Metro

Rotten waste-hauler wannabes raise a stink

They’re not even worthy of picking up your trash.

A rogue’s gallery of would-be businessmen hoping to win a city license to operate as a waste hauler is rejected each year by the Business Integrity Commission because of their shady past or mob ties.

And you should hear their whining.

The city’s BIC, which regulates 2,000 individuals, rejects about 4 percent of applicants in its mission to keep the corruption-prone industry free of bad apples and the Mafia, officials say. The agency also weeds out questionable would-be vendors from municipal markets.

“What we do and how we do it is all about maintaining a level playing field that protects legitimate businesses and their customers,” explained BIC Commissioner and Chair Shari C. Hyman.

But some candidates are shameless in trying to explain away their shady pasts:

• Kim Gibbs, 53, of Harlem, owner of Infinity Plus, was arrested in 1991 and accused of being a leader of “The Ministry,” a gang responsible for producing and distributing more than 10,000 phony subway tokens a week, according to BIC files.

He was convicted of 31 felony counts and served six years.

In his application, he told the BIC that he “use [sic] to think of myself as a modern day Robin Hood” and suggested that for the downtrodden, the opportunity to use phony tokens “was an empowering and uplifting thing to do.”

“I never saw subway slugs as a personal infraction, so it never caused me any remorse,” he told BIC, according to a letter he submitted.

BIC termed Gibbs’ statements “largely nonsensical and unresponsive.”

Gibbs told The Post that by rejecting his application, the BIC was punishing him for a crime for which he had already served his time and that he was now being deprived a chance of earning a living.

“I’m not no mob guy trying to extort someone. I’ve never been convicted of a crime of violence,” he insisted.

• Dae Soo Yu, owner of 3’s Produce at 420 Hunts Point Ave., The Bronx, failed to disclose a felony conviction stemming from his February 2005 grand-larceny arrest for embezzling $128,000 from a former employer.

BIC chided him for trying to hide his felonious past and for offering a lame defense when discovered.

“Remarkably, Yu attempts to justify this unlawful behavior by claiming his former boss had failed to adequately remunerate him for his hard work and he was thus . . . ‘owed’ the money he stole,” BIC noted.

Yu could not be reached.

• Bernardino Esposito, 49, owner of C.I. Contracting, at 459 City Island Ave., The Bronx, was denied a waste-hauling license for trying to minimize the role a former firm he ran played in the death of teenage girl. His business also was accused of a host of other regulatory misdeeds involving other state and federal agencies, according to BIC records.

BIC lambasted Esposito for his involvement with Espo Construction, a company involved in roof and masonry repairs for PS 131 in Brooklyn’s Borough Park.

On Jan. 9, 1998, Yan Zhen Zhao, 16, was struck in the head by a brick used to secure a tarpaulin on the school’s roof, causing the young woman to suffer a fatal skull fracture. Espo pleaded guilty to manslaughter and paid a $10,000 fine for Zhao’s death.

BIC accused Esposito of providing “clearly false” assertions when he insisted that the criminal charges against Espo had not really been proven.

A call left for Esposito was not returned, but he has previously asserted that the School Construction Authority was responsible for safety on the project.

• Edward John Romeo, 29, owner of Stallion Recycling Corp., 20 Westport Lane, Staten Island, was denied a renewal of his waste-hauling license for “misleading statements” concerning his relationship with his grand-uncle, Angelo Paccione, a Gambino family mobster, according to BIC records.

Stallion was originally granted a license, based on Romeo’s insistence that he kept his notorious relative at arm’s length.

The agency later concluded that Romeo’s mom, Liberta — then a Stallion executive — had once failed to indicate she was living with her infamous uncle.

BIC investigators also tailed Paccione to 28 different Brooklyn locations and observed him handing out Stallion business cards to drum up business, BIC ruled.

Romeo told The Post that BIC had succeeded in putting him out of business because of his family ties, rather than any misconduct of his own.

“I am not a criminal. I was victimized by my family ties. It’s not anything I’ve done. I’ve never been arrested,” he said.

“I can’t even drive a garbage truck in the five boroughs.”

BIC officials say the need for vigilance remains strong.

Earlier this month, the NYPD and FBI rounded up 32 alleged mobsters tied to the Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese families who were purportedly involved in the garbage-hauling industry.

They were accused of maintaining a grip on carting companies in the greater metro area, often by masking their involvement through figures who front for them.

None were licensed by the BIC, officials said.