We like to think crime doesn’t pay, but unsavory characters are always testing that theory. And with demand for housing outpacing supply, they’re seeing unwelcome impacts in New York City, from injurious to illegal.

An investigative article in THE CITY, a New York-based online publication, asserts that as the demand for housing grows in New York City, so does mob influence in the construction industry. And while it’s long been an issue, instances and influences of crime in construction seem to be rising. Written by Tom Robbins and Greg B. Smith, the article details several prosecutions that deal with “affordable housing and high-rise hotel projects.”

Organized crime, the article continues, has had a hand in some of the issues that were previously reported here in Paint News. For example: shorting workers’ paychecks, cheating on workers’ comp payments, and abuse of programs that promote the use of businesses owned by women and minorities. Instead of traditional attempts to corrupt union officials, the mob is evolving to work with non-union companies to get around regulations, which often results in lax safety enforcement and abusing immigrants and low-income workers. By paying these workers as little as half their hourly rate, the article states, others can line their pockets with money intended for employees.

The union, says a former FBI agent interviewed for the story, has controls in place that audit member companies and can quickly spot wrongdoing, while non-union companies do not have the same oversight in place, making it easier for organized crime to target these companies, and for the business owners to conspire along with them.

High level corruption

In one instance, the head of the state building trades council was convicted after he admitted to taking around $100,000 in bribes and consorting with members of the mob. The man had been involved in several high-level projects, and in some of these projects had worked alongside former Governor Cuomo. An investigation revealed he was meeting with people involved in organized crime; he was later recorded bragging about those relationships. He was sentenced to 51 months in prison (that’s 4 and a quarter years, or about 42% of a decade).

The list goes on, as the article cites several instances of fraud in city-subsidized housing projects, instances where workers injured on the job are denied workers’ compensation as the company makes it look like the accident was not work-related, and it points out that some contractors have been repeatedly cited and fined for safety violations, but have apparently made no effort to change their practices.

Along with the workers themselves, other city residents and properties are in danger as well; the article continues that lax adherence to safety protocol has resulted in debris and equipment falling from great heights onto the ground. Examples cited include a ladder falling several stories onto an air conditioning unit and other construction debris crashing from several stories up into someone’s living room. In other cases, workers have lost their lives by falling from unsafe construction situations, or were seriously injured when trapped under falling debris.

This is nothing new, as a quick Google search shows the influence of organized crime in the construction industry in years and decades gone by. As it seems to be on the rise in New York, the city is making an effort to fight it. The story ends by quoting Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who stated, “The common factor in all of these alleged schemes is greed at all costs.”