Cosa Nostra News

The following was released last month by the Queens District Attorney's Office. It highlights numerous mob-related investigations, including one that resulted in the arrest of more than 80 who'd robbed around $14 million in property from facilities in and around JFK Airport. Auto theft also is highlighted in the form of, among other things, the bust of Gambino mobsters operating a scrap metal enterprise in Willets Point.

The New York Post today reports that the Port Authority no longer runs background checks on businesses applying to operate at area airports, a policing campaign begun 25 years ago. Critics tell the Post this could lead to a "Mafia resurgence." One insider told the newspaper that the PA "quietly ditched its long-standing corruption-fighting tool that required background checks on new businesses and their principals before they could operate at JFK, La Guardia, or Newark airports."