Locations in Calverton and Riverside were among 24 on Long Island used as illegal dumping sites in an alleged conspiracy by 30 people and nine corporations to dispose of hazardous and solid wastes, according to a 130-count indictment unsealed by a Suffolk County judge yesterday. (See document below.)
More than 70 cubic yards of soil contaminated by banned pesticides were dumped at 2669 Sound Avenue in Calverton in June 2017 by Durante Bros. Construction Corp., according to the indictment.
On May 16, solid waste originating from Durante Bros. Construction Corp. was also dumped on property on Middle Country Road in Calverton owned by T.S. Haulers, according to the indictment.
Durante Bros. Construction Corp., which operates a materials transfer station in Flushing Queens, was one of a dozen companies charged in July with illegally dumping solid waste and materials in various locations throughout the county, including parks. Those charges remain pending in Suffolk County Criminal Court.
On May 30, materials containing solid waste were dumped on a residential property at 306 Flanders Road in Riverside by trucks owned by Kris Trucking Corp., according to the indictment.
“What we’re dealing with here is an epidemic of illegal dumping in Suffolk County,” District Attorney Timothy Sini said yesterday. “It’s gone on far too long, and our message is very clear: we will not tolerate this criminal conduct in our county. We will do whatever it takes to uncover illegal dumping.”
Sini and representatives of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Suffolk County Police Department yesterday announced the indictment, the result of an investigation by the district attorney’s office, the DEC and Suffolk Police. The months-long investigation, known as “Operation Pay Dirt,” involved the use of electronic surveillance, including court-authorized eavesdropping, and physical surveillance.
The alleged conspiracy centered around Anthony Grazio (aka “Rock”), 53, of Smithtown, who acts as a “dirt broker” by arranging for locations where trucking companies could illegally dispose of solid waste, according to prosecutors. Grazio posted advertisements on Craigslist for “clean fill” for landscaping projects and solicited homeowners over the phone and in person for locations to use for dumping.
The material that was illegally dumped came from recycling and transfer stations located in New York City and Long Island, including Queens-based Durante Bros Construction Corp. It was then transported and dumped at the sites by trucking companies including DJCI Enterprises, Inc.; IEV Trucking Corp.; Kris Trucking Corp.; Modern Leasing, Inc. doing business as Dumpmasters; New York Trucking and Carting Corporation; NYTAC Corp.; ClairCo Industries, Inc., doing business as St. Clair Trucking; and Starfire Industries, Inc., doing business as Platinum Aggregates, Inc.
“During their phone conversations, Rock and the owners or operators of the trucking companies would discuss residential and commercial sites and the amount of material that could be dumped at a particular site,” District Attorney Sini said. “The bigger the property, the better for the defendants, as this scam was all about making money. When an ideal property was found, Grazio could often be heard directing his co-conspirators to ‘hit it hard.’ Grazio approved material being dumped at residential locations even when notified that material smelled like diesel fuel or had pieces of wood, asphalt, concrete, large boulders, or even glass contained in the material.”
Kris Trucking Corp. is alleged to have taken construction and demolition debris directly from construction sites in New York City and illegally dumped it at residential and commercial locations.
“They did this to make money, they did this to save on operating costs, and they did it at the expense of the health of our residents,” Sini said.
DEC testing of the illegally dumped solid waste found that six of the locations contained acutely hazardous substances and 17 of the locations contained hazardous substances under New York State Environmental Conservation Law. The acutely hazardous substances included aldrin, dieldrin and heptachlor, which are all pesticides. The hazardous substances included arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, lead, nickel, zinc and mercury, which are all metals.
Nineteen of the 24 locations are residential, four are commercial, and one is a school. The solid waste dumped at the school was immediately removed.
“It’s bad enough to dump solid waste and dangerous materials in someone’s front or backyards given the dangers that it poses to children and others,” Sini said. “But what’s even worse here in Suffolk County is that we live on an aquifer where we get our drinking water, so when we deal with illegal dumping, there is also the potential for it to affect our water supply.”
The top count of the indictment is Criminal Mischief in the Second Degree, a D felony, which carries a maximum sentence of up to seven years in prison.
The following defendants are charged by way of the indictment in connection with the illegal transport and dumping of solid waste:
Alberto Santiago, 49, of Shirley
Alex Bermeo-Bajana, 40, of Queens
Alix Aparicio Gomez, 50, of Huntington
Angel Cornejo, 47, of Queens
Anthony Grazio a/k/a Rock, 53, of Smithtown
Anthony Grazio Jr., 19, of Smithtown
Carlos Melgar, 41, of Patchogue
Cesar Ivan Bermeo, 33, of Queens
Dwayne Sanders, 56, of Central Islip
Edgar Mera, 48, of Queens
Fausto De Los Santos, 21, of Queens
Feliciano Cruz, 57, of Queens
Frank Rotondo Jr., 47, of Miller Place
Santos Ivan Delgado, 39, of Bay Shore
James Perruzza, 18, of Northport
James Williams, 56 of Copiague
John Durante, 44 of Old Bethpage
Jose Adamez, 51, of the Bronx
Joseph Lamberta, 68, of Hauppauge
Louis Durante, 46 of Queens
Michael Heinrichs, 48, of Port Jefferson Station
Milan Parik, 46, of Centereach
Robert Hirsch, 43 of Commack
Robert Walter, 31, of Nesconset
Steven Nunez Genao, 24, of Port Jefferson Station
Thomas St. Clair, 51, of Saint James
Vito Fragola, 44, of Commack
Wilfred Torres, 44, of Ronkonkoma
William Romero, 38 of Brentwood
Yasmael Nunez, 48, of Queens
Editor’s note: A criminal charge is an accusation. A person charged with a crime is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
Operation Pay Dirt Indictment by RiverheadLOCAL on Scribd
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