The bosses who’ve been running the International Longshoremen’s Association have led a charmed life – or at least a good imitation of one. For several decades the union has had a devil’s pact with the Genovese and Gambino crime families: We’ll install your guys in key positions; you make sure nobody else walks on our turf. At the New York, New Jersey and Port of Miami waterfronts, in particular, it’s been hard to tell where organized labor and organized crime actually differ. But it’s an arrangement whose end now may be near.
