The mob is still dumping contaminated waste all over N.J., state says
By S.P. Sullivan for New Jersey Advance Media
May 25, 2016
TRENTON - New Jersey's recycling industry remains tainted by organized crime elements making big money by illegally dumping contaminated material near waterways and homes, state investigators claim.
The State Commission of Investigation is now probing how sections of the waste disposal profession "have been subverted into an underground economy that profits from the improper disposal of contaminated soil and construction debris," according to Kathy Hennessy Riley, a commission spokeswoman.
On Wednesday, the commission will hold a hearing as part of its investigation into weaknesses in New Jersey's regulation of the recycling industry that have allowed criminals to thrive.
The hearing, scheduled for 10 a.m. at the Statehouse annex, will include testimony from witnesses including commission investigators, "industry insiders" and state and local authorities, according to a press advisory.
The SCI is an independent watchdog formed in the late 1960s to rout out organized crime and public corruption. Recent investigations uncovered alleged abuse in online tax sales, used car sales and the bail bonds industry.
This is not the first time the commission has turned its gaze to the state's recycling and waste disposal industries, which have long been associated with organized crime.
A 2011 report found the state's lax regulations allowed convicted felons who had been banned from waste disposal in New York had been able to operate in New Jersey undetected.
While hearings are considered an early step in the commission's fact-finding process, Riley said the most recent investigation has already uncovered illegal dumping that caused "serious environmental damage and endangered public health."
The hearing will be streamed live on the commission's website, state.nj.us/sci
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/20 ... _says.html
Mob still dumping contaminated waste in Jersey
Moderator: Capos
Mob still dumping contaminated waste in Jersey
All roads lead to New York.
Re: Mob still dumping contaminated waste in Jersey
'Dirt brokers' polluting N.J., investigators say
Philly.com
May 25, 2016
TRENTON - Convicted criminals and individuals with ties to organized crime have dumped tons of contaminated soil and construction debris near residential areas and waterways in New Jersey in recent years, enabled by gaping loopholes in state regulations, investigators say.
The scheme stretches across the state, from Palmyra to Newark, according to the State Commission of Investigation, which held a three-hour hearing on the matter Wednesday at the Statehouse.
Between 2012 and 2013, a small recycling center in South Jersey became a "sprawling landfill occupied by acres of construction debris strewn within shouting distance of the Delaware River," Lee C. Seglem, acting executive director of the commission, said in an opening statement.
"It should surprise no one that the architects of this toxic trafficking include organized-crime associates and convicted criminals," he said.
Rogue "dirt brokers," Seglem said, have been able to recruit truckers to haul contaminated soil from New York to unauthorized locations in the Garden State.
Unlike solid-waste haulers, the brokers are "subject to no licensing requirements, not even simple background checks," Seglem said.
The investigation is continuing. Once it is complete, the commission will issue recommendations. As a result of the investigation so far, two Hudson County men have been sentenced to federal prison for extortion, investigators said.
The commission's findings are disconcerting not least because it released a report just five years ago exposing organized crime's role in the solid-waste industry. The current investigation is a spin-off of the 2011 effort.
In Palmyra, a 100-acre site operated by Jersey Recycling Services adjacent to the Pennsauken Creek had state authorization to accept 20,000 cubic yards annually of leaves and vegetation to be processed and sold as mulch to the general public, said Michael Dancisin, senior special agent with the commission.
The site's owner, Bradley Sirkin, skirted regulations, hauling in 19 times that amount of contaminated soil, concrete, and other materials for which he didn't have a permit to process. The debris came from construction sites in Philadelphia, Camden, and New Brunswick, investigators said.
The soil from the construction site of what was to become Camden Community Charter School and a development in New Brunswick contained levels of PAHs, a carcinogen, that exceeded safety thresholds for residential areas.
Sirkin told contractors his facility had been approved by the state to accept such materials, which was not true, investigators said.
