving him facing a return to Cook County Jail to finish the term; whether he did is not established by any available source.
Judge: John Hechinger
Convicted: Jailed for contempt and sentenced to five months; the court also levied fines reaching $40,000 a day against the union and its officers.
Institution State: Illinois

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