Richard Galietti the son, brother and cousin of retired police officers, was sent to prison for 46 months after pleading guilty

Richard Galietti, 35, of Fort Myers, Fla., the son, brother and cousin of retired police officers, was sent to prison for 46 months after pleading guilty to conspiring to violate federal racketeering law and making a false statement to federal investigators. Galietti worked for a network of trash-related companies owned by James Galante, who pleaded guilty to related charges last month and faces more than seven years in prison when he is sentenced in September.
U.S. District Judge Ellen B. Burns called Galietti an "important cog in the Galante machine" and sentenced him at the top of the federal guideline range, from 37 to 46 months. She also ordered Galietti to forfeit more than $130,000 to the federal government.Galietti was lead salesman for Galante's Automated Waste Disposal and nine affiliated companies. He is accused, with Galante and 31 others, of setting up what is known as a property rights system, a scheme under which trash haulers secretly agree not to service or compete for one another's customers.
Federal prosecutors say the scheme was directed at commercial and government customers and had the effect of artificially inflating carting costs. They said customers had no option but to pay whatever rate was charged by the hauler servicing their area. Galietti enforced the property rights system through "extortion and threats," prosecutors said.Galietti convened meetings with competitors to eliminate potential price wars, blocked carters who wouldn't participate in the price-fixing scheme from using Galante controlled waste transfer stations, bullied customers seeking more favorable rates and damaged equipment owned by a competitor, prosecutors said.Prior to his indictment, Galietti was accused of trying to use confidential law enforcement computer databases to learn if he, Galante or Galante's companies were the subjects of a criminal investigation. Specifically, he is accused of seeking such information from a cousin, Paul Galietti, who was a Connecticut State Police trooper, and a friend, who was an agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.The false statement charge arose from a 2006 Internal Revenue Service probe of a Fort Myers company. Galietti went to work for the Florida company after being released on bond in the trash case.IRS agents encountered Galietti on Dec. 14, 2006, while serving a search warrant on the Florida company. When an IRS agent asked Galietti whether he worked for the company, Galietti replied that he was just "dropping by to say hello." A federal grand jury in Florida indicted Galietti for the false statement, federal prosecutors said.In addition to the 33 individuals, 10 businesses were indicted in the trash case in June 2006.

Posted in: Galante's Automated Waste Disposal