Two more mobsters plead guilty in trash hauling scheme
A Todt Hill resident with ties to the Gambino crime family pleaded guilty Friday to charges in connection with a plot to run the waste-hauling industry in the greater New York area, according to a report.
Scott Fappiano was one of two men who each pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of communicating a threat of bodily harm in interstate commerce, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement, the Journal News report said.
The other person was Anthony Bazzini of Glen Head, N.Y.
Bharara said Fappiano, 52, is an associate of the Gambino crime family and that Bazzini, 54, is a member. The pair were among 32 men with links to organized crime who were arrested in January 2013 after a four-year federal investigation into the scheme.
Fappiano and Bazzini are the 20th and 21st, respectively, to plead guilty to charges stemming from the investigation, said the Journal News.
Fappiano was one of five Staten Islanders arrested and accused of participating in a racketeering conspiracy that attempted to dictate which trash pickup stops a particular hauling company could use, and extorted payments from companies in exchange for protection from the mob, according to Advance archives.
Fappiano and Bazzini admitted to making threats of bodily harm to a person who was a cooperating government witness, Bharara said, adding that crimes committed by some of the other 32 suspects include extortion, loansharking, mail fraud and wire fraud.
It's the second time in less than a week that Fappiano made headlines.
On Sunday, the Advance reported Fappiano agreed to fork over $105,000 to resolve a lawsuit filed by his brother, Mark, of West Brighton.
Last May, Fappiano's brother, according to the suit, alleged the man failed to pay a $138,000 debt to him despite having the money to do so.
The lawsuit argued that Fappiano received a $1.8 million settlement from the state several years ago for false imprisonment, said an Advance report.
Fappiano was incarcerated for 21 years for the 1983 rape of a police officer's wife in Brooklyn, which he didn't commit. DNA evidence exonerated him more than seven years ago.
http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2014/01/report_mob-affiliated_staten_i.html
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