Posted on 01/16/2013 12:36:12 PM PST by AtlasStalled
Early this morning the FBI made its appointed rounds throughout the New York and New Jersey to pick up the trash.
The feds have variously charged 32 individuals including suspected mobsters from the Gambino, Lucchese and Genovese crime families for their alleged roles in the waste carting, loan sharking and other rackets pursuant to three indictments as reported by Larry Mcshane and Robert Gearty for the Daily News.
A press release from the Department of Justice states:
"The main Indictment charges 12 defendants under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act ('RICO') for conspiring to participate in a racketeering enterprise that asserted illegal and extortionate control over commercial waste-hauling companies, and 17 other defendants with individual acts of extortion, loansharking, and other crimes associated with those activities."
The so-called lead defendant in the main indictment is reputed Genovese associate Carmine "Papa Smurf" Franco who allegedly used front companies to continue operating "in waste management despite two prior convictions that led to his ban from the business in New Jersey -- and the loss of his license in New York City."
Another defendant is reputed mob associate Scott Fappiano who last year was given no prison time by Judge Kiyo Matsumoto on an extortion conviction, and apparently quickly returned to the mob life as reported by Mitchel Maddux for the New York Post: "he will be charged in Manhattan federal court later today for allegedly extorting 'protection' payments from a trash hauler, an indictment says."
Of course, it wouldn't be an organized crime case with a police corruption allegation. Defendant Mario Velez, a recently-retired trooper from the New York State Police, is charged with extortion, and he "is believed to have committed the acts while he was still a state trooper" as reported by ABC News.
The second indictment charges three defendants -- Charles Giustra, Vincent Dimino and Joseph Antico -- with trafficking contraband cigarettes, and further charges Giustra with trafficking cocaine, and the third indictment charges Kenneth Lopez on a weapons charge.
Download Indictment: United States v. Carmine Franco, et al.
Download Indictment: United States v. Charles Giustra, et al.
Download Indictment: United States v. Kenneth Lopez
The mob long has had a role in the trash industry, and in 2006 the feds brought a similar case against James Galante and others for running a so-called "property rights" scheme in Connecticut which included the use of Genovese muscle to quash competitition and inflate rates.
They will, of course, be charged with the egregious felony of "failing to pay their union dues."
“What? People do not want their nasty garbage hauled away by Italians?” - Fat Tony
This must mean that either the unions under their respective controls are perceived as not having contributed enough to the DNC and Democratic politicians and/or they didn't deliver as many votes as were thought possible last November.
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