Towing mogul pleads guilty in Macomb County

The owner of multiple towing companies in southeast Michigan has pleaded guilty today to conspiring to commit bribery, in connection with a municipal towing contract in Clinton Township.

Gasper Fiore, 57, of Grosse Pointe Shores, admitted at the plea hearing that he conspired to pay bribes to Clinton Township Trustee Dean Reynolds in order to obtain a municipal towing contract with the township. 

Fiore admitted to giving Reynolds cash bribes of $4,000 and $3,000 in March and May of 2016 in order to buy Reynolds' vote to select Fiore's company to receive the Clinton Township towing contract. Fiore paid the bribes to Reynolds through Charles B. Rizzo, who was cooperating with federal law enforcement at the time of the bribe payments. Rizzo is the former Chief Executive Officer of Rizzo Environmental Services, and Rizzo pleaded guilty to bribery and embezzlement charges on November 9, 2017.

The bribery conspiracy charge to which Fiore pled guilty carries a maximum sentence of 5 years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000.

This case is part of the government's wide-ranging corruption investigation centered in Macomb County, Michigan. The investigation of this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service.