Two New Yorkers were sentenced last week for their role in dumping huge quantities of asbestos debris along the Mohawk River in the upper portion of the state.

According to several media accounts, Donald Torriero, age 56, of Florida, was sentenced to three years in prison for being one of the ringleaders of the operation. His co-defendant, Julius DeSimone of Rome, New York, was spared prison time but was sentenced to five years of probation. Both were ordered to pay nearly a half-million in restitution for clean-up of the area.

Earlier this year, the owner of the property where the debris was dumped – Mr. Cross Nicastro II, was sentenced to three years in prison. Also changed in the scheme was Dominic Mazza of Mazza and Sons, a solid waste company based in New Jersey. Mazza was given a four year prison sentence.

The men were all charged with conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and violate the Clean Water Act and Superfund laws as well as obstructing justice and violating the Superfund law’s requirement to report the release of toxic materials. All four men fabricated a New York State Department of Environmental Conservation permit letter and other documents and forged the name of a DEC official, the indictment stated.

In all, approximately 60 million pounds of dangerous asbestos was released on the Frankfort, NY property. The toxic materials were processed at Eagle Recycling in North Bergen, New Jersey and at the Mazza & Sons Inc. facility Tinton Falls, New Jersey, authorities said. From those two spots, the asbestos debris was transported to and dumped at Nicastro’s 28-acre farm in Frankfort, according to records.

The debris included pulverized construction and demolition debris, dangerous because it was friable and could cause the release of asbestos fibers into the air. Anyone in the vicinity of the fibers may have suffered asbestos exposure, which could cause serious respiratory diseases including the cancer known as mesothelioma.

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