The list of associates of Danbury trash hauler James Galante who have pleaded guilty to racketeering and other federal charges continues to grow. Two more haulers accepted plea bargains for their involvement in a mob-enforced system that all but eliminated the free market for trash hauling in metro Danbury over the past few decades.
Anthony Novella III of Danbury pleaded guilty April 10 in U.S. District Court in New Haven to one count of conspiring to violate the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, and Joseph “Fat Joe” LoStocco of Danbury pleaded guilty April 12 to one count of misprision of felony ”“ failing to report a felony to FBI agents during an interview.
The two guilty pleas leave only 11 of the original 29 people who were indicted last June following a three-year federal investigation into the region”™s trash-hauling business. They include Galante himself, facing a 72-count indictment that includes racketeering, RICO conspiracy, extortion, witness tampering and tax fraud. Galante, owner of Automated Waste Disposal in Danbury and a half-dozen associated hauling companies, is under house arrest in his New Fairfield home.
A Maryland company is operating Galante”™s empire ”“ which serves thousands of residential, municipal and commercial customers ”“ under federal supervision.
Last year, two reputed organized crime heads pleaded guilty to a variety of federal charges in connection with the scheme called the “property rights” system where haulers agreed not to service or compete for other carters”™ customers within certain territories. Prosecutors said the illegal system inflated prices for trash pickup and other services, especially for commercial and municipal customers. The scheme involved carters in western Connecticut and Putnam and Westchester counties in New York, and was based on mail and wire fraud and extortion.
Thomas Milo of Mamaroneck, in Westchester County, who federal prosecutors called an associate of the Genovese organized crime family pleaded guilty last September to one count of conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service. Matthew “Matty the Horse” Ianniello of Old Westbury, N.Y., who prosecutors called a high-ranking member of the Genovese family, pleaded guilty on Dec. 20 to one count of conspiring to violate RICO and one of conspiring to defraud the IRA.
Prosecutors said Galante paid Ianniello $30,000 every quarter as tribute payments.
Novella, like nine others before him who pleaded guilty to violating the RICO Act, faces up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000. He was associated with A.J. Novella Sanitation, a Danbury carting company. LoStocco, who owns and operates LoStocco Services in Danbury, faces three years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
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LoStocco is a cousin of Joseph R. LoStocco of J.R. LoStocco Carting of Danbury, who pleaded guilty of one count of conspiring to violate the RICO Act last April, about 45 days before the indictments were handed down.
Prosecutors said that when “Fat Joe” LoStocco was interviewed last May by the FBI, he concealed the fact that carters were involved in a RICO conspiracy. Calls intercepted during a court-authorized wiretap showed LoStocco knew carters were fixing prices and defrauding customers, according to documents filed in federal court.
Novella admitted he conspired to perpetuate the property rights system by agreeing to respect the unwritten rules of the system, prosecutors said.
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