Bill to close New York's crime-fighting Waterfront Commission

THE famous crime-busting New York Waterfront Commission, since renamed the Waterfront Commission of New York and New Jersey, will be abolished if New Jersey state senator Raymond Lesniak's bill is passed, reports American Shipper.

The body was brought into being in 1953 to fight the bribery and corruption on the raucous New York waterfront, inspiring the Marlon Brando film "On the Waterfront", came from an age most cargo moved over the Manhattan's finger piers.

In less romantic container age, and most cargo movement happens well away from downtown Manhattan on the New Jersey side of the Hudson, and there is less crime to fight or a need to retain the commission, according to the senator and his supporters.

But the commission itself does not agree. A letter from the Waterfront Commission to Senator Lesniak said: "The need for a strong and active Waterfront Commission has never been more compelling as evidenced by recent arrests and convictions. Mob control of the harbour is still a fact of life."
(Source:www.schednet.com)