[Video Link] A couple of creeps — Vincent Cardinalli, 67, and his son Paul Greer, 33 — who ran a towing scam involving 2,000 small claims lawsuits, dozens of counts of fraud, perjury, and extortion were recently put behind bars.
From the Morgan Hill Times:
Though Cardinalli and Greer hadn't towed a car in years – they operated separate companies – they were awarded $(removed),000 in judgments over an 18-month period ending in August 2006. Those awards represented 111 cases – less than a quarter of the cases they filed in the Santa Clara County. And when defendants didn't pay, the duo marshaled the power and blessings of the small claims court to raid bank accounts, garnish paychecks and arrest elusive defendants.
It turns out the tow truck drivers appear to have been in cahoots with a San Jose court commissioner, Gregory Saldivar.
I never paid much attention to towing companies until I read Tom Wolfe's novel A Man in Full, which has a bit about a hapless fellow who gets into a conflict with a jackass tow truck operator and ends up in jail. Ever since, I've noticed quite a few stories in the news involving shady tow truck companies.
(Via Cockerham)
Previous
• Fighting a crooked tow truck company and winning
• Woman takes revenge on tow truck driver
• Tow truck driver charged with killing car owner
• Boing Boing: Tow Truck Drivers Push Cars into Tow-Away Zone then hold cars for ransom
• Tian's car vandalized shortly after capturing crooked tow truck driver on camera
• News report on crooked tow truck companies
• Tow truck hauls away car with 85-year-old man inside, leaves him in sub-zero weather
