The Moving Planner Blog

Owners of Five Unlicensed Moving Companies Charged with Racketeering in Consumer Shakedown Scheme

This story goes back to February 2002, but I think it is still relevant. Be the judge!

“It should be noted that criminal complaints are merely accusations and that defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.”

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown holds up a couple of flyers from unlicensed moving companies whose owners were charged with stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars annually from scores of unwary customers by holding their personal belongings hostage and demanding unlawful and excessive cash payments to complete the moves or unload the items from the truck.

The owners of five New York moving companies were arrested on charges of racketeering, grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, and other offenses after they repeatedly lured customers with low ball moving estimates, only to hold their household goods hostage unless an additional payment was made in cash. In scores of instances, these demands raised moving costs by several thousand dollars more than estimated. Those charged were Daniel Mantoza, his wife Ronit Mantoza, and Morad Alfar, of Queens, NY, who controlled Allstate Moving and Storage, On Budget Van Lines, Eilid Moving and Storage, Online Moving and Storage, and In & Out Moving and Storage in Deer Park, NY The investigation, known as Operation Moving Day, is believed to be the first to employ New York’s Organized Crime Control Act against the owners of moving companies. This investigation was performed by a task force consisting of the OIG, NYPD, the Queens County District Attorney’s Office, and New York State DOT, with assistance from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Source: DOT Office of Inspector General