The contractor who raised the crane that toppled in midtown Manhattan last year and killed seven people was charged yesterday with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide for failing to stabilise it, prosecutors said.

William Rapetti, the owner of Rapetti Rigging Services Inc, and his company were indicted in the March 15 collapse, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said.

Rapetti and the company were charged with seven counts each of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, and charges including assault, reckless endangerment and failing to file tax returns.

Six construction workers and a Florida tourist in town for the St Patrick's Day weekend died when the 19-storey tower crane toppled like a tree from a luxury apartment tower under construction.

The accident destroyed a four-storey town house and damaged many other buildings.

Morgenthau said yesterday that Rapetti's "reckless and negligent rigging practices" caused the crane to fall while a crew was trying to raise it.

He said Rapetti improperly used slings that were supposed to stabilise a steel brace attaching the crane to an apartment building under construction. The 12,000-pound (5,500-kilogram) brace, called a collar, snapped and fell, dislodging the crane.