Jersey Recycling Services (JRS) mixed clean topsoil with contaminated dirt to sell mulch to landscapers, who in turn sold it to the public, investigators said, citing interviews with employees.
However, investigators could not say definitively whether the "dirty dirt" ended up in homeowners' flower beds and vegetable gardens, since they couldn't test what had been sold.
Soon after the commission alerted the state Department of Environmental Protection to its findings in 2013, the agency shut down the Palmyra site.
The DEP took photos showing runoff into the Pennsauken Creek. The department sent Sirkin notice of violations, but by then he had moved to Boca Raton, Fla., investigators said.
Thomas Farrell, chief of the department's Bureau of Solid Waste Compliance and Enforcement, said he was working with the Attorney General's Office "to generate an order to show cause" and make Sirkin take corrective actions.
Investigators said Sirkin was convicted on federal racketeering charges in the 1990s, is related to a member of the Lucchese crime family in New York, and has a relationship with a high-ranking member of the Philadelphia mob.
A source, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified that person as Joey Merlino, the mob boss who was released from prison last year.
In a more direct connection with organized crime, bank records reviewed by investigators show that a captain in New York's Bonanno crime family gave a $50,000 "shareholder loan" to JRS through a shell company. Sirkin never repaid the loan.
Dancisin, the special agent, testified that dirt broker Frank Gillette "collected payments" from JRS. It was not clear how much money Gillette or the Bonanno crime-family member made from the arrangement.
Gillette, who investigators said has served time for petty larceny and writing bad checks, was issued a subpoena to testify at Wednesday's hearing. He appeared with his attorney and declined to answer questions, asserting his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
The commission also served subpoenas on Sirkin, whose attorney wrote back that Sirkin also would assert his Fifth Amendment right.
"It's all about money," said Robert Collins, another SCI special agent, describing the motivation behind organized crime's infiltration of the recycling industry. "Finding a home for soil, especially contaminated soil, is extremely expensive."
Gillette and his associate in the Bonanno crime family also were involved in a scheme to dump contaminated dirt in the Cliffwood Beach section of Old Bridge Township, according to investigators.
Hurricane Sandy caused significant beach erosion there, and homeowners sought the help of Gregory Guido, a dirt broker, to bring in fill material, according to a commission investigator.
Guido, who had been convicted on racketeering charges, collaborated with Gillette to dump contaminated material on the beach, investigators said. When homeowners saw the debris, they asked Guido to stop hauling it.
But he continued, investigators said, working with Gillette to transport the dirt, which contained known carcinogens, from a demolition site in the Bronx to Cliffwood Beach and to the Middlesex County Utility Authority. Guido, who could not be reached Wednesday, has spoken with commission investigators privately.
The chemicals are airborne, posing a danger to homeowners, and also could run off into the Raritan Bay, adjacent to the beach.
The township is capping the site as part of a remediation project that cost taxpayers there $250,000. The area will need to be monitored for the next 30 years, said agent Joseph Bredehoft.
Bank records reviewed by investigators show that the enterprise was lucrative for some. A subcontractor paid $320,000 to companies controlled by Gillette. Bredehoft also said records show that Gillette had written a $25,000 check to his contact in the Bonanno crime family.
"In short time, these people . . . had reaped great profits at the cost of the citizens," Bredehoft said.
Gary Sondermeyer, who worked at the DEP for 30 years before becoming vice president of operations for Bayshore Recycling Inc. in 2010, told the commission that inspection resources at the agency were "so limited" that these sites "are virtually unbridled."
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/break ... s_say.html
Philly.com
May 25, 2016
TRENTON - Convicted criminals and individuals with ties to organized crime have dumped tons of contaminated soil and construction debris near residential areas and waterways in New Jersey in recent years, enabled by gaping loopholes in state regulations, investigators say.
The scheme stretches across the state, from Palmyra to Newark, according to the State Commission of Investigation, which held a three-hour hearing on the matter Wednesday at the Statehouse.
