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The Associated Press NEW YORK -- A government lawsuit against the International Longshoremen's Union aimed at wresting control of the nation's docks from alleged organized crime domination was dismissed by a federal judge who called the effort well-intentioned but overreaching.
The civil racketeering lawsuit targeted an assortment of union officials and mobsters. It had dragged endlessly through pretrial meetings and motions until U.S. District Judge I. Leo Glasser granted the union's request to dismiss Thursday.
It was a blow to prosecutors, who announced the suit to much attention in July 2005, evoking the film classic "On The Waterfront."
The defendants were accused of rigging ILA elections, steering union benefit contracts to mob-linked companies and extorting money from businesses operating on New York's piers. The alleged offenses amounted to a "mob tax" imposed on goods coming through the ports, a cost passed along to consumers, the government said.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/02/AR2007110201587.html