Cart Co. probed for Mob Ties: City looks into moonlighting owner's brothers, suspicious fire
Anthony Castelle appears to be the only sanitation worker in the city with permission to run a private carting company on the side.
That may not have been the best idea.
Now city investigators are probing whether Castelle's moonlighting company, Coney Island Container, is tied to the mob - and fire marshals are looking into a recent fire that destroyed all the company's trucks.
"There's a pending background investigation into this company," Business Integrity Commissioner Michael Mansfield said.
Mansfield refused to elaborate but, over the years, the agency has raised issues about Castelle's two mobbed-up brothers.
In a 2005 permit to operate Coney Island that's now up for renewal, Castelle, 40, was warned that the mob and his kin, Eugene "Boobsie" Castelle, 49, and John "Big John" Castellucci, 50, should have nothing to do with the firm.
The FBI says Eugene Castelle is a capo in the Lucchese crime family and Castellucci is affiliated with the mob's Bensonhurst crew. Both were jailed after a 2000 racketeering case. At the time, the city's Business Integrity Commission allowed Coney Island to operate, but made Castelle promise he wouldn't "associate with any member or associate of organized crime or any racketeer."
Records show he was told he could not "employ, retain the services of, or do business with Eugene Castelle or John Castellucci, either directly or indirectly."
By then Anthony Castelle and a partner had operated Coney Island for three years at the Castelle family's home address with a temporary license. Castelle did not yet have permission to moonlight with Coney Island. Awaiting a permanent license, the firm removed construction and demolition debris from commercial sites and residences, records show.
In 2004, Castellucci was released from prison, followed by Eugene Castelle in July 2008.
In between, in 2005, Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty gave Anthony Castelle permission to keep his city job from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. while running his side business, Coney Island Container.
The City Conflicts of Interest Board agreed. Board OIB records show several sanitation workers got permission to moonlight as janitors, security guards and even as a TV cameraman, but only Castelle is running his own carting company.
Sanitation spokesman Matthew Lipani said Castelle "followed proper procedure regarding approval for outside employment." He said the department had no record of his business prior to that time.
Asked how the agency monitored his work hours, Lipani said all employees were required to sign in and out. The company's license came up for renewal in August. This time, with the brothers out of jail and a suspicious fire under investigation, the BIC decided to take a closer look at Coney Island.
Recently, concerns arose about at least one brother's continued mob connections. In early April, Eugene Castelle's probation officer ordered him to stay away from organized crime figures, records show.
Then, before dawn on April 25, fire trucks found four dump trucks and a Bobcat loader engulfed in flames in Coney Island's lot, FDNY spokesman Jim Long said. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
In a brief interview outside his Staten Island home, Anthony Castelle made clear what he thinks happened: "Somebody burnt my trucks." He said investigators who swarmed the lot after the fire "treated us like we were the villains...We were the victims."
When cops asked if he had any enemies, he said no. Then they asked what he deemed "the dumb question: 'Did your brothers do it?' "
"My brothers aren't involved in the business," Castelle said. "My brothers work (in construction)."
He insisted he had no idea who started the fire. "Nobody can say nothing unless they can prove otherwise and they can't. It is what it is."
That may not have been the best idea.
Now city investigators are probing whether Castelle's moonlighting company, Coney Island Container, is tied to the mob - and fire marshals are looking into a recent fire that destroyed all the company's trucks.
"There's a pending background investigation into this company," Business Integrity Commissioner Michael Mansfield said.
Mansfield refused to elaborate but, over the years, the agency has raised issues about Castelle's two mobbed-up brothers.
In a 2005 permit to operate Coney Island that's now up for renewal, Castelle, 40, was warned that the mob and his kin, Eugene "Boobsie" Castelle, 49, and John "Big John" Castellucci, 50, should have nothing to do with the firm.
The FBI says Eugene Castelle is a capo in the Lucchese crime family and Castellucci is affiliated with the mob's Bensonhurst crew. Both were jailed after a 2000 racketeering case. At the time, the city's Business Integrity Commission allowed Coney Island to operate, but made Castelle promise he wouldn't "associate with any member or associate of organized crime or any racketeer."
Records show he was told he could not "employ, retain the services of, or do business with Eugene Castelle or John Castellucci, either directly or indirectly."
By then Anthony Castelle and a partner had operated Coney Island for three years at the Castelle family's home address with a temporary license. Castelle did not yet have permission to moonlight with Coney Island. Awaiting a permanent license, the firm removed construction and demolition debris from commercial sites and residences, records show.
In 2004, Castellucci was released from prison, followed by Eugene Castelle in July 2008.
In between, in 2005, Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty gave Anthony Castelle permission to keep his city job from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. while running his side business, Coney Island Container.
The City Conflicts of Interest Board agreed. Board OIB records show several sanitation workers got permission to moonlight as janitors, security guards and even as a TV cameraman, but only Castelle is running his own carting company.
Sanitation spokesman Matthew Lipani said Castelle "followed proper procedure regarding approval for outside employment." He said the department had no record of his business prior to that time.
Asked how the agency monitored his work hours, Lipani said all employees were required to sign in and out. The company's license came up for renewal in August. This time, with the brothers out of jail and a suspicious fire under investigation, the BIC decided to take a closer look at Coney Island.
Recently, concerns arose about at least one brother's continued mob connections. In early April, Eugene Castelle's probation officer ordered him to stay away from organized crime figures, records show.
Then, before dawn on April 25, fire trucks found four dump trucks and a Bobcat loader engulfed in flames in Coney Island's lot, FDNY spokesman Jim Long said. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
In a brief interview outside his Staten Island home, Anthony Castelle made clear what he thinks happened: "Somebody burnt my trucks." He said investigators who swarmed the lot after the fire "treated us like we were the villains...We were the victims."
When cops asked if he had any enemies, he said no. Then they asked what he deemed "the dumb question: 'Did your brothers do it?' "
"My brothers aren't involved in the business," Castelle said. "My brothers work (in construction)."
He insisted he had no idea who started the fire. "Nobody can say nothing unless they can prove otherwise and they can't. It is what it is."
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