Between 2012 and 2013, a small recycling center in South Jersey became a "sprawling landfill occupied by acres of construction debris strewn within shouting distance of the Delaware River," Lee C. Seglem, acting executive director of the commission, said in an opening statement.
"It should surprise no one that the architects of this toxic trafficking include organized-crime associates and convicted criminals," he said.
Rogue "dirt brokers," Seglem said, have been able to recruit truckers to haul contaminated soil from New York to unauthorized locations in the Garden State.
Unlike solid-waste haulers, the brokers are "subject to no licensing requirements, not even simple background checks," Seglem said.
The investigation is continuing. Once it is complete, the commission will issue recommendations. As a result of the investigation so far, two Hudson County men have been sentenced to federal prison for extortion, investigators said.
The commission's findings are disconcerting not least because it released a report just five years ago exposing organized crime's role in the solid-waste industry. The current investigation is a spin-off of the 2011 effort.
In Palmyra, a 100-acre site operated by Jersey Recycling Services adjacent to the Pennsauken Creek had state authorization to accept 20,000 cubic yards annually of leaves and vegetation to be processed and sold as mulch to the general public, said Michael Dancisin, senior special agent with the commission.
The site's owner, Bradley Sirkin, skirted regulations, hauling in 19 times that amount of contaminated soil, concrete, and other materials for which he didn't have a permit to process. The debris came from construction sites in Philadelphia, Camden, and New Brunswick, investigators said.
The soil from the construction site of what was to become Camden Community Charter School and a development in New Brunswick contained levels of PAHs, a carcinogen, that exceeded safety thresholds for residential areas.
Sirkin told contractors his facility had been approved by the state to accept such materials, which was not true, investigators said.
Jersey Recycling Services (JRS) mixed clean topsoil with contaminated dirt to sell mulch to landscapers, who in turn sold it to the public, investigators said, citing interviews with employees.
However, investigators could not say definitively whether the "dirty dirt" ended up in homeowners' flower beds and vegetable gardens, since they couldn't test what had been sold.
Soon after the commission alerted the state Department of Environmental Protection to its findings in 2013, the agency shut down the Palmyra site.
The DEP took photos showing runoff into the Pennsauken Creek. The department sent Sirkin notice of violations, but by then he had moved to Boca Raton, Fla., investigators said.
Thomas Farrell, chief of the department's Bureau of Solid Waste Compliance and Enforcement, said he was working with the Attorney General's Office "to generate an order to show cause" and make Sirkin take corrective actions.
Investigators said Sirkin was convicted on federal racketeering charges in the 1990s, is related to a member of the Lucchese crime family in New York, and has a relationship with a high-ranking member of the Philadelphia mob.
A source, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified that person as Joey Merlino, the mob boss who was released from prison last year.
In a more direct connection with organized crime, bank records reviewed by investigators show that a captain in New York's Bonanno crime family gave a $50,000 "shareholder loan" to JRS through a shell company. Sirkin never repaid the loan.
Dancisin, the special agent, testified that dirt broker Frank Gillette "collected payments" from JRS. It was not clear how much money Gillette or the Bonanno crime-family member made from the arrangement.
Gillette, who investigators said has served time for petty larceny and writing bad checks, was issued a subpoena to testify at Wednesday's hearing. He appeared with his attorney and declined to answer questions, asserting his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
The commission also served subpoenas on Sirkin, whose attorney wrote back that Sirkin also would assert his Fifth Amendment right.
"It's all about money," said Robert Collins, another SCI special agent, describing the motivation behind organized crime's infiltration of the recycling industry. "Finding a home for soil, especially contaminated soil, is extremely expensive."
Gillette and his associate in the Bonanno crime family also were involved in a scheme to dump contaminated dirt in the Cliffwood Beach section of Old Bridge Township, according to investigators.
Hurricane Sandy caused significant beach erosion there, and homeowners sought the help of Gregory Guido, a dirt broker, to bring in fill material, according to a commission investigator.
