Posted on 03/09/2006 11:22:41 AM PST by smoothsailing
The Mob And The Ports Deal
By Linda Chavez
March 9, 2006
With all the recent talk about security vulnerabilities at the nation's ports, one subject goes virtually unmentioned. The men who actually control many of the nation's docks, especially on the Eastern seaboard, are in the hip pocket of the Mafia and have been for decades.
Regardless of whether or not a Dubai-owned company manages operations at these ports -- currently the source of much hand-wringing in Washington -- many of those with the most direct access to the billions of tons of cargo that move through those ports owe their jobs to the mob.
How can that be? It all has to do with the peculiar institution of the union hiring hall. No matter who owns or operates the ports, the union, not the employer, actually assigns workers to jobs. You can't work unless you carry a union card. And on East Coast and Gulf ports, the union card belongs to the International Longshoreman's Association (ILA), one of the most mobbed-up unions in the country.
In July 2005, the U.S. Department of Justice filed suit under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) against the ILA, which targets the entire 31-member ILA executive council, including the president, secretary-treasurer, executive vice president, general vice president and more than two dozen others.
In a press release accompanying the suit, the Justice Department notes, "For decades the waterfront has been the setting for corruption and violence stemming from organized crime's influence over labor unions operating there, including the ILA and its affiliated locals, as well as port-related businesses. Since the late 1950s, two organized crime families -- the Gambino family and the Genovese family -- have shared control of various ports, with the Gambino family primarily exercising its influence at commercial shipping terminals in Brooklyn and Staten Island, and the Genovese family primarily controlling those in Manhattan, New Jersey and the Port of Miami."
The Justice Department has already won convictions against more than a dozen high-level Gambino and Genovese mobsters who controlled docks on the East Coast and is also seeking convictions of several ILA officials. The government has charged these men with extorting money from waterfront businesses and terminal operators and extorting thousands of dollars from individuals seeking employment on the docks, among other crimes.
And this recent spate of ILA indictments is only the most recent example in the long history of organized crime control over the union. New York University law professor James B. Jacobs describes that history in his new book, "Mobsters, Unions, and Feds: The Mafia and the American Labor Movement." "Cosa Nostra became the primary power on the New York harbor waterfront in 1937, when Anthony Anastasio . . . took control of the six New York harbor locals," says Jacobs, and it has remained so ever since. In the 1970s, the federal government won convictions of more than 100 mobsters, including 20 ILA officials, among them ILA Vice President Anthony Scotto.
Yet despite this sordid history, few lawmakers who profess concern about port security seem in the slightest bit worried that the ILA's role on the docks may constitute a huge security risk. The ILA contributes millions of dollars each election cycle. In the 2004 election cycle, the ILA's political action committee (PAC) had over $7 million cash on hand to distribute to candidates.
Among the top recipients of ILA PAC money in the last few elections were Sens. Frank Lautenberg, D-NJ, Robert Menendez, D-NJ, Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., Chuck Schumer, D-NY, and Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-NY, all of whom represent states with important ports. Some of these same senators are among the chief critics of the Dubai port deal, but they are noticeably silent when it comes to mob influence in the union that actually controls who works on these ports.
Union bosses who would rob their members of pensions and health benefits, extort money to secure jobs on the docks, and use the docks to run gambling, loan sharking and other illegal enterprises could just as easily facilitate terrorists hoping to slip agents or weapons into the country, perhaps unwittingly, for the right price. But few in Washington seem to have considered the risk. The Dubai deal is not the only port issue that deserves more congressional scrutiny; ILA corruption surely deserves a close look as well.
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Linda Chavez is the author of the new book, "Betrayal: How Union Bosses Shake Down Their Members and Corrupt American Politics."
COPYRIGHT 2006 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.
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The mob proved invaluable during WWII. Nothing went on at the docs without them knowing about it.
yeah, the Sopranos want to set off a dirty bomb in the US. right.
FYI Ping
Finally, some has said it. If the Dubai deal had union blessing, it would have happened.
The Sopranos don't exist, but there are others who do exist, and they aren't nice guys.
And that is because ......................... ???????????
She left out the Philly mob, wonder who they contribute (cough Rendell)to while they run the ports here.
--Limbaugh was pointing that out early on---
One thing that a lot of really stupid FReepers ignore is that mob members can be blackmailed.
"Either you make sure that shipping container CTC-X-RR-4377-1008 gets through the port without being logged or inspected, or the FBI's Organized Crime division gets a copy of this DVD showing you shooting one of their informants. Your call, buddy."
Thanks, I don't get Rush till later. I'll pay attention today.
None of which commends the Dubai deal. Just means the situation is even worse than some think.
I knew the mob was involved in this. I hope those people who were hysterical about this deal without knowing any facts are pleased. They're in bed with mobsters and the radical left.
It's like the assenine "Clinton did it too" arguments" Rush Shillbaugh uses all the time. Oh? Clinton likes Dubai? And that's relevant because???
Appears to me to be just more emotionally laden Pish-Posh from the sack-cloth Crowd rending their Garments over the President being reminded--again--that He works for us, not vice versa.
(Sporadic Capitalizing increases the Strength of the Argument, don't You Think?)
Ooooh, the Mob! Oh no--not Don Corleone! Anything but the gangsters . . . the Sopranos too? Yikes!
But notice there's no going forward with any evidence by these name-calling Robots with this outlandish valuable parting gift/shot of `gangsters under our beds' . . . .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burden_of_Proof
The Mexican Government IS a Mob.. a Cartel.. as is the Mafia.. There are many Mafias.. Only thing Homeland Security is unaware of is how the various Mafias work together..
But then, thats the way it is in a democracy which IS Mob Rule.. The terrorists are just another Mafia.. Religion has nothing to do with it.. its just business.. Only the deluded could possibly miss this.. The odds of a wall being built on the Mexican Border is dead on arrival.. Foreign MOBS(as airlines) also control parts of all our airports.. never hear a word of that either..
The Sandy Burgular affair speaks volumns on Washington D.C... its wholly Mob controlled.. Which MOB(s)?.. NOW there is a pregnant question.. That Mobs are in control is not the question.. Its which Mobs are controlling interest in foggy bottom.. not IF.. Is democracy fun or WHAT?..
We are a Contitutional republic some say.. WRONG.. we are a democracy.. i.e. Mob Rule.. Any that DON'T know this is in absolute denial.. The only thing republican and democrats and the White House agree on is NO MEXICAN WALL ACROSS THE BORDER... Oh! by the way all the MOBS and the Terrorists(all of them) are into the drug trade.. the only problem among them is fighting for territory.. i.e. distribution rights..
And America is oblivious.. most are probally drugged.. on drugs or the money that comes from the drugs.. same addiciton.. Its always about the money.. nothing personal its just business..
The world would be a safer place if we turned over Homeland Security to the mob.
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