FINANCIAL TIMES: The sweep of arrests capturing more than 100 alleged mobsters in the northeast was billed as the sharpest ever blow to the US mafia. But law enforcement officials warn that the outlaw culture that has infested the waterfronts since the 1930s continues to threaten commerce at US ports.
Fears over organised crime have taken a back seat to threats of international terrorism in the past decade. However, the charges last week revealed that US ports are still vulnerable to the kind of thievery, extortion and racketeering immortalised by Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront. The indictments show that the busiest port on the east coast, New York/New Jersey, remains compromised and that “mob taxes” are still imposing steep costs on the US economy.
“I don’t think the arrests will end the mafia’s control or influence on the ports,” said Stephen Taylor, director of the New Jersey attorney-general’s division of criminal justice. “This reinforces the understanding that organised crime is still a problem and that it’s so entrenched it’s difficult to uproot.” … (more)
