Making Offers They Can Refuse

Thanks to reader Tuco for this Post story on the Jack Nicklaus designed New York city course that was supposed to be built near the Whitestone Bridge and possibly serve as a future host to the Westchester event.

Doesn't sound like it's going to happen anytime soon.

When it was announced, the Jack Nicklaus-designed course was supposed to welcome golfers in December 2001 and provide sweeping views of the Manhattan skyline from a 222-acre site under the Whitestone Bridge.

"This groundbreaking project is a wonderful example of public and private sectors working together," then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani said in 1998.

He suggested the course might even become a stop on the PGA tour. But Pierre Gagne, the chief developer, couldn't pull it off.

The city poured in more than $8 million for environmental remediation. Lawsuits ensued after Gagne accepted 2.5 million cubic yards of fill to help cover the one-time landfill.

FBI wiretaps captured one mob-connected trucker boasting of collecting $5 for every cubic yard dumped.

Estimated construction costs skyrocketed from $22.4 million to $50 million and beyond.

Wait, the mob is charging $5 a cubic yard and it's only $50 million? Shoot, some of today's guys spend that much without the Corleone's looking over their shoulder.