John “Cockeye” Dunn was a top enforcer for Eddie McGrath and also his brother in law. Dunn was part owner of Varick Enterprises, a front company which made collections for the waterfront dock bosses of Manhattan’s Westside. Later he formed a labor union (Local 21510, Motor and Bus Terminal Checkers, Platform and Office Workers) associated with the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and eventually oversaw waterfront racketeering on Manhattan’s Lower West Side by the early 1940s.
He established underworld connections including International Longshoremans Association (ILA) “President for Life” Joseph P. Ryan, who had sponsored him for union membership, and Meyer Lansky among other top Mafia figures
