United States Attorney's Office District of Connecticut
Press Release

TRASH COMPANY OPERATIONS MANAGER PLEADS GUILTY TO FEDERAL RACKETEERING CONSPIRACY CHARGE

Kevin J. O’Connor, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that RICHARD CACCAVALE, age 48, of 240 Milltown Road, Stormville, New York, 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).

According to documents filed with the Court and statements made in court, CACCAVALE, the operations manager at Automated Waste Disposal, Inc. (AWD) and affiliated companies, 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, which is predicated on mail and wire fraud, and extortion, 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. CACCAVALE admitted that he participated in the affairs of the enterprise by agreeing to respect the unwritten rules of the property rights system.

According to statements made by the Government during today’s court proceeding, CACCAVALE contacted the operator of “Company B,” a trash hauling company doing business in western Connecticut who, at the time, was a participant in the property rights system. CACCAVALE told the operator of Company B that he wanted to meet to discuss “pistons.” When the meeting occurred, however, CACCAVALE provided the operator of Company B with a list of customers of AWD and affiliated companies that were causing problems for AWD. The names were provided so that the operator of Company B would know that these customers were “owned” by other companies.

Later, the operator of Company B decided to attempt to “buck” the property rights system and compete for customers that were “owned” by other participants. During one phone call that was intercepted on a court-authorized wiretap, CACCAVALE reported to a co-conspirator that he had contacted the operator of Company B saying, among other things, “...do yourself a favor for your health, don’t...go this way. Do the right thing.”

In a subsequent conversation with a different co-conspirator, CACCAVALE discussed that members of the conspiracy had damaged a truck belonging to Company B. In pleading guilty, CACCAVALE acknowledged that the retaliation against Company B was based on Company B’s refusal to respect the unwritten rules of the property rights system.

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

Judge Burns has scheduled sentencing for June 8, 2007, at which time CACCAVALE faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years and a fine of up to $250,000. In addition, CACCAVALE has agreed to forfeit $20,000 to the United States.

As to AWD 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. 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