Guido, who had been convicted on racketeering charges, collaborated with Gillette to dump contaminated material on the beach, investigators said. When homeowners saw the debris, they asked Guido to stop hauling it.
But he continued, investigators said, working with Gillette to transport the dirt, which contained known carcinogens, from a demolition site in the Bronx to Cliffwood Beach and to the Middlesex County Utility Authority. Guido, who could not be reached Wednesday, has spoken with commission investigators privately.
The chemicals are airborne, posing a danger to homeowners, and also could run off into the Raritan Bay, adjacent to the beach.
The township is capping the site as part of a remediation project that cost taxpayers there $250,000. The area will need to be monitored for the next 30 years, said agent Joseph Bredehoft.
Bank records reviewed by investigators show that the enterprise was lucrative for some. A subcontractor paid $320,000 to companies controlled by Gillette. Bredehoft also said records show that Gillette had written a $25,000 check to his contact in the Bonanno crime family.
"In short time, these people . . . had reaped great profits at the cost of the citizens," Bredehoft said.
Gary Sondermeyer, who worked at the DEP for 30 years before becoming vice president of operations for Bayshore Recycling Inc. in 2010, told the commission that inspection resources at the agency were "so limited" that these sites "are virtually unbridled."
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/break ... s_say.html
All roads lead to New York.
-
Pogo The Clown
- Men Of Mayhem
- Posts: 14219
- Joined: Thu Oct 23, 2014 7:02 am
Re: Mob still dumping contaminated waste in Jersey
They should be hanged for this.
Pogo
Pogo
It's a new morning in America... fresh, vital. The old cynicism is gone. We have faith in our leaders. We're optimistic as to what becomes of it all. It really boils down to our ability to accept. We don't need pessimism. There are no limits.
Re: Mob still dumping contaminated waste in Jersey
Bradley Sirkin was at the Merlino/Chang meeting in Florida where Merlino got busted for violating his parole. http://articles.philly.com/2014-09-08/n ... elphia-mob
Re: Mob still dumping contaminated waste in Jersey
Pogo The Clown wrote:They should be hanged for this.
Pogo
That would be too kind.
Re: Mob still dumping contaminated waste in Jersey
FOX 29 Investigates: Recycling company accused of illegal dumping
FOX 29's Dave Schratwieser reports
June 29, 2016
News Video at link below
Palmyra, NJ (WTXF) They say the Borough of Palmyra is a great place to grow. Broad Street downtown still looks like a real piece of Americana. But less than a mile away, behind the locked gates, officials say, is a big mess and potentially, a big problem.
“It sickens me. It sickens me that somebody would do that to our community and to our residents. I'm just heartbroken over it," Ulana Zahajkewycz told FOX 29.
It all unfolded on the banks of the Pennsauken Creek, not far from the Delaware River, on piece of ground the borough wanted to see redeveloped. It's right off busy Route 73, next to the Palmyra Cove Nature Park. That all changed, borough and state officials say, when Bradley Sirkin and his company, Jersey Recycling Services came to town in 2013.
“We saw significant environmental degradation. We saw cancer causing agents left behind,” said SCI counsel Andrew Cliver.
John Kozieraschi operates Koz's Auto Repair right next to the Jersey recycling site. He remembers all the trucks.
“It was seven days a week, round the clock. At least a hundred trucks during the working hours, just coming in. around the clock," he explained.
"Hundreds of trucks were coming into the site from all over South Jersey, Philadelphia even into the Central Jersey areas," said Cliver.
The SCI, Borough officials and state environmental officials say the debris that was dumped at Jersey Recycling services was accepted without the proper environmental permits. The dirt hauled by truckers came from three sites, including the site of the Camden Community Charter School on Ninth Street in Camden when it was being build three years ago. Dirt also came from a site in New Brunswick. The SCI says the dirt from those two sites was contaminated.
"Soils that were contaminated with a known carcinogen," said Cliver.
