Reputed Genovese family associate Carmine “Papa Smurf” Franco and a
recently retired state police trooper from Peekskill were among 32
people indicted on federal charges this morning after a four-year
investigation into organized crime’s influence on the carting industry
in the New York metro area.
The list includes seven people from Westchester County, two from Rockland and one from Putnam.
The
trooper, Mario Velez, a 20-year-veteran who worked out of the Cortlandt
barracks and was a former school resource officer at Hendrick Hudson
High School, is facing two extortion charges with Pasquale P. Cartalemi
Jr., 50, and his son Pasquale L. Cartalemi, 27, of Cortlandt, for
allegedly forcing a trash hauler to turn over his business to them in
the fall of 2011.
Velez,
44, retired in October, under pressure, as the investigation by FBI
agents, Westchester County and New York City police was underway, a
source close to the investigation told The Journal News today. Sources
said Velez worked with the Cartalemis at their family business, AAA
Carting in Peekskill.
Other
local residents charged in the 16-count indictment include Dominick
“Pepe” Pietranico, 82, of Mahopac; Joseph Sarcinella, 78, of Greenburgh;
Pasquale Carbone Sr., 70, of White Plains; Carmine Franco’s son Robert
Franco, 50, of Hartsdale; Andrew McGuire, 29, of Hawthorne; Dominick
Rao, 76, of Suffern; and Stephen Moscatello, 52, of Piermont.
McGuire,
who state business records identify as the president of Capital Waste
Services in Hawthorne, was charged with extortion conspiracy along with
Velez and the Cartalemis but not in the alleged shakedown. A law
enforcement source told the paper that the business Velez and the
Cartalemis took over was Capital Waste Services, but the victim of the
shakedown was not identified. It was unclear what involvement McGuire
had in the company at that time.
Thirty
arrests were made during morning raids. Pietranico and Pasquale P.
Cartalemi have not yet been arrested but are expected to surrender this
week, authorities said.
The arrests involve members and associates of the Genovese, Gambino
and Luchese crime families. They are expected to make initial
appearances this afternoon in federal court in Manhattan on multiple
indictments that include charges of racketeering, extortion and loan
sharking.
The defendants face prison terms ranging from five to 30 years.
The
investigation was the latest effort by federal law enforcement
authorities to rid the region’s trash industry of the coercive efforts
of organized crime. One such probe in the late 1990s resulted in charges
against seven men and 14 companies. Thomas Milo, head of Westchester’s
biggest firm, Suburban Carting, was imprisoned, and the county took
significant steps to regulate the industry. Five years ago, a similar
probe by the U.S. Attorney in Connecticut resulted in 29 arrests in
connection to trash routes in Fairfield and Putnam counties. James
Galante, owner of more than 20 companies, was sentenced to 87 months in
prison and forced to give up his 20 companies.
U.S.
Attorney Preet Bharara said “organized crime insinuated itself into the
waste disposal industry throughout a vast swath of counties in New York
and New Jersey, and the tactics they used to exert and maintain their
control come right out of the mafia playbook – extortion, intimidation,
and threats of violence.”
Carmine
Franco, 77, a former West Nyack resident now living in Ramsey, N.J.,
once ran the beleaguered Ramapo town landfill and was banned from the
trash business in New Jersey in the late 1990s after pleading guilty to
illegally transferring garbage from Bergen County out of state. He was
sentenced to nine months in jail, and he and companies under his control
had to pay $11.5 million in penalties. Franco was among the defendants
who agreed to pay a $4.7 million settlement in 1995 for the dumping of
hazardous material years earlier at the Ramapo landfill.
Franco
and 11 others are charged with engaging in racketeering to control
various businesses in what the feds call the Waste Disposal Enterprise.
Carmine Franco, Anthony Pucciarello, Howard Ross, Anthony Cardinalle,
Peter Leconte, Frank Oliver, Charles Giustra, Pietranico, Sarcinella,
William Cali, Scott Fappiano and Anthony Bazzini were allegedly leaders
and members of the enterprise who committed crimes to enhance its power,
enrich members and keep victims and citizens in fear by threatening
economic and physical harm, according to the feds.
Federal
authorities contend that those defendants had either been banned from
the carting industry or knew their mob ties would make it impossible to
get licenses to work in the business. But they were able to control
trash hauling businesses that were officially run by legitimate owners
by dictating the spots where they could pick up garbage and by demanding
payments for protection by organized crime, according to the
indictment.
They also allegedly defrauded customers and stole property from competitors.
Another
17 defendants are charged with various illegal activities in the waste
hauling industry, including extortion, mail and wire fraud conspiracy,
and interstate transportation of stolen property. Three New York City
men were named in two related indictments, but those charges did not
involve the carting industry.
The
indictment describes one trash hauler, identified only as a cooperating
witness, who was caught in the middle of a turf war as he was
controlled by four different organized crime crews. At one point, the
Lodi Crew run by Genovese soldiers Pucciarello and Leconte wrested
control of the Westchester business from Franco’s crew.
A
third Genovese crew under Sarcinella and Pietranico, who operated
another company after its manager was imprisoned, also got into the
action. The two men allegedly provided protection to the cooperator and
made loans to him at high interest rates, including one $12,500 loan for
which they demanded 3 percent interest weekly, according to the
indictment. Both men were arrested last year in connection with an
alleged gambling ring in the Bronx.
The fourth crew was Bazzini, a Gambino soldier, and Fappiano, a
Gambino associate. Fappiano, of Staten Island, served more than two
decades in state prison for a rape he did not commit, and has won more
than $2 million in lawsuits for that wrongful conviction. A year ago, he
avoided a prison sentence after pleading guilty to extorting money from
his wife’s ex-husband to collect a gambling debt.
Robert
Franco and Moscatello allegedly stole garbage containers from trash
companies in the Bronx on two occasions in January 2010. According to
the indictment, Carmine Franco discussed those thefts with the
cooperating witness the following month.
In
March of that year, Robert Franco allegedly took 5 tons of stolen
cardboard to a transfer station in West Nyack. Eight days later,
according to the indictment, Carmine Franco was at the transfer station
discussing the theft of the cardboard with the cooperating witness.
In
a related indictment, Giustra is charged with conspiracy to transport
cigarettes, drugs and stolen property. The stolen item was a hot dog
cart, from Fred’s Franks, in Orangeburg, that was taken by two men on
Sept. 30, 2010. Giustra was heard in a recorded conversation four days
later telling the cooperating witness that he had only gotten $2,500 for
the truck, according to the indictment.
Westchester County Police detectives participated with the FBI in the probe.
“The
long-term partnership between the Westchester County police and federal
law enforcement is an important means of combating organized crime and
ensuring that businesses in Westchester are free to operate without fear
of extortion or undue influence,” said Westchester County police
commissioner George Longworth.
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