Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Another trash company manager pleads guilty

Ciro Viento, 44, of Mahopac NY pleaded guilty March 26 in New Haven CT federal court to one count of conspiring to violate the RICO anti-racketeering act, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut. Viento was reportedly an operations manager for Connecticut-based Automated Waste Disposal, Inc., and affiliated companies.

Viento acknowledged conspiring with others in a monopolistic property rights scheme in the waste hauling industry in which carting companies worked assigned territories and did not compete.

Federal wiretaps revealed Viento conspiring with other haulers to set hauling rates and enforce territorial boundaries through threats (Viento allegedly promised one contractor "a world of hurt" if he did not surrender an account) and secret negotiations.

At sentencing scheduled for June 14, Viento faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Viento already has agreed to forfeit $20,000 to the government.

An investigation of AWD and affiliated companies resulted in indictments against 29 individuals and seven companies. The defendants in the case have included Genovese Crime Family bigshot Matthew "Matty the Horse" Ianniello, who pleaded guilty in December, and AWD executive James Galante, who maintains his innocence. On March 21, another AWD operations manager, Richard Caccavale, 48, of Stormville NY, also pleaded guilty to conspiracy.

Related MobNews posts:


JUST RELEASED:

Deep Water:
Joseph P. Macheca and the
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Writer, editor, researcher, web publisher, specializing in organized crime history. (Available to assist with historical/genealogical research, writing, editing. Email at tphunt@gmail.com.)
Editor/publisher of crime history journal, Informer; publisher of American Mafia history website Mafiahistory.us; moderator of online forums; author of Wrongly Executed?; coauthor of Deep Water: Joseph P. Macheca and the Birth of the American Mafia and DiCarlo: Buffalo's First Family of Crime; contributor of U.S. Mafia history to Australian-published Mafia: The Necessary Reference to Organized Crime; writer/co-writer of crime history articles for several publications.
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