Well, 32 defendants in all. 5 are made guys in the Genovese family. All soldiers. Another is a Gambino soldier. And there's others who are associates of those families, as well as one that's a Lucchese associate. The lead defendant in the case, Carmine Franco, is a long time Genovese associate.

Who said it was "huge"? It's a glorified shakedown at this point. Unless it's ongoing, then the other shoe might eventually drop.

I merely pointed out that 2 or 3 years isn't easy time for an 80 year old man who wasn't a tough guy to begin with .

True that. There has to be more mob influence in garbage than this. Not saying it's a good thing just that it's likely.

This old man Pizza do you think they'll give him a plea deal?

This article has some photos of those arrested, including Franco and Joe Sass. Thanks to kevlar for originally posting it.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/feds...ticle-1.1241033

Don't be fooled by one indictment. I know what I see. It's not remotely the same as it was years ago. Nor is the mob's influence in garbage completely dead. The truth, like most truths, lies somewhere in the middle. The plain truth: Without the Teamsters and the drivers it will never be the same.


I hope so. He's not a bad old guy.

Some of those guys are fucking ugly

News video on the bust with some of them doing the perp walk...

http://www.myfoxny.com/story/20600759/mob-sweep-across-metro-region

Who cares about those photos are you going to go to kinkos and get them blown up.

Probably a lot of the same people who have viewed and posted in this thread would be interested to see who was busted.

Well, if they are unlucky enough, a conviction can give them a 20 year sentence each.

That is some awesome hair!

That quote was from Salvatore Profaci, but he was talking about a beef between Stanfa lawyer Salvatore Arena and Carmine Franco over garbage rackets.

Info on this Leconte and Bazzini, fairly young by today's standards, they both made? What crews they in etc? Thanks.

Don´t know about Bazzini, but according to the indictment, the Genovese guys are members of the "Lodi crew". If I´m not mistaken, Lodi is a borough in Bergen county, NJ. To my knowledge, Tino Fiumarra´s crew and Gatto´s crew operated out of there. Both Fiumarra and Gatto passed away in 2010. I have no clue who run those crews today.

Last I read, Michael "Tona" Borelli was acting captain for Mikey Coppola, who is now the official captain of the Fiumara crew.

It should be noted that, in the past, Carmine Franco answered to Tino Fiumara. So it may indeed be that crew.

Never heard anything about who took over after Gatto died.

Lodi has always been wat they called Lou Reds crew. But ive never heard of them being into garbage, just book. Yea Tona is MCs guy. But not his only one. Tuna is a big bm from way back in the day, hes gotta be pushin 70. Louie Bragg lives in Lodi when hes not in FL.. Dunno, tona was a newark guy.

joe sass had the hair in the 70tys still knows how to dress for a 80ty yr old , but why isnt a capo in this indictment unless they put the low guys in charge of the trash cause it wouldnt be a big lost. these old guys are so old they can never roll, they'll probaly just sonny fransese it. go to fort devens for old mob guys there here or bulter n.c.

Yeah your right my bad. Aveva's Daughter was married to Profaci and I think both of their fathers were Bosses who got whacked as well.

Avena's father was a high ranking member in the Philly mob who got whacked. Profaci's father was Joe Profaci, he wasn't whacked.

