FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          AT
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26, 1996                           (202) 616-2771
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

  MASSACHUSETTS AND SOUTH CAROLINA PLASTIC DINNERWARE COMPANIES
     AND THEIR PRESIDENTS INDICTED IN PRICE FIXING CONSPIRACY
     

     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A Philadelphia federal grand jury
returned an indictment today against two disposable plastic
dinnerware companies--one based in Massachusetts and the other in
South Carolina--and their two presidents, for conspiring to fix
prices in the disposable plastic dinnerware industry, said the
Department of Justice.
     This is the Department's fifth case in its ongoing antitrust 
investigation into price fixing in the disposable plastic
dinnerware industry.  To date, the government has convicted three
corporations and seven individuals.  The companies were fined in
excess of $8 million and the individuals received jail sentences
ranging from eight to 21 months.
     The one-count indictment, filed in U.S. District Court in
Philadelphia, charged Amcel Corporation of Watertown,
Massachusetts, and its president, Lloyd Gordon, Dispoz-O Plastics
Inc. of Fountain Inn, South Carolina, and its president Peter
Iacovelli, with conspiring to fix the price of plastic cutlery
products sold throughout the United States between November 1991
and April 1992.  
     During that time, the conspirators telephoned and met
secretly with each other to carry out the conspiracy.  In 1994, a
third plastic cutlery manufacturer, Polar Plastics, and two of
its executives pleaded guilty to conspiring to fix the price of
plastic cutlery between November 1991 and April 1992.  
       The Department's investigation began in the Minnesota
Attorney General's office and has involved cooperation between
U.S. and Canadian authorities.  
     This matter is being handled by the Antitrust Division's
Litigation I Section with the assistance of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation in Lansdale, Pennsylvania.
     The maximum penalty for a corporation convicted under the
Sherman Act is a fine of $10 million, twice the pecuniary gain
the corporation derived from the crime, or twice the pecuniary
loss caused to the victims of the crime, whichever is greater.
     The maximum penalty for an individual convicted under the
Sherman Act is three years in prison and a fine of $350,000,
twice the pecuniary gain the individual derived from the crime,
or twice and the pecuniary loss caused to the victims of the
crime, whichever is greater.
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