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Carting Company Operator Pleads Guilty to Bribing Mount Vernon Official
LEV L. DASSIN, the Acting United States Attorney for the
Southern District of New York, and JOSEPH M. DEMAREST JR., the
assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, announced that ALBERT TRANQUILLO III
pleaded guilty today in White Plains federal court to conspiracy to
defraud the City of Mount Vernon and to delivering a bribe to the
Supervisor of the Mount Vernon Department of Public Works to allow
a carting company he operated to overbill the City for removing
waste from City property. TRANQUILLO acknowledged that his conduct
caused up to $1 million in losses to the City and agreed to make
restitution in that amount.
According to Counts One and Three of the Superseding
Indictment, the Counts to which TRANQUILLO pleaded guilty, the City
of Mount Vernon collected debris from businesses and residences and
temporarily stored that debris at a waste yard in Mount Vernon, New
York (the “yard”). The debris included trees, branches and stumps
as well as concrete and other construction debris. Mount Vernon
contracted with private carting companies to remove the debris from
the yard and dispose of it appropriately. In November 2001 A & D
Carting, a business run by TRANQUILLO and a late relative of his,
was awarded a contract by the City of Mount Vernon to collect and
dispose of debris from the yard at a price of $397 per 30-cubicyard
container. To receive payment, A & D Carting was required to
submit invoices to Mount Vernon identifying how many 30-cubic-yard
containers were removed from the yard on particular dates, together
with a pre-printed receipt form (commonly referred to as a
“ticket”) that was supposed to be signed by a City employee at the
yard each time a container was carted away.
However, from in or about 2002 until in or about March
2006, TRANQUILLO participated in a scheme to defraud the City by
submitting tickets and invoices claiming that far more waste had
been removed from the yard than was actually the case. TRANQUILLO
and his relative were able to make the scheme work by bribing James
Castaldo, the Supervisor of the Mount Vernon Department of Public
Works. (Castaldo pleaded guilty in July 2008 to conspiracy to
commit mail fraud and accepting bribes from TRANQUILLO and his
relative, and was sentenced on October 23, 2008, to five years’
imprisonment.) At the time of his plea, TRANQUILLO specifically
admitted to delivering bribes to a Mount Vernon official and to
engaging in the overbilling scheme.
TRANQUILLO appeared today before United States Magistrate
Judge GEORGE A. YANTHIS to enter his plea of guilty to Counts One
and Three of the Superseding Indictment, charging conspiracy to
defraud the City of Mount Vernon, and bribery of a public official.
He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment on the
conspiracy charge and 10 years’ on the bribery charge, plus maximum
fines on each count of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or gross
loss on each count, as well as forfeiture of the proceeds of his
offenses.
Mr. DASSIN praised the investigative work of the FBI.
Assistant United States Attorneys ARLO DEVLIN-BROWN and
NICHOLAS MCQUAID are in charge of the prosecution.
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