In their first season, the Trashers quickly gained notoriety for their bullish, physical style of play, setting a league record for penalty minutes.

Danbury finished second in its division and was eliminated in the playoffs by the Muskegon Fury, the eventual Colonial Cup champions.

In their second year, the Trashers won the Eastern Division and reached the finals, but lost the championship to the Kalamazoo Wings, handing them their only loss of the playoffs.

At the end of the team's second season, Galante was arrested on 72 criminal charges, including conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).

was a 17-year-old high school student at the time and according to UHL commissioner Richard Brosal, some around the league thought it was an April Fools' Day joke.

After graduating high school, Galante attended Manhattanville College while maintaining his organizational duties.

[1] The new team was named the Trashers, a reference to the elder Galante's main business,[2] with the logo being designed by A.J.

[1] To that end he brought in tough guys, Garrett Burnett, Rumun Ndur, and Brad Wingfield, who previously set a UHL record for penalty minutes (PIMs) during the 2002–03 season with 576.

[1][2] For the goaltender Galante acquired Scott Stirling, who was the Most Valuable Player of the ECHL the previous season.

The play incited a brawl, in which Ndur fought with two players, attempted to kick a linesman, and charged the Wings bench, before the officials were able to subdue him.

Galante entered the ice via the penalty box where he got into a shouting match with a linesman and allegedly punched him.

[2][10] For his actions Galante was charged with misdemeanor assault and fined by the UHL for leaving the owner's box.

After this request, prosecutors still intended to pursue the charges, but eventually dropped them citing a lack of evidence.

At the end of the brawl, the Trashers' Chad Wagner was being removed from the ice by the linesmen when he broke away, and attacked the Adirondack bench, grabbing their head coach, Marc Potvin.

World Wrestling Entertainment superstar John Cena was on hand for what resembled more of a WWE event than a hockey game.

Daigle was taken by the Port Huron Flags in an expansion draft and traded to Danbury for their top goal scorer Mike Bayrack.

[23] The Trashers hovered around the .500 mark going into December where they started the month with a six-game win streak that brought them within five points of first place in Eastern Division.

[31][32] One of the charges that pertained directly to the Trashers was wire fraud, which resulted from the interstate faxing of fraudulent salary cap documents.

[32] For his part in aiding with violating the salary cap, former head coach Stirling was also charged with wire fraud.

[34] The players from both Danbury and Adirondack were placed into a dispersal draft and selected by the remaining teams in the UHL.

The story of James Galante and the Danbury Trashers was covered in the 2021 Netflix documentary Untold: Crimes & Penalties.