Reputed 'Mob Muscle' admits role in trash scheme

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Reputed 'Mob Muscle' admits role in trash scheme

Timothy O'Connor
The Journal News

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The reputed mob muscle in the plot to illegally carve up trash territory in Connecticut and the Lower Hudson Valley has pleaded guilty in the case.

Matthew "Matty the Horse" Ianniello, accused of being the former boss of the Genovese crime family, pleaded guilty yesterday to racketeering conspiracy and tax evasion in U.S. District Court in New Haven. He is likely to face up to 30 months in prison when he is sentenced in March.

Ianniello, 86, from Old Westbury, Long Island, was one of 29 people indicted in June in connection with the so-called "property rights" scheme that federal prosecutors say dates back to the 1960s.

Its current incarnation was alleged to be headed by New Fairfield trash magnate James Galante and his accused silent partner, Thomas Milo of Mamaroneck.

The town of Southeast recently renewed its municipal carting contract with a company owned by Galante.

The scheme was designed to eliminate competition in the lucrative, but often seamy, trash-hauling industry in Connecticut and Putnam and Westchester counties. Participating carters divided up territory and agreed not to bid against one another for contracts, federal prosecutors said.

To enforce the plot, it is alleged, Galante and Milo turned to Ianniello to provide the implicit threat of mob violence. Ianniello received a quarterly "mob tax" payment of $30,000, resulting in $120,000 a year in income that he did not report on his tax returns.

During an 18-month investigation, FBI agents uncovered evidence of Ianniello's involvement in the plot through a wiretap. Federal prosecutors also said that a document seized from an office of one of Ianniello's co-defendants in July 2005 revealed cash payments to the reputed former acting boss of the Genoveses, a group authorities have described as the most powerful of the Five Families of New York's mafia.

FBI agents raided Galante's offices in July 2005 as well as those of Thomas Milo. Agents also searched the offices of Putnam County Executive Robert Bondi, who was not charged in the case and has said his office cooperated fully with the FBI.

Ianniello evaded nearly $140,000 in federal taxes in the years 2001 through 2004, federal prosecutors said. He has agreed to pay taxes and penalties in excess of $277,000 and forfeit more than $130,000 that was seized from his house in July 2005.

Ianniello is awaiting sentencing in New York after pleading guilty to racketeering in a case where he was accused of helping infiltrate a bus drivers union. His lawyers did not return calls seeking comment.

Reach Timothy O'Connor at tpoconnor@lohud.com or 914-694-3523.