Pretty self-explanatory - how prevalent is organized crime still in construction within the U.S?
Was recently on a business trip up to the NYC area where my team met with one of the developers who we have worked with for awhile. When we met him he had a driver/personal bodyguard with him for protection - a new development since the last time I saw him. Dude had a desert eagle on him.
When I asked him about it he said it was because of a development deal we have in Philadelphia where he refused to work with a certain labor union, and now was getting threats from the Philly mob.
I thought he was joking, but my guy Brooklyn Bob was dead serious. Does anyone have any personal experience with this kind of stuff? i thought the days of mob influence on construction was over and purely relegated to shows like the Sopranos. As someone whose only goal in life is to build a Manhattan skyscraper, I don't want to sacrifice my knee caps in the process. Curious to hear about others' stories/insights.
If you're goal is to build a NYC skyscraper, I much rather deal with the mob, than the city planning department.
On the West Coast it doesn't seem to be entrenched. In areas where unions are strong (i.e., SF) they will protest and use all kinds of tactics to ruin your job if you don't use them, but it never dipped into organized crime/illegal acts. That said, I was never THAT close to our developments there.
For construction I'd say you're right (idk maybe vegas has some shady stuff). But for pre-development... lots of city planners been going to jail lately, at least in CA.
Step 1 when developing in Philadelphia is to always go to the union halls first.
Unions are organized crime. So to answer your question, very prevalent.
Garbage hauler the FBI once said was mob-controlled now doing work at O’Hare Airport
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2022/10/21/23411252/difronzo-dp-construction-garbage-hauler-ohare-airport-fbi-investigation
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