Until what? 20 years ago if we're generous, New York construction was specifically controlled by the mafia, which controlled the unions and drove up costs by re

Until what? 20 years ago if we're generous, New York construction was specifically controlled by the mafia, which controlled the unions and drove up costs by restricting in a rather extra-legal manner who was even allowed to bid on a job. Painting capture by organized crime as some necessary feature of all labor unions is probably not fair. They captured a lot of the politicians, too, and often also owned the construction companies.