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A Fatal Accident Leads to Broader Questions About NYC Trash Hauler's Operations
A Fatal Accident Leads to Broader Questions About NYC Trash Hauler’s Operations
A ProPublica inquiry sparked by the death of a motorist in Brooklyn shows the trash company involved is headquartered on land owned by someone banned from the industry years ago.
by Kiera Feldman Aug. 13, 12:45 p.m. EDT
Shortly after a wheel came loose from a Century Waste garbage truck in Brooklyn, killing a motorist in an oncoming car, the New York City agency that oversees the private sanitation industry announced it would help the police investigate the crash.
There would seem to be much to investigate, for Century Waste trucks have routinely failed safety inspections in recent years. Federal records show that 65 percent of the company’s 32 trucks subjected to government inspection were pulled off the road for safety violations over the past two years.
But ProPublica has discovered something else the city agency, known as the Business Integrity Commission, could look into as well: Records show that Century Waste’s headquarters sit on land owned by a man the city had run out of New York’s private sanitation industry years ago during a crackdown on mob influence and corruption. The Business Integrity Commission, which oversees New York City’s trash collection industry, bars companies from doing business of any kind with such individuals. In fact, the agency was created with the express purpose of keeping such people out of the garbage industry.
A review of New Jersey corporate and property records show that the man who owns the land through an LLC — an industrial property in Elizabeth, New Jersey — is Frank Savino, who along with other members of his family ran several trash hauling companies in New York City two decades ago. In the late 1990s, as part of a racketeering case brought by the Manhattan district attorney’s office, prosecutors charged Savino with conspiracy to form a monopoly. Savino eventually pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor — criminal facilitation. In order to sell the family companies, he agreed to a lifetime ban from the private trash industry.
....
A ProPublica inquiry sparked by the death of a motorist in Brooklyn shows the trash company involved is headquartered on land owned by someone banned from the industry years ago.
by Kiera Feldman Aug. 13, 12:45 p.m. EDT
Shortly after a wheel came loose from a Century Waste garbage truck in Brooklyn, killing a motorist in an oncoming car, the New York City agency that oversees the private sanitation industry announced it would help the police investigate the crash.
There would seem to be much to investigate, for Century Waste trucks have routinely failed safety inspections in recent years. Federal records show that 65 percent of the company’s 32 trucks subjected to government inspection were pulled off the road for safety violations over the past two years.
But ProPublica has discovered something else the city agency, known as the Business Integrity Commission, could look into as well: Records show that Century Waste’s headquarters sit on land owned by a man the city had run out of New York’s private sanitation industry years ago during a crackdown on mob influence and corruption. The Business Integrity Commission, which oversees New York City’s trash collection industry, bars companies from doing business of any kind with such individuals. In fact, the agency was created with the express purpose of keeping such people out of the garbage industry.
A review of New Jersey corporate and property records show that the man who owns the land through an LLC — an industrial property in Elizabeth, New Jersey — is Frank Savino, who along with other members of his family ran several trash hauling companies in New York City two decades ago. In the late 1990s, as part of a racketeering case brought by the Manhattan district attorney’s office, prosecutors charged Savino with conspiracy to form a monopoly. Savino eventually pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor — criminal facilitation. In order to sell the family companies, he agreed to a lifetime ban from the private trash industry.
....