By Jerry Capeci
Trio Pleads Guilty In Garbage Case; Baseball Bat Assault Of FBI Operative Still A Mystery
Three Genovese family gangsters pleaded guilty last week to two loansharking schemes that led to a brutal baseball bat beating of an FBI operative who was working undercover against organized crime activity in the waste hauling industry in New York and New Jersey.But the feds have not been able to link the trio – or anyone else for that matter – to the vicious February 26, 2012 assault against the independent private carter who wore a wire for three years. The main target of the probe, 77-year-old lead defendant Carmine (Papa Smurf) Franco, is still awaiting trial on labor racketeering charges along with 25 others.The attack itself took place on a Sunday night when the assailant, without saying a word, assaulted the undercover operative with a bat. A week later the thug left the bat – wiped clean of fingerprints – in the cab of the cooperating witness's garbage truck as an eerie reminder of the vicious assault.Despite a wealth of suspects – four mob crews "controlled" the victim's business and extorted protection payments from him during the lengthy probe – authorities have acquired no evidence implicating any mob guys in the beating, even though the snitch continued wearing a wire for two months after the attack."I got smacked over the head, knocked out unconscious, my right eye is smashed in," the cooperating witness told his alleged mob handler in his first phone call after the bloody assault, according to a transcript of the conversation obtained by Gang Land."I don't know what I got hit with, but I got a grapefruit on my head. My right eye, I can't open it. It's all purple and blown up, it looks like I got a golf ball on it," he said a day later, following his release from an area hospital.No actual violence is alleged against any defendant in the 15 count indictment. But a year before the attack, a longtime Genovese associate who copped a plea deal, William Cali, who often used the alias Joe Cali, was tape recorded boasting of his prowess with a baseball bat on two successive meetings with the cooperating witness, Gang Land has learned.In one meeting, on February 16, 2011, when the informer mentioned that Mexican criminals had stolen merchandise from him, Cali said "he would bust their heads with a baseball bat" if he ever caught up with them, according to an FBI report that was obtained by Gang Land.Two days later, according to a summary of a follow up discussion by FBI agents Jon Jennings and Natale Parisi, as the men talked about a guy who was giving one of Cali's underlings a "hard time," Cali again mentioned his batting prowess, threatening to "put him in a coma with a baseball bat."During another taped talk that same week, Joe Cali talked openly about his loanshark business, saying, "I still make my living on the street with my shylock customers and everything else." He added that the threat of violence helped him collect. "When you have no muscle in the business you're in, you've got a lot of problems," he said.Cali, 59, pleaded guilty in Manhattan Federal Court to extortion conspiracy for coercing the private carter, whose name is being withheld by Gang Land, to fork over the money he owed the gangster from February to July of 2011.At sentencing, Cali, whose first conviction was in 1973, faces 24-to-30 months behind bars, according to a plea agreement worked out by attorney Aaron Goldsmith, who told Gang Land that his client did not engage in any violence or any overt threats."I made him understand if he doesn’t pay me, it wouldn’t be good," is how Cali explained his actions to Judge Kevin Castel. "I made him a little frightened, your honor."A pair of elderly Genovese mobsters, Dominick (Pepe) Pietranico and Joseph Sarcinella, who allegedly controlled the undercover private carter and extorted protection payoffs from him for a year, both pleaded guilty to loaning him $12,500 at a usurious interest rate of 150% a year. According to their plea deals, Pietranico, 82, faces 30 to 37 months, and Sarcinella, 78, between 27 and 33 months in prison.As part of their agreements, racketeering conspiracy, extortion and all other charges will be dismissed against the three men, the first to plead guilty in the case. The case is slated for trial next year, but Gang land expects that most, if not all the defendants, will also cop plea deals.Despite the beating, the cooperator told the FBI he wanted to continue his undercover work. On Monday, February 27 of last year, the day after his assault, he reached out to the mob underling who did the daily dirty work for Gambino soldier Anthony Bazzini to inform him of the assault, and try to determine who was responsible."Somebody must not be too happy with me," he told Scott Fappiano, explaining why he hadn't shown up the night before with a regular payment that was due. "I got bashed over the head. They took me to the hospital in the ambulance," he said.During a long back and forth, Fappiano empathized with the informer, but pointedly asked him what he had "been doin' that you're not supposed to be doin'?" Fappiano promised to see if he could learn anything about the attack, although he theorized that it was a "random" thing, and not related to the garbage business."They… they … they'd say something and leave you a message, you know, why they're doin' something like that, they just don't do that unless … he's a fucking lunatic," said Fappiano. "I don't know. I couldn't explain that."Fappiano, a longtime Colombo associate who gravitated to the Gambinos in recent years, told the battered independent carter that he was "sorry it happened" but reminded him of his continuing financial obligations to Fappiano and his cohorts, and told him not to forget them."You have to stop by and see me," said Fappiano. "I had to go these people today, I told you that it was important. I was supposed to have that Friday."When the carter assured Fappiano that he had the $185 payment, the gangster replied that wasn’t enough: "Well, you're having it is not good for me."

Ramsey man pleads guilty in waste-hauling racketeering in NJ, NY
Friday, November 22, 2013
BY PETER J. SAMPSON
STAFF WRITER
The Record

Carmine Franco, a former Bergen County trash-collection baron ultimately banned from the industry in New Jersey, pleaded guilty on Friday to federal racketeering charges stemming from a crackdown on Mafia control over waste-hauling in New York and New Jersey.

Franco, 78, of Ramsey, and Anthony Pucciarello, also 78, of Bloomfield, confessed in federal court in Manhattan to taking part in an illegal scheme to exert control over the commercial waste-hauling industry in the two states.

They were among 32 defendants linked to three organized crime families — Genovese, Gambino and Luchese — charged in January in connection with the scheme. Sixteen of the defendants have pleaded guilty.

Franco faces a penalty of 45 years in prison when sentenced March 19. He also has agreed to forfeit proceeds of $2.5 million. Pucciarello faces three years in prison when sentenced March 21.

“With today’s guilty pleas, Carmine Franco and Anthony Pucciarello become the latest defendants to be held to account for their roles in a criminal racketeering enterprise that encircled the waste-hauling industry in the New York City area and parts of New Jersey,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a release. “This office will continue working with our law enforcement partners to pry loose the tentacles of organized crime from around the industries it tries to control.”

