John Delach

The New York Times had the chutzpah to run a feature as their lead story in the January 8, 2017 edition of the Metropolitan Section with an inflammatory headline:

The Mob’s ‘Last Candy Jar’: New York’s Waterfront may not be what it was,but organized crime is still clinging to what remains.

This lengthy piece by Joseph Goldstein reported that “investigators say the mob is still present.”

Really? Just because a nephew of a famous wise guy made $400,000 in a single year because he was never off the clock “even when he was at home sleeping.” So what!

“Three consecutive presidents of Newark longshoremen’s union were convicted of extortion.”  Give me a break.

“Walter M. Arsenault, the executive director of the Waterfront Commission insists the mob remains unchanged since ‘On the Waterfront.’ The only difference is now it’s in color.” Well, to quote Mandy Rice Davies reaction when Lord Astor denied having sex with her: “He would (say that), wouldn’t he?”

George Daggett, counsel for the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILU) and cousin of its president, Harold Daggett, demonstrated the commission’s bias and harassing tactics in a suit he brought on behalf of Pasquale Falcetti Jr., a NJ longshoreman. “Mr. Falcetti,”  (Mr. Daggett) said, “was denied a port registration card by the Waterfront Commission for no other reason, apparently, than ‘who this kid’s father is’ – Pasquale (Uncle Patty) Falcetti, a convicted racketeer and reputed leader in the Genovese family, currently in federal prison.”

Mr. Arsenault countered and noted: “You can’t throw a rock on either side of the waterfront without hitting a brother, son or daughter of a made member.”

Supposedly, “the Gigantes, for instance, have 10 relatives – mostly nephews, in-laws and grandsons – working on the waterfront. “

But, let us leave the last word to George’s cousin Harold. So speaketh the president of the ILU: “There is an old saying. The son or nephew should not carry the sins of the father or an uncle.”

Case closed: shut up and fuhgeddaboudit.