Here's some next-level scandal for the Bayview-based tow truck firm Specialty Towing, as its owner was just indicted for committing arson on competitors' tow trucks, crimes totally unrelated to the company's previous charges of fraudulent tows and fake car accidents.
It would be hard to outdo the scandals that have hit the Bayview tow truck firm Specialty Towing. In February 2024, SF City Attorney Davd Chiu banned Specialty Towing from getting city contracts after they’d illegally towed cars and forced the owners to pay cash under the table to get them back. Then Mission Local reported Specialty Towing co-owner Jose Badillo bought a $300,000 Lamborghini while collecting welfare.
The company's Bayview tow-truck headquarters was even raided by the FBI this past August, but Specialty Towing is probably most notorious for the viral April 2024 video seen below where one of their tow trucks tried to tow a moving car in Union Square.
So yes, it would be hard to outdo those scandals, but they seem to have done it. NBC Bay Area reports that Specialty Towing’s co-owner Badillo is facing a federal indictment for blowing up his competitors’ tow trucks. He and his co-conspirators allegedly did this on four occasions: in SF in April 2023; once again later that month, another time in East Palo Alto in July 2023; and a pair of other tow trucks in SF in October 2023.
“Badillo allegedly orchestrated the conspiracy and then directed others to set fire to the targeted tow trucks,” according to a Department of Justice indictment announcement from Thursday. “The purpose of the conspiracy was, among other things, to drive more business to two Bay Area-based towing companies with which Badillo was associated—Auto Towing and Specialty Towing—by impeding the business prospects of competitor towing companies, and to retaliate against those same competitors for perceived wrongs.”
The competitors are not named, nor are Badillo’s alleged co-conspirators.
#BreakingNews There is a large contingent of FBI and US Treasury Agents on scene at Specialty Towing in San Francisco. Employees of the towing service say they don’t know what’s happening. They arrived at work to find about a dozen agents. No comment from FBI yet. pic.twitter.com/SVUDXiRSCX
— Sergio Quintana (@svqjournalist) August 8, 2024
The feds were already on Badillo’s case in that raid last August, which we learned was for faking car accidents to collect insurance money. In those incidents, Badillo and crew allegedly took cars that were already trashed and inoperable, staged fake accidents with them, and tried to collect the full value of the car in insurance money. That scheme netted more than $50,000.
Badillo’s arraignment is scheduled for March 20. If found guilty, he faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Related: FBI Raids Notorious Bayview Towing Company, the One That Tried to Tow a Moving Car [SFist]
Image: CherryRyu via Reddit
