How the scuttled Waterfront Commission fought the mob over 70 years of policing NY/NJ docks

The Waterfront Commission, after seven decades of mob-busting on the docks of New York and New Jersey, sleeps with the fishes. A five-year federal ...

April 23, 2023
2:30 AM

The Waterfront Commission, after seven decades of mob-busting on the docks of New York and New Jersey, sleeps with the fishes. A five-year federal court battle over the existence of the watchdog agency that fought to root out corruption on both sides of New York Harbor ended last week with a Supreme Court decision allowing the Garden State to exit the commission — the final word on the venerable bi-state agency's long run. The commission was birthed in 1953, one year before Marlon Brando's Oscar-winning performance as dock worker Terry Molloy in his lonesome battle against the crooked and iron-clad control of port jobs in the classic film 'On The Waterfront.

Larry McShane