Word: rigging
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...earth Piedmontese, it is readily apparent, defines himself exclusively by his work. The projects he describes are all outsize and difficult. "They never find oil in great places, say at San Remo or on the Costa Brava," is the way he begins a yarn about an offshore drilling rig in Alaska. The 250-meter tower was constructed horizontally on land, then towed out through cold, leaden seas and righted on site by flooding chambers at the base. On paper the task seemed simple; in practice it required judgment, skill and luck that almost defy imagination. Some Third World jobs defy...
...drivers will be required to pass a federally approved test before being issued a license. At the moment, standards across the country vary. In 20 states, for example, a driver can take his road test in a family sedan, then hit the highway in an 80,000-lb. rig. Beginning next year, long haulers will be banned from holding more than one license, preventing them from distributing citations among licenses from several states and thus hiding bad safety records...
Many workers fall victim to business cycles that sharply cut the going rate for their skills. Patrick Walter was comfortably supporting his wife and their two children on his $35,000 pay as a welder on an oil rig off the Louisiana coast when the petroleum price slump hit and cost him his job. Says he: "It doesn't take long for everything to go to hell. I might never make what I used to." Walter and his family packed up and migrated to Oregon, where they moved in with his wife's parents, and he took...
...from a neighbor named Buddy Wannage. He says he paid too much for it, and that so far he has only managed to pay the interest on his loan. He does not know the age of his boat -- "People make them in their backyard. It's not a factory rig" -- which at this very moment is breaking down, just shy of the Firing Line. An exhaust sleeve is spewing dirty water like a coffee percolator gone wild. Overheated, dead in the water, he sees to his repairs as Eddie Wannage, Buddy's brother and a fellow shrimper, pulls up astern...
...crux of the Government's case, however, is more prosaic than murder. It details a Commission-endorsed scheme to rig bids and allocate contracts to Mobinfluenced concrete companies in New York City's booming construction industry. Any concrete-pouring contract worth more than $2 million was controlled by the Mob, according to the indictment, and the gangsters decided who should submit the lowest bids. Any company that disobeyed the bidding rules might find itself with unexpected labor problems, and its sources of cement might dry up. The club dues, actually a form of extortion, amounted to $1.8 million between...