PhotoWhen police officers respond to vehicle collisions in New York City, they often call a tow truck from a rotating list to help clean up. The list is intended to make sure that the towing is fairly distributed among the companies licensed to perform the work. But in reality, according to four indictments unsealed Wednesday in Manhattan, nearly a dozen of the companies on the list were illegally controlled by a single enterprise. The enterprise involved at least 17 people and 10 companies that were indicted on charges that included corruption and conspiracy in connection with what the district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., described as a classic scheme to enrich themselves and maintain “a violent, corrupt and nearly complete monopoly” on the towing business. Mr. Steininger’s sister, Karen, acted as the bookkeeper and helped to conceal the purchases from the Department of Consumer Affairs, which licenses towing companies, according to the criminal indictments.

Source: New York Times February 22, 2018 00:02 UTC