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N.J. State Report Finds Mob Used Loopholes to Take Advantage of Recycling Laws
Organized crime elements have been able to evade any form of background vetting and licensure in the Garden State.
1 Min Read
A New Jersey state commission issued a 46-page report showing that organized crime elements found loopholes in state regulations that allowed them to stay active in the state’s hauling sector.
The State Commission of Investigation (SCI) in N.J. as been tracking organized crime and public corruption since the 1960s. In 2011, a report revealed that convicted felons who had been banned from waste disposal in New York had been able to operate in the state of New Jersey undetected thanks to the state’s law regulations.
Last year the commission held further hearings on the mob’s role in the industry and legislators have been looking for ways to close the loopholes that have kept organized crime active in the state.
NJ.com has more on the new report:
"Masquerading as seemingly legitimate recyclers, they are able to evade any form of background vetting and licensure simply because no such requirements exist for those engaged in the business they purportedly conduct," the report said.
The commission followed a trail of records and interviewed witnesses tied to the state's recycling industry, finding "dirt brokers" and other players with organized crime ties exploiting those regulatory loopholes and a lack of oversight.
Investigators from the commission say they watched a mob-connected hauler dump toxic fill from a development site in the Bronx onto a Hurricane Sandy-damaged beach along the Raritan Bay, under the noses of neighbors.
They claim they found dirt brokers -- middlemen who connect construction sites looking to get rid of large quantities of soil and debris to recyclers and developers who can reuse the material -- and other players with ties to the Lucchese and Bonanno organized crime families.
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