Dive Brief:

• Two mobsters took pleas for their roles in a modern scheme to control the waste business in New York City.
• "Papa Smurf" a.k.a. Carmine Franco and Anthony Pucciarello, both part of the Genovese crime family, admitted to joining together to keep officials from cleaning up the trash business by using strong-arm tactics to shake down owners of waste companies by secretly taking over ownership of the business.
• Franco will serve up to 33 months in jail under his plea deal while Pucciarello will face up to six months behind bars. Both will be sentenced in March.

Dive Insight:

Franco ultimately pleaded guilty to racketeering, mail and wire fraud and interstate transportation of stolen cargo. Pucciarello pleaded guilty to extortion charges. In August, some members had pleaded guilty to charges to control sanitation collections in a Manhattan Federal Court.