NCJ Number
109052
Date Published
1987
Length
113 pages
Annotation
Based on information provided by the New York Organized Crime Task Force regarding its ongoing investigation of racketeering and collusion in the Long Island garbage-collection industry ("carters"), this study analyzes illegal behaviors in this industry, along with some other businesses, and formulates policy recommendations for structural remedies to supplement standard criminal sanctions for addressing the problems of the Long Island garbage industry.
Abstract
The Long Island carters industry engages in racketeering through a restrictive agreement in which customers are allocated and treated as property by the carters, so that competition is eliminated through the ownership of customers who come to understand they are not to solicit bids from other carters. This elimination of competition by the cartel increases the price for garbage collection. This study proposes the creation of a Regional Authority to administer contracting for solid-waste collection services in the two counties of Long Island. The Authority would create a comprehensive set of districts, which would include both residential and commercial customers. Each district should be large enough and the terms of the contract long enough so that the winning of a single district contract would permit the establishment of a firm large enough to operate at close to minimum operating costs. Also, a public benefit corporation would be created to operate a carting enterprise in competition with the private carting industry. This would provide a measurement for determining the reasonableness of contractor prices. A 31-item bibliography