NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — A former mayor of Waterbury was sentenced Monday to five years of probation for his role in a trash-hauling corruption case.
Joseph Santopietro, 48, was among 29 people charged in connection with a federal investigation of mob influence over the trash-hauling industry in Connecticut and New York. He pleaded guilty in March to racketeering conspiracy.
"I fully accept responsibility for my actions," Santopietro told U.S. District Judge Ellen Bree Burns at Monday's sentencing.
Burns ordered Santopietro to spend the first six months of his probation confined to his home, and fined him $30,000. Under federal sentencing guidelines, Santopietro could have faced 12 to 18 months in prison.
Santopietro, who worked as a consultant for Diversified Waste Disposal, admitted to participating in a so-called property rights scheme in which trash haulers carved out routes for one another and agreed not to poach customers.
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Prosecutors said he used his influence to dissuade a competing trash hauler from honoring a contract with a new customer who had previously used one of the companies involved in the case.
Defense attorney Martin Minnella had argued that Santopietro is needed at home to care for his wife, a divorce lawyer injured when a client's estranged husband shot her two years ago.
Prosecutors agreed not to recommend a sentence.
Santopietro was Waterbury's mayor for six years, losing re-election in 1991 while under federal indictment for conspiring with bankers and land developers to trade favors on land deals for bribes and kickbacks. He was convicted of embezzling federal funds, bank fraud and tax evasion, and served more than six years in prison.
As part of the federal investigation, a state lawmaker pleaded guilty Monday to a misdemeanor threat charge.
Senate Minority Leader Louis DeLuca, 73, admitted he had asked a businessman with suspected mob ties in 2005 to threaten someone he believed was having an abusive domestic relationship with one of his relatives.
"I'm ashamed and sorry for my action," the Woodbury Republican said. "I take full responsibility. My primary concern was the welfare of my family."
Investigators found a note about the request in the home of a Danbury trash hauler charged in the federal probe, prosecutors said. They stopped the assault by parking a police car in front of an associate who was to do the threatening, they said.
DeLuca was fined $2,000 fine and ordered to donate $1,500 to charity as part of a plea deal.
Democrats called for DeLuca's resignation, but Republicans said the GOP would not take up the matter until after the Legislature's session ends Wednesday.
At a news conference Monday, DeLuca would not discuss calls for him to quit.