CHICAGO - Seven union members and two aspiring members have been charged with a wave of fires and violence at movie theaters in 10 states as part of Chicago-area contract disputes, federal officials said Friday.

The crimes took place from New York to Texas, and fires were started with moviegoers in the theaters, requiring mass evacuations and causing some injuries, according a 14-count indictment unsealed by prosecutors.

The multistate wave of arsons was aimed at pressuring theater chains into concessions on Chicago-area contracts, U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald said.

He said covers of compact discs made by the rock group Chicago were left behind at the scene of some out-of-town fires "just so the notion of the city of Chicago would be planted in the minds of the theater owners."

"Organized labor has no business in engaging in organized arson," Fitzgerald said.

Four defendants - including the business manager of Chicago-based Local 110 of the movie projectionists union - were arrested early Friday by federal agents, prosecutors announced.

A woman who answered the phone at Local 110 in Chicago said there was no one on hand to respond to questions about the charges.

Seven of the incidents of arson and violence occurred in Illinois, officials said. Others happened in Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas and Wisconsin.

The incidents outlined in the indictment occurred at theaters owned by AMC Entertainment Inc. of Kansas City, Cinemark U.S.A. Inc. of Plano, Texas, and Loews Cineplex Entertainment Corp. of New York.

In two Illinois cases theater managers were beaten - with a pipe in one case and with a baseball bat in another. Fires were caused in 15 instances, mainly by spontaneous combustion in bags or cups filled with chlorine and brake fluid, prosecutors said. They said in other instances the combination caused smoke but not fire.

The defendants were described by prosecutors as members or prospective members of Motion Picture Projectionists, Operators and Video Technician Local 110 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees of the United States and Canada.

The local has an image, acquired decades ago, of corruption and alleged mob links. In the early 1980s, the Chicago Crime Commission said at least 24 relatives of "reputed hoodlums" held ghost jobs with the union.

According to the indictment, the defendants traveled from Chicago to the sites of the alleged crimes. The fires caused smoke and flame damage in some instances, according to the indictment.

Those charged were identified as Albin C. Brenkus, 48, of Willowbrook, business manager of the local; Carl A. Covelli Jr., 48, of Westchester; Kent B. Dickinson, 52, of Bonfield; Keith J. Dutton, 48, of Chicago; Peter C. Lipa, 48, of Wonder Lake; Peter R. Macari, 41, of Plainfield; Joseph L. Marjan, 29, of Riverdale; Michael A. Rossi, 44, of Ingleside; and Gregory J. Tortorello of Fort Stewart, Ga.

Prosecutors said all but Macari and Rossi were Local 110 members and that the other two were seeking to join the local.

Brenkus was also charged with obstruction of justice. He allegedly told Marjan that if subpoenaed by a grand jury he should say "he don't know nobody" and "don't know nothing."

Brenkus, Covelli, Dutton and Lipa appeared Friday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sidney I. Schenkier. He ordered them held in custody pending a Monday bond hearing. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sergio E. Acosta and Mark J. Vogel said the four represented a danger to the community, based on the alleged crimes of violence, and should not be freed on bond.

Brenkus attorney Robert J. Clarke left the courthouse saying, "It's only an indictment - it's just an allegation."

Dutton attorney Vincent J. Pagano said the four years it took to investigate showed a weakness existed somewhere in the government's case.

"It's going to be difficult for the government to prove," he said.

According to the indictment, incidents took place at theaters in the Illinois communities of Warrenville, South Barrington, Chicago, Streamwood, North Aurora, Joliet and Melrose Park.

It said others took place in Indianapolis; Beavercreek, Ohio; New York; Seacaucus, N.J.; North Canton, Ohio; Lexington, Ky.; Plano, Texas; Dallas; Mishawaka, Ind.; Kenosha, Wis.; Ames, Iowa; and Merriam, Kan.