Pubdate: Thu, 29 Sep 2005
Source: Staten Island Advance (NY)
Copyright: 2005 Advance Publication Inc.
Contact:  http://www.silive.com/advance/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/646
Author: Sally Goldenberg, Advance Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

FACILITY'S CEO BOASTED ABOUT BETTER SECURITY

As the New York Container Terminal in Mariners Harbor was trumpeting 
tightened security measures and enjoying an improved public image 
from 2000 to 2003 -- when it was known as Howland Hook -- a cocaine 
smuggling operation allegedly was under way at the site.

Federal agents yesterday announced 22 arrests in connection with the 
cocaine, which they say traveled from Colombia through the 187-acre 
Staten Island facility and ports in California.

One of the accused, Alejandro Colon, worked as a longshoreman at the 
Island terminal until he retired in February. The 63-year-old 
Brooklyn resident is being charged with conspiring to import the drugs.

Jim Devine, who took over as CEO of the facility in October 2001, 
insisted yesterday that security at the site, where 1,500 containers 
are imported daily, is at its peak. More frequent screenings of 
cargo, tighter regulations and double-wired fences are a few examples 
of improved safety, he said.

"It's a very safe, very wholesome environment. I would have my 
daughter or my son work there," Devine said, emphasizing that only a 
minute percentage of cargo was seized in the drug bust.

Over time, he successfully improved the terminal's dark image by 
improving worker morale and emphasizing tough security standards. As 
Devine was publicly making an effort to rectify the facility's 
perception, he was privately helping federal authorities snag the 
drug smugglers who are charged with importing at least 700 pounds of cocaine.

His comments yesterday were in keeping with the clean image the 
facility began to portray when he took over four years ago.

"I hope you can tell from what we've been doing the last couple of 
years that we're very much committed to making Howland Hook a class-A 
container facility," Richard Larabee, a Port Authority director, told 
the Advance in 2003. Just weeks before, police had arrested two 
suspects trying to smuggle cocaine through the terminal.

Over the last five years, and particularly after the Sept. 11 
terrorist attacks, executives at the once-embattled terminal boasted 
about improved security.

The public remarks were made in an effort to boost the facility's 
reputation after the FBI exposed its vulnerability to organized crime 
and Gambino crime family leader Peter Gotti Jr. in 2002.

Devine maintained that this week's arrests will not mar the 
reputation he has worked to build.

"Ninety-nine percent of our people are just good, hardworking people 
who go to church and raise kids," he said. "It's just a damn shame 
that ... there's a criminal element in our society, and that's 
obviously going to manifest itself in our business as well."
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