For more than three decades, developers were wary of doing business in Niagara County, N.Y., because of the culture of violence and intimidation perpetrated there by officials at Laborers Local 91. When Assistant U.S. Attorney William Hochul indicted four Local 91 officials in 2002 on charges of racketeering, the officials were stalwart in their defense. But Hochul mounted a four-year investigation that uncovered evidence and a parade of witnesses that broke the defendants' resolve and forced them to accept guilty plea agreements. The four officials were sentenced to lengthy prison sentences and new leadership was elected at Local 91. Many herald the outcome as the start of a new era for the region's construction industry.