The lawsuit alleges a racketeering conspiracy stretching from Maine to Texas in a pattern of corruption that was first dramatized in the 1954 Oscar-winning film "On the Waterfront."

"For decades, corrupt ILA officials and their organized crime partners have maintained a stranglehold on the waterfront, enriching themselves through mob taxes siphoned from hardworking union members and legitimate businesses," said Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Roslynn Mauskopf.

The feds charged that handpicked mob candidates were put in high-ranking union jobs, sidestepping election by the union's 45,000 members. And they say lucrative health and pension contracts were steered to mob-linked companies.

If the lawsuit succeeds, longtime ILA President John Bowers, who has held leadership positions since the early 1960s, and his cronies would be replaced with court-appointed trustees and barred from future involvement with the union.

The move follows the criminal convictions of more than a dozen high-level mobsters, which exposed the Mafia's decades-long hold over an industry that moves goods through dozens of ports along the Eastern seaboard.

The Gambinos concentrated their power in the ports and shipping terminals of Brooklyn and Staten Island while the Genovese family focused on Manhattan, New Jersey and Miami.

Thirty-five union officials and mobsters were named as defendants along with trustees of the union's pension and health plans.

In a statement, the union denied the allegations and said it will "vigorously defend itself" against the lawsuit.

Originally published on July 7, 2005