United States Attorney's Office District of Connecticut
Press Release

TRASH COMPANY OWNER ADMITS CONCEALING RACKETEERING ACTIVITIES IN THE CONNECTICUT TRASH INDUSTRY

Kevin J. O’Connor, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that JOSEPH LoSTOCCO, also known as “Fat Joe,” age 43, of Glen Road, Danbury, an owner and operator of LoStocco Services, a carting company located in Danbury, waived indictment and pleaded guilty today before Senior United States District Judge Ellen Bree Burns in New Haven to one count of misprision of a felony. In pleading guilty to the charge, LoSTOCCO admitted that he had knowledge that others had conspired to violate the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), and failed to report this information to law enforcement.

According to documents filed with the Court and statements made previously in court in connection with this matter, carters in Connecticut and New York have engaged in the “property rights system,” whereby they 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 primally at commercial and municipal customers, participating carters agreed to quote inflated prices to customers controlled by other carters.

According to statements made by the Government during today’s court proceeding, in May 2006, LoSTOCCO was interviewed by the FBI and concealed the fact that Connecticut carters were involved in a RICO conspiracy. Calls intercepted during a court-authorized wiretap revealed that LoSTOCCO knew carters were fixing prices and defrauding customers. One call from a co-conspirator gave LoSTOCCO a “heads up” that a competitor was planning to put through a price increase and that other carters should to follow suit.

Judge Burns scheduled sentencing for July 12, 2007, at which time LoSTOCCO faces a maximum term of imprisonment of three years and a fine of up to $250,000.

On June 8, 2006, a federal grand jury in New Haven returned an Indictment charging LoSTOCCO and several other individuals and businesses on various charges stemming from a long-term investigation in the waste-hauling industry in Connecticut and eastern New York.

This matter is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division, 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