Girolamo Curatolo Jailed for Hiding Oil Dump at Sea

Girolamo Curatolo, 50, of Custonaci, Sicily, has been sentenced to eight months in federal prison for orchestrating a cover-up of illegal oily waste discharges from the Italian oil tanker M/T Cielo di Milano. The chief engineer admitted to bypassing pollution controls and dumping waste into the ocean, then falsifying records and destroying evidence to hide the crime.

Curatolo, a senior engineering officer employed by D’Amico Shipping Italia S.p.A., pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton handed down the sentence in Newark federal court, also imposing one year of supervised release and a $5,000 fine. The vessel had docked multiple times in New Jersey, as well as in Maryland and Florida, where U.S. authorities launched their investigation.

Court documents reveal that Curatolo directed the crew to route oily bilge waste through the ship’s sewage system, bypassing mandated pollution prevention equipment. He then falsified the vessel’s Oil Record Book—a document required by international law and routinely inspected by the U.S. Coast Guard—to make it appear as though waste had been stored properly.

When the Coast Guard boarded the M/T Cielo di Milano in January 2015, Curatolo didn’t just lie—he orchestrated a full-scale cover-up. He instructed junior crew members to make false statements and personally ripped out pages from the sounding log, which tracks waste levels in storage tanks. He then burned the pages in the ship’s boiler, eliminating critical evidence.

Danilo Maimone, 31, of Furci Siculo, Sicily, the vessel’s first assistant engineer, also admitted to his role in the scheme. Maimone pleaded guilty to conspiring to obstruct justice, acknowledging he helped falsify records and coached crew members to lie during the inspection. He faces sentencing on January 18, 2017.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey, led by Paul J. Fishman, credited the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service—under Special Agent in Charge Richard D. Cox—with uncovering the conspiracy. Prosecution was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kathleen P. O’Leary and Kelly Graves, along with DOJ trial attorneys Brandy Parker and John Cashman. Curatolo was represented by Michael G. Chalos of New York; Maimone by Ronald A. Sarachan of Philadelphia.