Franco, an associate of the Genovese crime family also known as “Papa Smurf” and “Uncle Sonny,” pleaded guilty to three separate conspiracy counts. As part of his plea, he acknowledged his membership in a racketeering enterprise that exercised illegal control over waste haulers in the counties of Bergen and Passaic in New Jersey and Westchester, Rockland and Nassau in New York.

He also admitted that he committed mail and wire fraud by overbilling customers of a waste transfer station that he controlled in West Nyack, N.Y. and that he and his associates transported large volumes of stolen cardboard across state lines. Pucciarello, a reputed member of the Genovese crime family, admitted that he was aware that others were conspiring to use extortion to obtain an ownership interest in a business owned by a cooperating witness. He admitted that he failed to report this extortion to authorities and agreed to conceal the percentage of the victim’s business that he would own following the extortion.

Franco has owned or controlled waste-disposal businesses for more than 30 years. Because of convictions in the early 1980s and late 1990s and known associations with organized crime, he was banned from the waste-hauling industry in New Jersey and could not be licensed to operate such businesses in many New York jurisdictions, the indictment said. But, it charged, that didn’t stop Franco from secretly taking control of and operating trash-hauling companies, extorting their owners and orchestrating thefts of their property.

During the four-year investigation, authorities were aided by a cooperating witness whose hauling company was under Franco‘s control and later was taken over by other mob factions.

After wresting control of the company from Franco, a Genovese crew based in Lodi allegedly extorted $500 weekly “protection” payments from the cooperating witness to shield him from other Mafia factions, the indictment said.

Peter Leconte, 42, of Lodi, a reputed Genovese soldier, pleaded guilty on Nov. 15 to conspiring to commit extortion by threatening economic harm if a hauler didn’t turnover a percentage of his company. He faces 20 years in prison when sentenced Apr. 4. After wresting control of the company from Franco, a Genovese crew based in Lodi allegedly extorted $500 weekly “protection” payments from the cooperating witness to shield him from other Mafia factions, the indictment said.

Peter Leconte, 42, of Lodi, a reputed Genovese soldier, pleaded guilty on Nov. 15 to conspiring to commit extortion by threatening economic harm if a hauler didn’t turnover a percentage of his company. He faces 20 years in prison when sentenced Apr. 4.

↓http://www.northjersey.com/news/Ramsey_ ... ering.html

Ramsey man pleads guilty in waste-hauling racketeering in NJ, NY - NorthJersey.com
Carmine Franco, 78, of Ramsey, and Anthony Pucciarello, also 78, of Bloomfield, confessed in federal court in Manhattan to taking part in an illegal scheme to exert control over the commercial waste-hauling industry in the two states.

Guess the feds got what they wanted. Recouped a couple million bucks towards the cost of the 4 year investigation and the court appointed CJA attorneys for mostly all the defendants. Except for the two dead guys they originally set out to bust and the eyesight in one eye of the cooperating witness, everything seems to have worked out exactly as they planned. Bravo

does papa smurf get his button before or after he goes to jail. I read some book the guy jimmy nap who was once the biggest numbers guy in nyc was made right before he went to jail in 1977. fat tony wanted him to be a member so no one messed with him in jail. never killed anyone, think the books buy his kid. wonder if angelo ponte got it to. no one knew the president of that festival was a bonanno till they all started singing. perry c, these old guys will take the button saves you some money from the shake downs rite.

the gambinos made guy in his 70tys freddy hot or something like that. he was skinny doms code that beat murder and walk out the court house.

Gambino gangster says he is no Tony Soprano

Real-life wiseguy Anthony Bazzini says he’s nothing like the fictional Tony Soprano.

Or, for that matter, any of the characters in “GoodFellas,’’ “The Godfather’’ and other mob movies.

So Bazzini, who will go on trail next month on charges of being part of a massive gangland effort to control the New York-New Jersey garbage-carting industry, has asked a federal judge to ask potential jurors:

* If they are “regular watchers or have been in the past regular watchers of ‘The Sopranos’ or similar programs.”

* If any of them or their family members has ever worked in the “waste-disposal industry.”

*  If they “harbor potential bias or prejudice against Italian-Americans” or developed “a negative perception” of them based on “The Sopranos,” “GoodFellas” or “The Godfather.”

In “The Sopranos,” boss Tony Soprano, played by the late James Gandolfini, used a garbage-carting business as a mob front.

The feds say Bazzini, 54, of Glen Head, LI, is the “ghost owner” of Galaxy Carting in Ronkonkoma, which also did business in New Jersey.

He and 31 other reputed mobsters were busted in January for allegedly scheming with rival Mafia families to trash efforts to clean up the garbage business — and using strong-arm tactics to shake down owners of legitimate companies and secretly assume control of their operations.

Bazzini faces charges of loan-sharking and other racketeering offenses.

