James Galante (born January 5, 1953) is an American convicted felon and associate of the Genovese crime family,[1] owner of the defunct Danbury Trashers minor-league hockey team and a defunct racecar team fielding cars for Ted Christopher, and ex-CEO of Automated Waste Disposal (AWD), a company that holds waste disposal contracts for most of western Connecticut and Westchester and Putnam counties in New York.
In June 2008, Galante admitted to charges of racketeering, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and defrauding the Internal Revenue Service, and faced between five and seven years in prison under Federal Sentencing Guidelines, and was also forced to forfeit his controlling interest in 25 different garbage-related businesses, estimated to be worth over $100 million.
[4] Since 1993, they have been accused of muscling out local competition through no-bid-contracts and payments of up to $120,000 per year to Genovese crime family boss Matthew "Matty the Horse" Ianniello.
[7] In 2006, Federal authorities infiltrated Automated Waste Disposal with an undercover agent and taped hours of phone conversations, precipitating a raid on AWD offices in Danbury and Galante's home in New Fairfield, Connecticut, acquiring trailers full of documents.
"[14] The 25 trash-disposal companies owned by Galante, all based in Danbury and estimated by him to be worth $100 million, were "condemned and forfeited to the United States of America.
"[15] The businesses were sold, with the money going to the United States Department of the Treasury, under laws allowing the forfeiture of property obtained through criminal activities.
[6] In June 2006, 29 people, including Galante, former Trashers' coach Todd Stirling, and Ianniello were indicted for defrauding the United Hockey League.
Stirling and Galante allegedly violated the UHL's $275,000 per team salary cap by giving several players and their wives no-show jobs with AWD and hiding illegitimate payments as housing allowances.