In depth investigation into the dangerous world of Sanitation Salvage

Sanitation Salvage, one of the biggest New York trash haulers has a history of fatal accidents. The company was all over the news recently after one of their truck drivers killed two people in less than 6 months and lied about one of the person he killed pretending it was a homeless man while it was an off-the book worker.

Propublica and Voice of America took an in depth look at how the company is running its business and they recently published the result of their investigation.

Ruthless brothers

Run for decades by the Squitieri brothers, the company is hiring drivers and off-the books workers to run shifts with endless stops that may last more than 18 hours putting their workers as well as other New York road users at high risk of accidents. The brothers are powerful  personalities of the South Bronx with strong political links and they pay lobbyists to fight local legislation that goes against their interests. Their company which is not required to publicly report earning is making tens of millions of dollars annually according to Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. They try to develop an image of benevolent Bronx community members but they are ruthless.

Despite years of complaints to regulators about the company putting workers safety at risk and not compensating them proprely, Sanitation Salvage continues to operate in the same old way. Unsafe trucks that should have been removed from the road are still operating and employees are being cheated from getting fair wages.  In the past, the company also created it own union which was a scam that was run by a man who was later convicted by federal prosecutors of running an extortion racket at construction sites for the Genovese crime family. Employees never received any reliable health care or benefits.

Read the complete investigation here