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NYC relied on companies with troubled records to remove snow during brutal winter weather
By
Liam Quigley
Published Apr 17, 2026
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Federico Torres/NurPhoto via Getty Images
By
Liam Quigley
Published Apr 17, 2026
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As dangerously cold weather persisted in New York City for weeks this winter, the sanitation department turned to three companies with records of financial crimes to help with snow removal.
The deals with Brooklyn-based Dragonetti Brothers and Connecticut outfits Cherry Hill Construction and Cariati Developers Inc. emerge as the City Council seeks to reform the city’s emergency procurement policies. A sanitation department spokesperson said the city paid the companies a combined $22 million to get all hands on deck to remove a historic amount of snow that became frozen in place amid record-low temperatures.
“I think this is lunacy,” Councilmember Shekar Krishnan of Queens said. “The city keeps going back to the same problematic well of the same problematic contractors that have committed serious criminal violations of the law.”
In February, the City Council passed legislation capping emergency contracts at 90 days. Krishnan said the Council is giving extra attention to emergency contracts under Mayor Zohran Mamdani. He said members want to avoid a repeat of the pattern under previous Mayor Eric Adams, when the city bypassed standard bidding to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to vendors to help with migrants arriving from the U.S.-Mexico border.
Last month, the leaders of a Brooklyn nonprofit that was paid $130 million through emergency contracts with the Department of Homeless Services during the Adams administration were indicted for a bribery and kickback scheme.
A snow removal operation in SoHo.
Liam Quigley
Court records, including reports by the watchdog Department of Investigation, show the three companies used for snow removal had previously run afoul of authorities. The three companies are among the five most-compensated companies for snow removal in New York City this year, according to the City Record.
Dragonetti Brothers owners Nicholas and Vito Dragonetti, pleaded guilty in Manhattan Criminal Court in 2022 to a $1.2 million insurance scam. As part of the plea, the brothers were barred from running the company. They did not serve any jail time, but paid $1.2 million in restitution and agreed to a three-year ban on some city contracts and an “integrity monitorship,” according to prosecutors.
But that changed in January when the DOI allowed them to resume running the company with additional oversight through 2028, according to a spokesperson from the agency. The same month that ruling came down, the sanitation department activated the company’s “standby” contract to clear snow. Dragonetti Brothers was paid $3 million for snow removal.
Dragonetti Brothers did not respond to a request for comment.
City records show the sanitation department also paid $14.7 million to Cherry Hill Construction under an emergency contract to help with snow removal, as well as towing away private cars that were blocking plowing operations.
In 2015 Cherry Hill Construction pleaded guilty as a corporate entity to federal pension fraud and tax evasion after investigators found they falsified payrolls to underfund retirement accounts. The corporation was hit with three years of probation, a $200,000 fine and was forced to pay $193,000 in back taxes, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
A person who answered the phone at Cherry Hill Construction hung up when asked about the snow clearing contract. The sanitation department said Cherry Hill has had a clean record since the 2015 plea.
The third company, Cariati Developers, was paid $4.3 million for snow removal through an emergency contract. In 2021, then-Comptroller Scott Stringer criticized the sanitation department for awarding Cariati a $14 million contract for emergency food delivery during the pandemic despite having no relevant experience. Stringer said the contract was terminated after just three weeks due to “poor performance.”
Stringer wrote that the city had also failed to notice that Cariati's owner had pleaded guilty to obstructing the IRS shortly before it was awarded the pandemic-era contract.
Snow was removed near Radio City in January.
CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP via Getty Images
In response to the audit, the sanitation department agreed to Google companies when considering them for contracts.
Cariati did not respond to an email inquiry.
The sanitation department said it got clearance from the city Comptroller’s office to hire Dragonetti and Cherry Hill. The sanitation department did not respond to an inquiry about Cariati’s contract, which was made public on Thursday.
“Given the historic nature of this winter’s snowfalls, the Department of Sanitation needed every piece of equipment possible to haul and melt snow,” sanitation department spokesperson Vincent Gragnani wrote in a statement.
Lowell Barton, a spokesperson and vice president for Laborers Local 1010, which represents highway and street pavers, said the city’s practice of awarding emergency contracts to private companies undercuts union workers.
“We remain deeply concerned with the pattern of contractors that violate the law being rewarded with lucrative city contracts,” he wrote in a statement.
“The city cannot argue that there are not other law-abiding contractors that can perform this work, because there are plenty,” Barton said. “The mayor and the City Council should address this through meaningful contract procurement reform.”
Tagged
new york city
sanitation
Liam Quigley
Liam Quigley is a reporter covering parks & sanitation for Gothamist and WNYC. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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