United States Attorney's Office District of Connecticut
Press Release

CARTING COMPANY CONSULTANT PLEADS GUILTY TO FEDERAL RACKETEERING CONSPIRACY CHARGE

Kevin J. O’Connor, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that JOSEPH SANTOPIETRO, age 48, of 34 Southgate Road, Waterbury, Connecticut, pleaded guilty today before Senior United States District Judge Ellen Bree Burns in New Haven to one count of conspiring to violate the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). SANTOPIETRO formerly worked at Diversified Waste Disposal, Inc. (DWD) and, in October 2004, served as a consultant to the company.

According to documents filed with the Court and statements made in court, SANTOPIETRO today admitted that, along with others, he conspired to perpetuate a system, commonly called the “property rights system.” Carters engaged in the property rights system would not service or compete for other carters’ customers. The property rights system essentially destroys free enterprise, allowing the participating carters to artificially inflate their prices and leaving waste removal customers with no other options. In this scheme, which was directed at commercial and municipal customers, participating carters agreed to quote inflated prices to customers controlled by other carters.

SANTOPIETRO admitted that he participated in the affairs of the enterprise by agreeing to respect the unwritten rules of the property rights system in October 2004, when co-defendants told him to use his influence to dissuade a competing trash hauler from honoring a contract for waste removal that the competing carter had recently signed with a new customer who had formerly been serviced by one of the defendant companies. SANTOPIETRO agreed to attempt to use his influence on the particular contract and, regardless of his ability to affect the outcome on that case, he would attempt to ensure that a certain, potential source of competition would refrain from competing against the defendant companies (as opposed to other, non-participating members of the property rights system).

On June 8, 2006, a federal grand jury in New Haven returned an Indictment charging SANTOPIETRO and several other individuals and businesses, including DWD, on various charges stemming from a long-term investigation in the waste-hauling industry in Connecticut and eastern New York. Today, SANTOPIETRO pleaded guilty to Count Two of the Indictment.

Judge Burns has scheduled sentencing for June 4, 2007, at which time SANTOPIETRO faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years and a fine of up to $250,000.

As to DWD and the other defendants in this matter, U.S. Attorney O’Connor stressed that an indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. Each defendant is entitled to a fair trial at which it is the Government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

This matter is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, the United States Department of Labor, Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations and the Connecticut State Police. The United States Marshals Service, the Drug Enforcement Agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility, and the Connecticut Department of Correction have provided critical assistance in the Investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys Michael J. Gustafson, Raymond F. Miller, Henry K. Kopel and Anthony E. Kaplan are prosecuting this case.

CONTACT:

U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Tom Carson
(203) 821-3722
thomas.carson@usdoj.gov