The first criminal charges have been filed...

The first criminal charges have been filed in a nationwide antitrust investigation into bid rigging by makers of steel and alloy pipe, the Justice Department announced. Assistant Atty. Gen. Charles Rule said felony informations were filed against an Oklahoma firm, two of its executives and a former head of a Pennsylvania firm. They were charged in two conspiracies involving the supply of pipe, he said. The company, Word Industries Pipe Fabricating Inc., of Tulsa, faces a penalty of $1 million; individuals face three-year prison terms and $100,000 fines.