Nailing the Mob's Builders

[Blue_Tires]

The story of just how deeply embedded the Mafia remains in the city's construction industry spilled out last week in a Manhattan courtroom.

The most detailed account was delivered by an immigrant builder who, with mob backing, enjoyed a soaring success before crashing to earth.

James Murray, 45, spoke in a low voice, his black-haired head hanging down. "Move closer to the microphone, please," repeatedly urged Lisa Zornberg, the federal prosecutor pulling the tale out of him.

His tale went like this: Jim Murray came here 20 years ago from Ireland. "I was looking for work. I had an argument with my father, and I came to the States."

He had dropped out of school at the age of 13. He confessed to "a little difficulty reading." If so, it didn't prove much of a handicap.

He started as a carpenter, banging nails on any jobs he could get. Next came his own business renovating homes. A fellow countryman wise in the ways of New York's construction trades helped him start a bigger firm, pointing Murray in the right direction. Part of the advice was to become a union contractor. He signed up with the New York City District Council of Carpenters, pledging to build his projects with union labor. This was "to get the bigger jobs," he said. "You can't work unless you're union."

He called his company "On Par Contracting," and he soon had 700 workers on his payroll. They built the city's largest jobs, including the soaring Times Square Tower, Wall Street high-rises, hospital and university projects. "We were everywhere," he said. "We were all over the city, all over the tri-state area." Was this profitable, asked Zornberg? "Very profitable."

The profits were enhanced, he admitted, by ignoring the union agreements he'd signed. Instead, he recruited other young Irishmen just off the boat, most of them here illegally. Instead of the wages and benefits package of some $75 an hour demanded by the contract, he paid his crews $25 to $40. "We didn't pay the benefits," he said. "We paid the guys in cash."

http://www.villagevoice.com/2010-11-03/columns/nailing-the-mob-s-builders/2/