Fraud of the Week

October 10, 2016

Staged Crashes—Pennsylvania

Amount: $5 Million

 

A Pennsylvania man who is known to be a mob sidekick pulled off a staggering insurance con with two former Pennsylvania mob bosses. The defendant owned an auto repair shop and would have his accomplices damage vehicles and then adorn the vehicles with frozen animal parts—deer, geese, and dog—and deer blood at the claimed crash scenes. The accomplices would then take professional-style photographs of the crash scene. The story was often that the vehicles had collided with the animals. Other descriptions of falsified accidents involved flying rocks, concrete, and fruit cartons, leading to more inflated claims. The defendant coached drivers to tell the insurance company that he hit a deer instead of admitting he wrecked into another car, so his insurance rates would not go up after the insurer had paid.

 The defendant also employed corrupt tow truck drivers to track down and damage vehicles owned by his own customers, who would return to him for their repairs, and he would inflate the work he did for the insurers. The defendant also had a few police officers working for him who would falsify police reports in exchange for discounted repairs for their personal vehicles.

 The defendant correctly believed that a rival body shop owner was secretly testifying against him and hired two hit-men for $40,000 to shoot the other owner and his son in the head. He later called off the hits and redirected them to murder his daughter's boyfriend. They were unsuccessful.

 The defendant also successfully corrupted a supervisor at the city's vehicle fleet operation, landing a big repair job and overcharging the city at least $400,000 for repair work.

 The corrupt domain collapsed in on itself, as it had become too big to sustain. Over forty accomplices were arrested, and most of them plead guilty. The defendant is now serving twenty plus years for the attempt at his daughter's boyfriend's life and plead no contest to the insurance plots and the hired hits for his rival. He will spend years in prison for his crimes.