A mob shakedown has prompted calls for a probe into construction at Van Cortlandt Park's Croton Water Filtration Plant.

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz is demanding the city provide information on the project, which has risen to $3 billion, after a Schiavone Construction executive was arrested in the recent Gambino crime family bust. The New Jersey-based firm has a large contract at the site.

"We want to have full disclosure by the city, we want to know who has all the contracts," Dinowitz says. "We want to know everything we can possibly know. If there's nothing wrong, we want to know that too."

Dinowitz believes taxpayers may be footing the bill to pay mob members to essentially work for the city. However, the Department of Environmental Protection claims that rising project costs are due to inflation, higher material costs and design changes.

"No matter how much construction costs have gone up, no matter how much labor costs have gone up, they don't in any way come close to explaining the enormous cost overruns at the water filtration plant," Dinowitz says.

The city's Department of Investigation says it sees no reason to end its contract with Schiavone and plans to continue with the project.Related information: