by Wiseguy » Tue Aug 14, 2018 8:33 pm
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.
Kiera Feldman
August 13, 2018
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.
The ban, issued in 1998 and formally called a debarment, came with a very specific prohibition for anyone still working in the industry: No garbage company in New York City could do business with Savino.
Century Waste was started in 2005, and is today owned by Marc Savino, Frank’s son. It is not clear if any financial relationship exists between Marc Savino and his father — paying rent for the land, for instance. Frank Savino bought the land in 2001 and then transferred it in 2004 to an LLC that lists him as a principal: Dowd Ave Associates, the owner of the property at 623 Dowd Avenue, Century Waste’s headquarters.
ProPublica sent a list of questions about Century Waste’s operations, including any dealings with Frank Savino, to the company’s spokesman, Ara Chekmayan. He did not address the questions about Marc Savino’s dealings with his father, but issued a statement regarding the fatal Aug. 1 accident in Brooklyn. Efforts to reach Frank Savino in recent days were not successful, and an initial online search did not yield any instances of Frank Savino discussing his lifetime ban or his current association with his son’s trash business.
https://www.propublica.org/article/a-fa ... operationsA 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.
Kiera Feldman
August 13, 2018
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.
The ban, issued in 1998 and formally called a debarment, came with a very specific prohibition for anyone still working in the industry: No garbage company in New York City could do business with Savino.
Century Waste was started in 2005, and is today owned by Marc Savino, Frank’s son. It is not clear if any financial relationship exists between Marc Savino and his father — paying rent for the land, for instance. Frank Savino bought the land in 2001 and then transferred it in 2004 to an LLC that lists him as a principal: Dowd Ave Associates, the owner of the property at 623 Dowd Avenue, Century Waste’s headquarters.
ProPublica sent a list of questions about Century Waste’s operations, including any dealings with Frank Savino, to the company’s spokesman, Ara Chekmayan. He did not address the questions about Marc Savino’s dealings with his father, but issued a statement regarding the fatal Aug. 1 accident in Brooklyn. Efforts to reach Frank Savino in recent days were not successful, and an initial online search did not yield any instances of Frank Savino discussing his lifetime ban or his current association with his son’s trash business.
https://www.propublica.org/article/a-fatal-accident-leads-to-broader-questions-about-nyc-trash-haulers-operations