His lawyer, Raymond Perini, also wants his client to get a prude-free jury that can handle cursing.

He asked that prospective jurors be read the following statement: “You will hear foul language used by the defendants during the course of recorded conversations.

“Do you have any moral problems with the use of foul language? Will the use of foul and profane language impact your ability to render a fair and impartial verdict?”

The feds declined to comment, and Perini and Bazzini did not return messages.

http://nypost.com/2013/12/02/mafia-defendant-im-no-tony-soprano/

Maybe one of the juror questions should be: are you aware that the feds don't have many mobsters to bust anymore, so they hafta kinda sorta manufacture them now by using crooks or underachievers to fuck people out of money and wait for them to react.... And then call them mobsters when they do?

Jerry Capeci had a nice write-up regarding the sleazy sexual predator of underage girls who wore a wire for 4 years and is the government's only witness.

Pervert Who Likes 15-Year-Old Girls

The feds disclosed last week why they have been giving out sweet plea deals to wiseguys and associates of three crime families who were snared in a massive sting operation into the scandal-tarred private sanitation industry in New York and New Jersey: their main witness is a sex pervert who preys on 15 year old girls.

In court papers, Manhattan federal prosecutors say that the undercover operative who taped more than 500 conversations with 29 defendants with the Genovese, Gambino and Luchese clans began working for the FBI after he was arrested for soliciting sex with a girl he believed to be 15 years old. The filing was disclosed yesterday by the Daily News.

The witness is identified in court papers as CW but Gang Land named him six weeks ago as Charles Hughes, a longtime fixture in the waste hauling business. Hughes was arrested on charges carrying a mandatory minimum of 10 years behind bars when he arrived at a motel with a supply of condoms prepared for a tryst with the "15 year old girl" he had solicited for sex for two months, according to the filings.

In their papers, prosecutors Brian Blais, Natalie Lamarque and Patrick Egan are asking trial judge P. Kevin Castel to keep a lid on that sleazy history by limiting the scope of the defense questioning of Hughes. They argue that any discussion of their witness's sordid past would inflame and prejudice jurors in the case against the government.

Prosecutors asked Castel "to preclude cross-examination regarding the details of the graphic, sexually explicit conversations between (Hughes) and the girl during internet chats and phone conversations." 

The grubby details of the conversations, say the prosecutors, would add "little or nothing to the jury's assessment of (Hughes's) credibility, and the inflammatory nature of the offenses would be highly prejudicial."

Unsurprisingly, lawyers for the defendants are eager to make sure jurors hear as much as possible about those frisky exchanges. But Raymond Perini, attorney for Gambino soldier Anthony Bazzini, who begins trial next week along with mob associate Scott Fappiano, insisted that he will keep his questions tasteful. He has no intention, he told the judge, to "bring out verbatim the discussions of organ size, sex acts, or body waxing other than to refer to them in passing."

Arguing that Hughes is not just a witness "but essentially the ONLY government witness," Perini wrote that government's effort to block the sex crime history was premature, certainly before Castel "has heard the evidence in context."

"This is not some unrelated bad act," writes Perini, but the crime that is the sole basis for Hughes's decision to cooperate, and as such, he "is highly motivated to curry favor with the government" since "this is how he plans on getting out from under" a long stretch behind bars.

The lawyer says that among other things, he wants to question Hughes about lies he told the "girl" and a "series of lies" he told a court appointed shrink who treated him following his arrest.

"None of these factors involve 'graphic conversations,' just plain old lying," he wrote.

In November, the main defendant in the case, Carmine (Papa Smurf) Franco pleaded guilty to racketeering and other charges that call for a maximum of 50 years in prison. His plea agreement with the feds, however, recommends a prison term between 27 and 33 months.

So far, 15 of the 29 defendants in the indictment, which has been split into four trials, have copped plea deals. Bazzini, 54, and Fappiano, 50, are the only two remaining defendants in the first trial, which begins Tuesday.


Here's the latest news. Last minute sweet plea deals being shelled out by the government.

http://m.nydailynews.com/1.1579975

Sure would've loved to see a child molester star witness testifying for the government in open court. How low can they go? Scumbags

Don't be fooled by one indictment. I know what I see. It's not remotely the same as it was years ago. Nor is the mob's influence in garbage completely dead. The truth, like most truths, lies somewhere in the middle. The plain truth: Without the Teamsters and the drivers it will never be the same.

So how influenced are the mob in garbage? they obviously dont operate a monopoly on the cartels but there not out of it completely so what presence have they got?

LCN garbage rackets are much bigger in NJ and update NY today , NYC might be dead.

In my town in NJ the local hauler and a pretty large waste transportation system company ( rail car trash all the way to Ohio landfill ) are run by men with strong LCN ties .

It's still big business and a Westside thing, it's a quasi legit biz and very hard to keep people out of as they can just rename , start a new co or play via consulting gig