ALSO. . .

Arthur Coia, the embattled president of the Laborers’ International Union, said he will fight allegations of corruption rather than resign under pressure from a union monitor for purported ties to organized crime. “I have no doubt in my mind that . . . I will be totally, completely and finally vindicated,” Coia said in a letter distributed to union officials. The pending charges against Coia will be brought by a union attorney charged with rooting out corruption in the 350,000-member union. . . . The criminal securities fraud case against Prudential Securities Inc. was dismissed following the firm’s completion of the terms of a 1994 settlement it reached with federal prosecutors. The federal complaint charged Prudential with securities fraud in connection with sales of more than $1.4 billion of interests in Energy Income Fund, an oil and gas limited partnership.