The SCI also says hundreds of truckloads of dirt from the massive $400 million dollar I-95 expansion project in the Philadelphia area were taken to the Palmyra site. The I-95 project is being funded by state and federal taxpayer money.
"We spoke with the person purported to be the guy in charge of accepting and mulching and mixing. He told us he'd never handled construction debris before," Cliver explained.
The SCI and borough officials say when they alerted the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection to what was going on at the Jersey Recycling site in Palmyra, the DEP stepped in, issued a notice of violation. They told Sirkin TO make changes. That's when the SCI says Sirkin skipped town and went back to Boca Raton, Florida.
SCI investigators say Sirkin is a convicted racketeer, who spent time in federal prison. He has, they say, some ties to members of the New York and Philadelphia Mob.
"It's called organized crime for a reason frankly, 380,000 cubic yards illegally dumped on property within the borough," said Palmyra Business Administrator John Gural.
Investigators say Sirkin's father-in-law is a made guy with the Luchese Crime Family in North Jersey. He's also close friends with Philadelphia Mob Boss Joey Merlino. Merlino's federal parole was revoked in 2014 because he was seen associating with Sirkin and Philadelphia Mob Captain and convicted felon, John Ciancaglini, in Florida. Merlino was sent back to jail for three months.
As it turns out, Brad Sirkin was subpoenaed by the SCI to testify a few weeks back before the commission at a public hearing on the dumping in Palmyra. His lawyer sent the commission a letter stating that Sirkin would assert his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself if he was called to testify. He did not appear. But he wasn't the only witness who refused to testify.
The SCI says Frank Gillette ran a similar operation to the one Sirkin set-up in Palmyra. Gillette, they say, sent hundreds of truck loads of construction debris to a beach at the Jersey Shore in Cliffwood Beach, Monmouth County.
"Old Bridge, New Jersey is looking at a $300,000 or so remediation project for Cliffwod Beach that's going to come directly out of the taxpayers pocket," said Cliver.
The SCI says Gillette also has a criminal record and like Sirkin has ties to organized crime.
"We know that he has connections to the same Bonnano crime family Capo who paid into Jersey Recycling Services," said Cliver.
SCI investigators also produced a check that was sent to Sirkin's Company, Jersey Recycling Services, back in 2013. The name of the company who sent it and the person who signed it have been blocked out by the SCI.
"Jersey Recycling received a $50,000 shareholder loan from a known Bonanno Capo," said Cliver.
The mayor and Palmyra officials now claim Sirkin and the property owner, Fillit Inc., have left them with a big mess and a potentially big price tag to cleanup the site. They have now filed suit against Fillit. A trial is scheduled for October.
Taxpayers in Palmyra tell FOX 29 they're concerned. They're hoping the cost for cleaning up all this mess doesn't hit them in the wallet.
We went to Fillit's listed address in Lumberton, NJ to ask some questions. All we found was some old construction equipment and two empty buildings. The gate was locked and the sign on the fence said 'No Trespassing.'
http://www.fox29.com/news/167412540-story
FOX 29's Dave Schratwieser reports
June 29, 2016
News Video at link below
Palmyra, NJ (WTXF) They say the Borough of Palmyra is a great place to grow. Broad Street downtown still looks like a real piece of Americana. But less than a mile away, behind the locked gates, officials say, is a big mess and potentially, a big problem.
“It sickens me. It sickens me that somebody would do that to our community and to our residents. I'm just heartbroken over it," Ulana Zahajkewycz told FOX 29.
It all unfolded on the banks of the Pennsauken Creek, not far from the Delaware River, on piece of ground the borough wanted to see redeveloped. It's right off busy Route 73, next to the Palmyra Cove Nature Park. That all changed, borough and state officials say, when Bradley Sirkin and his company, Jersey Recycling Services came to town in 2013.
“We saw significant environmental degradation. We saw cancer causing agents left behind,” said SCI counsel Andrew Cliver.
