Not Among Best-Remembered Cases, But Morgenthau Helped Rescue DC 37

Among the notable cases handled by Robert M. Morgenthau during nearly a half-century as a Federal and state prosecutor prior to his death July 21 at 99, the then-Manhattan District Attorney’s massive corruption case involving District Council 37 has largely been forgotten, going unmentioned in a lengthy New York Times obituary.

But it represented a crucial moment in municipal history, bringing to light not only the stealing that by the union’s own estimate involved presidents of 44 of its 56 locals and other ranking officials, but the fixing of a 1996 contract vote that wound up saddling all city unions with a five-year deal that began with a two-year wage freeze.