Owner of firm with new O’Hare contract linked to alleged mob figure

Chicago Business Journal Date: Friday, November 30, 2012, 10:57am CST

Union janitors at O’Hare International Airport protested that switching to a private contractor would cost them jobs.

The owner of a firm recently awarded a $99.4 million janitorial contract to replace 300 union workers at O’Hare International Airport has close ties to a man accused of involvement with organized crime, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Until 2011, Richard Simon, owner of United Maintenance Co. Inc., managed a company alongside William Daddano, Jr., who the Chicago Crime Commission listed as a mob figure in 1997, according to the report. Daddano was also allegedly linked to mob activity surrounding the development of an Illinois casino in the early 2000s, according to reports in the Chicago Tribune at the time. Both Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Simon said they were unaware of any wrongdoing involving United Maintenance, the Sun-Times reported.

Owner of firm with new O’Hare contract linked to alleged mob figure