A reckoning in one of American history’s worst industrial disasters, which unfolded here over seven decades as an asbestos-tainted mineral was dug from the ground and processed, begins Thursday when five former mine executives [for W.R. Grace] go to trial on federal criminal charges. The case is highly unusual in that prosecutors have generally avoided criminal charges in the broad arena of asbestos law... But the story of the now-closed mine and its adjacent mill is different, because it involves not only miners but also their families and neighbors...[including at] least 200 deaths and thousands of illnesses...