Hidden History: Trash and the mob
by Robert Herron
Town Historian Emeritus
Italian Americans have been making major contributions to Rocky Hill since they came here in 1898 to work in the quarry. They have made a positive impact including contributions to our governance and commerce.
A Hidden History column in the May 2024 issue of Rocky Hill Life, “They Came from Corava,” describes their contributions, but barely scratches the surface.
This history column describes a time when bad actors came to town, trying and failing to bully our leaders and to pollute and mar our landscape. The bad actors were thwarted by our townspeople.
The Rocky Hill landfill has been closed and capped for more than 40 years. An article describing the landfill and its history appeared in the September 2018 issue of Rocky Hill Life. This article was intended to dig deeper into the often-controversial history of the landfill.
The Rocky Hill landfill was located on Meadow Road where it turns into a dirt road north of the ferry landing. The location of the landfill has been controversial from the start.
While this seems to be a remote location in the meadows it was, in fact, just below the historic Riverview Road neighborhood. Another concern has been its proximity to the meadows and Connecticut River.
Early Rocky Hill had a small population and people were responsible for disposing of their own trash. Farms provided options such as composting, animal slops, etc., for disposal of waste.
As the population grew and fewer people were farmers disposing of waste became a problem. There were a few dumps around town, but people were just as likely to toss things by the roadside or in the cemetery. Collection of trash began in Rocky Hill in 1940 and there were designated spots that could be used as refuse dumps.
In the mid-20th Century, as Central Connecticut transformed from being rural to suburban, it was overwhelmed by the need for waste management solutions. As townships and municipalities searched for solutions to their problems, the state turned a blind eye to pollution and other problems in favor of solving more immediate concerns.
In 1957 the Caruso Brothers, John and James, presented a proposal to the Rocky Hill selectmen to move a landfill from the quarry to a site between the railroad tracks and the old road that runs through the meadows. This plan met with opposition, as there was concern that the landfill would pollute the meadows and the river. In 1958 the selectmen approved locating the landfill at this controversial location provided that:
• An impervious earthen dike be built along the eastern border and maintained at an elevation above that of any refuse.
• Proper structure be provided for surface drainage that crosses the proposed site.
As history shows, the landfill operators didn’t live up to either of these commitments. Town records and Hartford Courant articles show escalating contention between the landfill owners and the town.
At the May 20, 1958, selectmen’s meeting John Caruso asked that there be no limits as to hours. The selectmen initially agreed that he could be open all day every day except Sunday. John Caruso expressed that “we want to work with the town, not against it.” John and James Caruso were given a contract to operate the landfill on this site in 1964.
From its early days, the town and the Carusos disagreed on the nature of the landfill. The town believed it had a right to control things like hours of operation, pollution and the rights of surrounding residents. The Carusos and their attorneys argued that the landfill was a business and, like every other business, they should be able to determine the details of their operations.
In a special meeting of the selectman in 1964, the Carusos were questioned about usage by other towns. Trucks from Vernon and Rockville were making unauthorized use of the landfill. The Caruso’s attorney claimed, based on a surreal reading of the landfill contract, that the Carusos had a free hand to do as they wished in the landfill, including allowing anyone they chose to use the landfill, operating at all hours, and dumping combustible and toxic materials.
The predictable result was fires and toxic smells emanating from the landfill. People on Riverview Road complained of breathing toxic, acrid smoke from the dump. John Caruso agreed to constraints like covering the new trash daily with six inches of dirt, although he knew this was impossible.
The DEP seemed more concerned with finding sites to dump trash than on town sovereignty or environmental concerns. Protests by Rocky Hill citizens were ignored.
In 1975 John Caruso formed a partnership with Angelo Squillante, who ran the General Sanitation Co., which ran about 30 garbage trucks in Newington and was a principal of the Reduction Associates, a large dump in Colchester.
Property owners close to the landfill raised complains about the noise, smell and general unpleasantness of garbage trucks accessing the site at all hours. The town passed an ordinance that garbage truck access would be limited to 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
This became a bone of contention because the landfill operators and haulers frequently ignored this. At their peak, approximately 25 trucks a day accessed the landfill, many outside the authorized hours.
Vincent James Squillante and his brother Nunzio were alleged soldiers in the Anastasia crime family and briefly in its forerunner, the Gambino crime family. Both men were allegedly godsons of the New York City gangster Albert Anastasia.
James Squillante was allowed to create his own crew in the early 1950s. The Squillante family had a history in the waste management business. Nunzio Squillante, who was active in waste management in the New York City area, was sitting in the chair next to Albert Anastasia when Anastasia was shot to death.
Vincent Squillante later disappeared and was believed to have been murdered. Nunzio relocated to Glastonbury, apparently to avoid the same fate. Angelo Squillante was Nunzio’s son.
The landfill frequently caught fire. This served the needs of the landfill owners. It turned trash into toxic ash and smoke that reduced the volume of the trash. The stench and eye-burning smoke oppressed people living above the landfill.
The fire and police departments were constantly at odds with the landfill operators. The state DEP response was tepid since it viewed the Rocky Hill landfill as a solution to the region’s waste removal issues. Fires occurred regularly. They were extinguished by the town but kept flaring up. The landfill fires were a constant problem for the town.
In November of 1978 Firefighter Richard Peruta was hospitalized after a methane explosion. Fire Chief James Vinchetti pulled his exhausted men from the dump after a protracted effort to control a fire. The state took over and ran a hose from the river to douse the dump. This proved to be a temporary solution.
In August of 1977 the landfill was prohibited from dumping before 7 a.m. When the town placed a police cruiser at the entrance to the landfill to block premature entry, Squillante had the cruiser removed physically, with a payloader damaging it. He was charged and convicted of criminal mischief. This signaled the end of mismanagement of the landfill.
Closing the landfill was a drawn-out process. It began in 1979 and dragged on for two years. State plans for closing and sealing the landfill were largely ignored by John Caruso. The landfill was capped in 1981 but not adequately sealed. It is still leaking and is still an issue today.
Articles in the Hartford Courant describe several brushes between Squillante and the law after the landfill closed. In 1980 he was arrested for allegedly running an illegal $20 million a year gambling operation.
He made the news again in 1985 when he was shot in the legs in a drive-by attack outside his trucking business in East Hartford. In 1991 he was cited as part of an extensive regionwide alleged price-fixing operation involving trash haulers.
John Caruso's involvement with the landfill disappeared when his dump records were conveniently destroyed by a fire at his home.
In 2018 the current landfill owners proposed capping the landfill with “slightly tainted soil.” Residents came together to energetically reject this plan. Wearing lime green T-shirts with the names of toxic ingredients in “slightly tainted soil” printed on them and raising their voices at a Town Council meeting, they were able to block the plan.
The eventual fate of the landfill has yet to be determined. RHL