For the last two years the International Longshoremen’s Association has been operating under a Justice Department civil racketeering indictment. But whether the change in leadership at New York City headquarters this month suggests the feds will drop its suit remains to be seen. As expected, John Bowers resigned on July 26 as president of the ILA at the union’s quadrennial convention in Hollywood, Fla., having held the job since 1987. Bowers, 84, had been indicating for some time that he would not seek re-election. His close ally, Richard Hughes, Jr., 74, the ILA executive vice president, takes over at the top spot, having run uncontested. Hughes’s replacement is Harold Daggett, assistant general organizer and president of the nearly 2,000-member Local 1804-1 across the river in New Jersey, long under control of the Genovese crime family. Daggett had been acquitted in November 2005 after an emotionally draining waterfront criminal trial that saw, among other things, the discovery of the dead body of missing witness Lawrence Ricci. Hughes had gotten his job in 2005 as a replacement for Albert Cernadas, who retired after pleading guilty in the case.
On October 3, Frank Rago, former representative of the International Longshoremen's Association and former president of ILA Local 1604 in Stoneham, Mass., was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts to a year and a day of incarceration followed by three years of supervised probation for making unlawful payments and falsifying union records after the fact. Rago used his position as an ILA representative to secure a no-show job with a local employer in order to continue making his line handler's salary without performing any work. He directed his union to pay his salary out of member deductions. In addition to receiving a sentence, he also was ordered to pay $216,384 in restitution, $10,000 in asset forfeiture and a $200 assessment. Rago was convicted by a jury in January 2010. The actions follow a joint probe by the Labor Department's Office of Labor Management Standards and Office of Inspector General.
Gregory Taylor apparently used his union as a private bank. But the withdrawals ended a year and a half ago. And the bills are coming due. On September 15, Taylor, formerly secretary-treasurer of International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) Local 1233 in Newark, N.J., was arrested at his home and 
There are few things quite like a mass arrest to serve as a reminder of the Mafia's continuing presence in American life. 
