United States Attorney
District of Connecticut

PRESS RELEASE
July 29, 2008  

FORMER LEAD SALESMAN OF DANBURY TRASH COMPANIES SENTENCED TO 46 MONTHS IN FEDERAL PRISON

Nora R. Dannehy, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that RICHARD GALIETTI, 35, of Fort Myers, Florida, was sentenced today by Senior United States District Judge Ellen Bree Burns in New Haven to 46 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiring to violate the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), and for making a false statement to a federal law enforcement officer.  GALIETTI pleaded guilty to the charges on May 8, 2008.

According to documents filed with the Court and statements made in court, GALIETTI, a former lead salesman at Automated Waste Disposal (AWD) and affiliated Danbury-based companies operated by James Galante, conspired with other carting companies to perpetuate 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.  GALIETTI and others participated in the affairs of the enterprise by agreeing to respect the unwritten rules of the property rights system.  At times, GALIETTI helped to enforce this system through extortion and threats.

Judge Burns sentenced GALIETTI at the high-end of the federal sentencing guidelines range of 37 to 46 months, stating that GALIETTI was an “important cog in the Galante machine.”  In arguing for a sentence of 46 months, the Government noted that GALIETTI used his contacts in law enforcement to attempt to ascertain if he was under investigation, convened meetings with competitors to quell potential price wars, had competing carters “locked out” of transfer stations, bullied customers seeking to obtain more favorable rates, threatened non-compliant carters with violence and, in one instance, damaged the property of a competitor.

When he pleaded guilty, GALIETTI specifically admitted that from approximately June 2004 to August 2005, he agreed with others to improperly control the trash hauling industry in Connecticut by having participating carters respect a fellow carter’s claim to a customer, either by not competing for that customer or, when solicited by the customer, declining to pursue the opportunity or collusively bidding at a prearranged price designated to lose the contract.

GALIETTI also admitted that he asked his cousin, who was Connecticut State Police Trooper, to run license plate information through a law enforcement database in order to determine whether GALIETTI and his associates were under investigation.  GALIETTI also admitted that he asked a former agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration to ascertain whether GALIETTI was under investigation.

In addition, GALIETTI admitted that he physically threatened another carter with violence and damaged this same carter’s property.

On June 8, 2006, a grand jury in New Haven returned an Indictment charging GALIETTI, Galante and others with various violations of federal law, including racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, Hobbs Act extortion, mail and wire fraud, witness tampering, tax fraud and conspiracy charges. On June 12, 2007, GALIETTI, Galante and others were charged in a Superseding Indictment.

The false statement charge to which GALIETTI pleaded guilty stems from an Indictment from the Middle District of Florida.  On December 14, 2006, special agents of the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division executed a search warrant at a business in Fort Myers, Florida.  On that date, GALIETTI, who had been released on bond following his June 2006 arrest in Connecticut and was employed by the Florida business being searched, was encountered by federal agents executing the warrant and asked if he worked for the company.  GALIETTI falsely stated that he did not, and that he simply was “dropping by to say ‘hello.’”

On March 26, 2008, a federal grand jury in Fort Myers, Florida, returned an Indictment stemming from this incident charging GALIETTI with one count of making a false statement to a federal law enforcement officer.  GALIETTI, who subsequently was found to have violated his June 2006 bond conditions, has been detained in federal custody since March 27, 2008.

As a condition of his plea agreement, GALIETTI has agreed to forfeit $130,750 to the Government.

To date, 33 individuals and 10 businesses have been charged with various offenses stemming from a long-term investigation into the waste-hauling industry in Connecticut and eastern New York.

On June 3, 2008, James Galante pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to violate the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), one count of conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service, and one count of conspiring to commit wire fraud.  He awaits sentencing.

As to the defendants in this matter who are awaiting trial, Acting U.S. Attorney Dannehy 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 Division, the United States Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, and the Connecticut State Police.  The United States Marshals Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration’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, and Henry K. Kopel are prosecuting this case.