Mahopac man, other associate plead guilty to racketeering charges

Two operations managers for James Galante”™s metro Danbury, Conn., trash-hauling operations pleaded guilty in federal court to racketeering, admitting they were part of a conspiracy to limit competition and inflate prices for commercial and municipal customers.
Richard Caccavale, 48, of Stormville and Ciro Viento, 44, of Mahopac were two of 29 individuals and 10 companies indicted last summer after a lengthy federal investigation into Galante”™s Danbury-based trash businesses and its ties to organized crime. Galante faces 72 counts in the indictment, and is under house arrest at his New Fairfield, Conn., home.
Caccavale and Viento were operations managers at Automated Waste Disposal Inc. and its affiliated companies, and each faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. They are the second and third Galante associates to plead guilty to racketeering, and the 16th and 17th to plead guilty in plea bargain agreements before U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Bree Burns in New Haven, Conn.
Prosecutors said both men threatened operators of other trash-hauling companies who had tried to buck the “property rights system” and compete for customers. Prosecutors said that during a court-authorized wiretap, Caccavale told one trash hauler, “Do yourself a favor for your health, don”™t go this way. Do the right thing.” Prosecutors said Viento warned the trash hauler he was “in for a world of hurt” if he didn”™t comply.
Later, in another conversation, Caccavale boasted that members of the conspiracy had damaged a truck belonging to the rebellious hauler. In pleading guilty, he acknowledged the retaliation was based on the company”™s refusal to respect the unwritten rules of the property rights system, prosecutors said.