Free Republic

New Jersey casino investigators have reopened their case against the owners of a Clifton construction company that last year beat allegations of ties to organized crime and won a license to do business in Atlantic City. As part of the probe, the state Division of Gaming Enforcement wants to question former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, according to a subpoena issued to him. The agency subpoenaed Kerik last month and asked him to produce documents pertaining to 13 issues, from communication between him and the brothers who own Interstate Industrial and a sister company, Interstate Drywall, to records...

New book says top surgeon has dark mob past Wednesday, October 6, 2004 Bruce Mindich at The Valley Hospital in 1999, when he was called the state's top heart surgeon. An author says he led a secret life. The author of a new book says that the star of The Valley Hospital's cardiac surgery "dream team" once led a secret life as a Mafia doctor, caring for mobsters and throwing away the bullets he cut out of them.But the surgeon, Dr. Bruce Mindich, says it's a work of fiction better suited to Hollywood than Ridgewood. He and author Ron Felber...

Decades After Brando, Waterfront Still Mobbed Up   BAYONNE, N.J.  — At the headquarters of New Jersey's most notorious union, the ornate front windows are etched with an anchor-and-rope motif. They're opaque, making it impossible to peer inside International Longshoremen's Association (search) Local 1588.That hasn't stopped law enforcement. Local 1588 was historically so corrupt that mob enforcers were unnecessary, according to one veteran investigator. Kickbacks, extortion and fraud became as routine as a Labor Day picnic at the local, long a lucrative outpost for the Genovese (search) crime family. In 1954, when Marlon Brando (search) starred in the Oscar-winning "On The Waterfront," one of 1588's delegates was...