Waterfront Commission left out of January's historic Mafia takedown
Kevin McGowan is the Waterfront Commission's former chief of police.
The Waterfront Commission, created to root out mob corruption on the docks, was frozen out of last month's historic Mafia takedown, the Daily News has learned.
More than 800 law enforcement officials fanned out across the metropolitan area Jan. 20 in the biggest mob sweep in U.S. history. They made 127 arrests for a slew of crimes, including racketeering and murder charges going back 30 years - and corruption and extortion on the docks.
Yet only one Waterfront Commission detective participated in the busts - and he's permanently assigned to the FBI's organized crime task force in New Jersey.
The decision to leave the Waterfront Commission out of the crackdown comes a year after a damning report found the bistate agency - created 58 years ago - misused Homeland Security cash, kept a convicted crook in business and surfed the Internet for porn.
"In my 29 years at the agency, the Waterfront Commission police was always a significant part of organized crime takedowns in the metropolitan area," said Kevin McGowan, the agency's former chief of police.
Sources said the FBI and the U.S. Department of Labor spearheaded the wiseguy investigations.
The Waterfront Commission's police force has been demoralized by the shift away from long-term investigations, sources said. These days, officers mostly work Monday to Friday and function more like security guards than investigators.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/the_mob/2011/02/01/2011-02-01_waterfront_commission_left_out_of_big_mob_busts.html
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