United States Attorney's Office District of Connecticut
Press Release

TRASH COMPANY MANAGER PLEADS GUILTY TO FEDERAL RACKETEERING CONSPIRACY CHARGE

Kevin J. O’Connor, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that CIRO VIENTO, age 44, of 29 Fenwood Road, Mahopac, 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, VIENTO, an 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. VIENTO 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, VIENTO was intercepted several times over court-authorized wiretaps.

On December 1, 2004, VIENTO contacted another carter who participated in the property rights system and said “Just wanted to give you a heads up. We put a rate increase in. So if you start getting a deluge of phone calls, you’ll know what it’s about. And I suggest you take advantage of that and do the same.” VIENTO admitted that the purpose of this call was to further the goals for the property rights system.

On January 7, 2005, VIENTO received a call from a co-conspirator who asked him to get another carter who participated in the property rights system to “back off” a specific account. VIENTO immediately contacted the “competing” carter and mentioned that he may or may not receive a call from a customer. The carter replied “Yeah, 10-4.” VIENTO then called the co-conspirator who made the original request and stated “You’re all set.”

Another example of VIENTO’s participation in the conspiracy relates to “Company B,” a carter who at one time participated in the property rights system, but then decided to attempt to “buck” the system and compete for customers that were “owned” by other participants. On April 29, 2005, a co-conspirator told VIENTO to tell the operator of Company B that “he does not want a...problem with me.” In another conversation on May 1, 2005, the co-conspirator said to VIENTO, “Tell [the operator of Company B] that I said quote, unquote that unless he wants a...nightmare, get that...thing out of there now.”

The co-conspirator was referring to a compactor that was on a competing customer’s property. VIENTO then called the operator of Company B and said, “Why don’t you do everybody a favor and take a ride up to the [customer site] and pull that compactor out of there. Otherwise, you are going to be in for a world of hurt.”

In pleading guilty, VIENTO also admitted that he and others conspired to have another carter (“Company C”) who attempted to buck the property rights system locked out of transfer stations in New York and Connecticut. Further, VIENTO admitted that he attempted to sabotage Company C’s relationship with at least one of its customers by falsely reporting that Company C’s dumpsters were populated by two large rats. Later, VIENTO commented to a co-conspirator that he had given a performance worthy of an academy award.

On June 8, 2006, a federal grand jury in New Haven returned an Indictment charging VIENTO 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, VIENTO pleaded guilty to Count Two of the Indictment.

Judge Burns has scheduled sentencing for June 14, 2007, at which time VIENTO faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years and a fine of up to $250,000. In addition, VIENTO 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 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