United States Attorney's Office District of Connecticut
Press Release

FORMER OWNER OF DANBURY TRASH COMPANY PLEADS GUILTY TO FEDERAL RACKETEERING CONSPIRACY CHARGE

Kevin J. O’Connor, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that ANTHONY NOVELLA III, age 29, of 27 Stetson Place, Danbury, 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). NOVELLA was associated with A.J. Novella Sanitation, a carting company located in Danbury, until approximately May 2005.

According to documents filed with the Court and statements made in court, NOVELLA 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. NOVELLA 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, in December 2004, NOVELLA was intercepted over a court-authorized wiretap engaging in a series of discussions about, among other things, “Customer A.” Customer A had a service contract with NOVELLA, but pursuant to the property rights system, NOVELLA planned to discontinue servicing Customer A. However, Customer A did not want to be serviced by another co-conspirator’s company, who was also a participant in the property rights system. NOVELLA agreed with the co-conspirator that Customer A should be serviced by the co-conspirator’s company, even though the customer had signed a contract with NOVELLA’s company. NOVELLA told the co-conspirator “I want to get our stories straight” with respect to why NOVELLA would no longer service Customer A’s account. Initially, the co-conspirator advised NOVELLA to tell Customer A that NOVELLA was being sued by the co-conspirator’s company, a fact that was not true. When that plan failed to work, the co-conspirator then told NOVELLA to recommend to Customer A one of two other companies controlled by the co-conspirator on the false pretense that these companies were independent entities. NOVELLA’s company eventually removed its dumpster and stopped providing service to Customer A.

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

On June 8, 2006, a federal grand jury in New Haven returned an Indictment charging NOVELLA and several other individuals and businesses on various charges stemming from a long-term investigation in the waste-hauling industry in Connecticut and eastern New York. Today, NOVELLA pleaded guilty to Count Two of the Indictment.

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