Recycling is good, but this is just plain trashy.
A cardboard-hauling kingpin with suspected Mafia ties made millions stealing smashed-up boxes and selling them to dumps — without ever leaving the comfort of his Connecticut home, law-enforcement sources said.
Stay-at-home crook Hector Alers, 48, of Bethany allegedly raked in nearly $6 million in the past four years by dispatching a team of truck drivers to pick up curbside cardboard then sell it to waste transfer stations in Long Island and New Jersey, where the stuff is worth $100 a ton, authorities said.
Legit waste haulers are supposed to have licenses before cashing in on the lucrative trade — but Alers allegedly struck a deal with dump operators to get away with it off-the-books, law enforcement sources said.
The corrupt dump operators cut the drivers checks for the cardboard on the spot, sources said.
They also allegedly sent Alers — who authorities believe has Mafia connections — cash for bringing them business, sources said.
Authorities said Alers, who previously worked for a recycling company, ran the shady business over the phone — likely without ever having sit-down meetings with his workers.
Alers’ fleet grew from 11 in 2009 to 78 in 2011 — and he typically sent dozens of drivers out at the same time daily, law enforcement sources said.
Since 2009, he has allegedly earned $5.8 million, $4.4 million of which went to his workers and $1.4 million of which he pocketed, sources said.
Authorities say Alers now owns a Jaguar, a BMW and several investment properties. His business is an LLC named after his home address on Tollgate Road.
Contacted by The Post, he declined to say whether he ran the illegal business.
“I have to leave that up to my attorney,” said Alers, who was busted Monday by the Connecticut State Department of Revenue Services and charged with failing to pay taxes on $1.4 million earnings. He was released on $25,000 bond.