According to a report, analysts claim that the mob is attempting to take advantage of the situation and make a comeback in construction given the growing demand for additional housing in New York City.
This pattern coincides with a number of corruption trials in New York City involving affordable housing and other high-rise hotel developments, according to The City.
According to the research, nonunion contractors have begun to collaborate with organized crime, and some of these contractors used inexperienced workers.
Although the mob's influence over unions has mostly diminished, according to the former FBI agent, they have found success with these smaller, less-regulated nonunion businesses.
The City's Construction Industry Is Under Mafia
The mafia is launching a potentially dangerous and expensive resurgence in the city's construction industry, where it has long been a nefarious presence, amid a drumbeat of demand for the production of additional dwellings.
In a number of recent corruption convictions in the city involving substantial affordable housing and high-rise hotel projects, evidence of its increased involvement has subtly emerged. The leader of the influential state building trades council, who admitted collecting $100,000 in bribes and was recorded on camera mingling with mobsters, was found guilty in another case.
Evidence of Organized Crime
All of the cases provide clear evidence of a shift by organized crime from siding with nonunion contractors, many of whom use inexperienced workers and have a long history of on-the-job accidents, including deadly ones, to bribing union construction locals.
They also draw attention to rampant worker's compensation fraud in schemes that have left wounded workers without insurance cover, as well as sophisticated government program manipulation meant to encourage the usage of women- and minority-owned firms.
They together detail a number of dangers to public safety, cost containment, and regulatory compliance that a mob's interest in house construction could pose to the popularly supported development projects that Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams have in principle support.
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