John Kozieraschi operates Koz's Auto Repair right next to the Jersey recycling site. He remembers all the trucks.
“It was seven days a week, round the clock. At least a hundred trucks during the working hours, just coming in. around the clock," he explained.
"Hundreds of trucks were coming into the site from all over South Jersey, Philadelphia even into the Central Jersey areas," said Cliver.
The SCI, Borough officials and state environmental officials say the debris that was dumped at Jersey Recycling services was accepted without the proper environmental permits. The dirt hauled by truckers came from three sites, including the site of the Camden Community Charter School on Ninth Street in Camden when it was being build three years ago. Dirt also came from a site in New Brunswick. The SCI says the dirt from those two sites was contaminated.
"Soils that were contaminated with a known carcinogen," said Cliver.
The SCI also says hundreds of truckloads of dirt from the massive $400 million dollar I-95 expansion project in the Philadelphia area were taken to the Palmyra site. The I-95 project is being funded by state and federal taxpayer money.
"We spoke with the person purported to be the guy in charge of accepting and mulching and mixing. He told us he'd never handled construction debris before," Cliver explained.
The SCI and borough officials say when they alerted the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection to what was going on at the Jersey Recycling site in Palmyra, the DEP stepped in, issued a notice of violation. They told Sirkin TO make changes. That's when the SCI says Sirkin skipped town and went back to Boca Raton, Florida.
SCI investigators say Sirkin is a convicted racketeer, who spent time in federal prison. He has, they say, some ties to members of the New York and Philadelphia Mob.
"It's called organized crime for a reason frankly, 380,000 cubic yards illegally dumped on property within the borough," said Palmyra Business Administrator John Gural.
Investigators say Sirkin's father-in-law is a made guy with the Luchese Crime Family in North Jersey. He's also close friends with Philadelphia Mob Boss Joey Merlino. Merlino's federal parole was revoked in 2014 because he was seen associating with Sirkin and Philadelphia Mob Captain and convicted felon, John Ciancaglini, in Florida. Merlino was sent back to jail for three months.
As it turns out, Brad Sirkin was subpoenaed by the SCI to testify a few weeks back before the commission at a public hearing on the dumping in Palmyra. His lawyer sent the commission a letter stating that Sirkin would assert his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself if he was called to testify. He did not appear. But he wasn't the only witness who refused to testify.
The SCI says Frank Gillette ran a similar operation to the one Sirkin set-up in Palmyra. Gillette, they say, sent hundreds of truck loads of construction debris to a beach at the Jersey Shore in Cliffwood Beach, Monmouth County.
"Old Bridge, New Jersey is looking at a $300,000 or so remediation project for Cliffwod Beach that's going to come directly out of the taxpayers pocket," said Cliver.
The SCI says Gillette also has a criminal record and like Sirkin has ties to organized crime.
"We know that he has connections to the same Bonnano crime family Capo who paid into Jersey Recycling Services," said Cliver.
SCI investigators also produced a check that was sent to Sirkin's Company, Jersey Recycling Services, back in 2013. The name of the company who sent it and the person who signed it have been blocked out by the SCI.
"Jersey Recycling received a $50,000 shareholder loan from a known Bonanno Capo," said Cliver.
The mayor and Palmyra officials now claim Sirkin and the property owner, Fillit Inc., have left them with a big mess and a potentially big price tag to cleanup the site. They have now filed suit against Fillit. A trial is scheduled for October.
Taxpayers in Palmyra tell FOX 29 they're concerned. They're hoping the cost for cleaning up all this mess doesn't hit them in the wallet.
We went to Fillit's listed address in Lumberton, NJ to ask some questions. All we found was some old construction equipment and two empty buildings. The gate was locked and the sign on the fence said 'No Trespassing.'
http://www.fox29.com/news/167412540-story
All roads lead to New York.
Re: Mob still dumping contaminated waste in Jersey
Who is Brad sirkins father in law?