Transcon Lines

Most of Transcon Lines' 3,000 truck drivers and freight handlers have been abruptly laid off by the money-losing Los Angeles-based long-haul carrier, it was learned Monday. No announcement of the layoffs was made by Transcon or by Growth Finance Corp. of Miami, the private investment firm that last month acquired Transcon's trucking business. Transcon had run into deepening losses as a result of rate wars unleashed by deregulation.

A federal grand jury in Philadelphia on Wednesday indicted Miami investor Leonard A. Pelullo on 55 criminal counts stemming from a scheme to defraud American Savings & Loan of Stockton and Royale Group Ltd. of $1.6 million. The indictment also charges that Pelullo, 40, separately defrauded Miami-based Royale Group of an additional $600,000. According to the indictment, Pelullo--as chairman of Royale Group--borrowed $13.5 million from American Savings to renovate several hotels owned by Royale.

Transcon Lines, a big Los Angeles trucking company, was running on fumes when Leonard A. Pelullo took the wheel last spring. It was losing money--$5 million a month--as it tried in vain to compete with such industry giants as Roadway and Yellow Freight. It was late paying its bills; one of its unions had sued to collect an overdue pension payment. The company was in bad shape. Only a patient investor with deep pockets could reverse its downhill slide. Don't look to Lenny Pelullo.

Transcon Lines, a big Los Angeles trucking company, was running on fumes when Leonard A. Pelullo took the wheel last spring. It was losing money--$5 million a month--as it tried in vain to compete with such industry giants as Roadway and Yellow Freight. It was late paying its bills; one of its unions had sued to collect an overdue pension payment. The company was in bad shape. Only a patient investor with deep pockets could reverse its downhill slide. Don't look to Lenny Pelullo.

Transcon Inc. has restructured its top management--the second such overhaul in less than a year--removing Joe E. Hall from the positions of president and chief operating officer of Transcon Lines, the company's money-losing trucking unit. Hall, 49, has been named vice chairman of Orange-based Transcon Lines, Vice President James E. Fox said. Burke G. Piper continues as vice chairman of Transcon Inc., the Los Angeles-based parent company.

A federal grand jury in Philadelphia on Wednesday indicted Miami investor Leonard A. Pelullo on 55 criminal counts stemming from a scheme to defraud American Savings & Loan of Stockton and Royale Group Ltd. of $1.6 million. The indictment also charges that Pelullo, 40, separately defrauded Miami-based Royale Group of an additional $600,000. According to the indictment, Pelullo--as chairman of Royale Group--borrowed $13.5 million from American Savings to renovate several hotels owned by Royale.

Transcon Inc., a Los Angeles-based trucking firm, on Sunday said it was selling its money-losing Transcon Lines carrier to a privately held Miami firm for an undisclosed amount. The sale of the trucking line--one of the nation's largest long-haul truckers with 247 terminals in 45 states--to Growth Finance Corp. comes 1 1/2 weeks after Transcon's plan to buy two other truckers fell through. The unit accounts for most of Transcon's revenues.

Allan B. Foy, 62, chairman and chief executive officer of Farr Co. Before joining Farr in 1983, he had been chairman and chief executive officer of Transcon Lines. The El Segundo-based Farr Co. produces filters for particulate, liquid and gaseous filtration systems. In El Segundo on Friday after a long period of poor health.

A new $4-million computer and administrative facility for Transcon Lines, a trucking firm, is under construction in Trammell Crow Co.'s Commerce Business Park, launching the new 20-acre phase of that project. A February completion is scheduled for the 48,000-square-foot, two-story, build-to-suit structure at the intersection of Slauson and Eastern avenues.

Most of Transcon Lines' 3,000 truck drivers and freight handlers have been abruptly laid off by the money-losing Los Angeles-based long-haul carrier, it was learned Monday. No announcement of the layoffs was made by Transcon or by Growth Finance Corp. of Miami, the private investment firm that last month acquired Transcon's trucking business. Transcon had run into deepening losses as a result of rate wars unleashed by deregulation.

Transcon Inc., a Los Angeles-based trucking firm, on Sunday said it was selling its money-losing Transcon Lines carrier to a privately held Miami firm for an undisclosed amount. The sale of the trucking line--one of the nation's largest long-haul truckers with 247 terminals in 45 states--to Growth Finance Corp. comes 1 1/2 weeks after Transcon's plan to buy two other truckers fell through. The unit accounts for most of Transcon's revenues.

Transcon Inc. has restructured its top management--the second such overhaul in less than a year--removing Joe E. Hall from the positions of president and chief operating officer of Transcon Lines, the company's money-losing trucking unit. Hall, 49, has been named vice chairman of Orange-based Transcon Lines, Vice President James E. Fox said. Burke G. Piper continues as vice chairman of Transcon Inc., the Los Angeles-based parent company.

Miami Businessman Sentenced: U.S. District Judge Robert F. Kelly in Philadelphia sentenced Miami businessman Leonard A. Pelullo to 24 years in prison and required him to pay $6.6 million in fines and restitution for a 1985-85 scheme to defraud American Savings. Pelullo was convicted on 49 counts of wire fraud and one count of racketeering in July.