Three NYC crime families allegedly shuffle leadership
Monday, September 22, 2025
Former Boss of the Patriarca Crime Family dies at 68
The longtime Boston mobster was born on Aug. 17, 1957, and “passed away peacefully” on Sunday, according to an obituary posted online.
DiNunzio rose through the ranks of the Patriarca crime family, running illegal gambling and loan operations for the Mafia. By the mid-2000s, he had been named underboss and was considered the top Boston member of the crime family named after the late Raymond L.S. Patriarca of Providence, according to FBI documents filed in court.
DiNunzio helped in various leadership roles after reputed former boss Luigi “Baby Shacks” Manocchio stepped down amid a federal investigation into him shaking down Providence strip clubs for protection payments. Mannochio, who died last year, was charged in 2011 and sentenced to federal prison.
DiNunzio’s nickname, “The Cheeseman,” stems from his longtime ownership of a cheese shop in Boston’s North End. He took over leadership of the shattered and dysfunctional crime family roughly eight years ago.
DiNunzio faced his own legal problems over the years, including corruption charges for allegedly trying to bribe officials to secure a multimillion-dollar contract tied to the “Big Dig” project in Boston. He ultimately served five years in federal prison.
DiNunzio’s death signals a broader leadership vacuum within the crime family, which has lost much of its power and influence over the past two decades. Edward “Eddie” Lato, who served as underboss out of Providence, died last year.
The FBI Boston office quietly disbanded its organized crime unit last December, according to a report in The Boston Globe.
DiNunzio is survived by several family members, including his brother Anthony DiNunzio, who is also a reputed member of the New England Crime Family.
https://www.wpri.com/target-12/carmen-the-cheeseman-dinunzio-reputed-mob-boss-dead-at-68/
Friday, August 29, 2025
Philly man arrested for murder of mob associate in 1999
Law enforcement sources tell FOX 29’s Steve Keeley the arrest and charges are in connection to the 1999 murder of Gino Marconi.
On April 10, 1999, Marconi, 42, and his 31-year-old girlfriend were shot on the 2400 block of South 20th Street.
One day later, Marconi succumbed to his injuries.
Despite being shot three times, the 31-year-old survived.
Now, 26 years later, Philadelphia police arrested Leidy at his home in South Philly on Monday, August 25.
According to court documents, Leidy has been charged with murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm, possession of an instrument of crime, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle/other vehicles.
https://www.fox29.com/news/richard-leidy-charged-1999-philly-murder-gino-marconi-court-documents-police-sources
Judge denies early release for feared Chicago mobster The Large Guy
Sarno, 67, a once-feared boss known for his impressive girth, was convicted of racketeering and sentenced in 2012 to 25 years in prison. He’s filed several motions seeking early release over the years, attacking his sentence as overly harsh, and citing exposure to COVID-19 and other health concerns.
The latest effort included a typed letter from Sarno himself, who told U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis that even though he walked into prison at 6 foot 3 inches and 400 pounds, he was working out “and was in good health.”
“However, while incarcerated, I experienced health issue after health issue,” Sarno wrote, describing his “2 frozen shoulders,” a long-delayed knee replacement, and being wheelchair-bound for the past six years and dependent on others to help bring him to the bathroom.
“When not in a wheelchair, I have laid in bed for weeks and months at a time,” Sarno wrote. “…This is very humiliating and this has humbled me as well. I walked into prison a healthy man and I am now a pathetic shadow of the man I once was.”
In her ruling Wednesday, however, Ellis noted Sarno “was the leader of a criminal enterprise that engaged in multiple ventures, escalating to the point of bombing a competitor,” and that there “remains a need to protect the public from Sarno committing further crimes.”
“Sarno remains a risk to the community because he remains capable of continuing his role in the criminal enterprise, despite his diminished physical health,” Ellis wrote in the four-page order.
Sarno, who is currently housed at a federal medical prison in Springfield, Missouri, is not due to be released from custody until May 2031, when he’d be 73, prison records show.
Sarno and four co-defendants were found guilty by a jury in 2010 on a total of 15 counts. During the five-week trial, prosecutors outlined how the Sarno crew ran a lucrative — and illegal — video poker racket, pulled off a string of armed robberies that spanned three years and four states, and protected their gambling franchise by planting a bomb in front of a Berwyn business that encroached on their turf.
Sarno’s crew also engaged in smash-and-grab robberies in which hundreds of thousands of dollars in gems were stolen from jewelry stores and then fenced at a Cicero pawnshop operated by the Outlaws motorcycle gang, according to prosecutors.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/judge-denies-early-release-convicted-154600250.html
Friday, July 11, 2025
Lucchese mobster sentenced to 21 months for $25 million illegal gambling racket
A mobster was sentenced Wednesday for running an illegal online betting operation that netted nearly $25 million over the past 25 years, according to federal prosecutors.
US District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto gave Anthony Villani, a reputed Lucchese crime family soldier, 21 months in the slammer for his involvement in the racket, officials said.
Villani, a 60-year-old resident of Elmsford, pleaded guilty earlier in the year to racketeering, money laundering and illegal gambling.
The captain owned Rhino Sports, an online business employing Mafia figures as local bookmakers.
The operation, which was based in the Bronx and Westchester county, took in at least $1 million annually from thousands of gamblers, federal prosecutors said.
Villani recruited and employed “trusted associates” to help him manage the illegal gambling outfit, officials said.
He also extorted someone between October 2019 and October 2020, threatening them over $300,000 they stole from Rhino Sports, according to prosecutors.
“I’m not going to repeat myself. I’m not going to ever say this again. We’re just going to have a problem if I find out. Alright? And I don’t want to threaten you with my friends or anything, I’m not gonna, you put me in a f—–g hole with this guy,” Villani reportedly warned on April 27, 2020.
“Listen, get the f—–g money. I’m telling you right now, you don’t get this money – f—–g run away,” he said, according to prosecutors. “Go get this f—–g money,” Villani demanded months later, prosecutors said.
The man on the receiving end of the threats believed Villani or other members of the Lucchese crime family would physically hurt or kill him if he did not repay the debt.
The case was investigated by the Eastern District of New York’s Organized Crime and Gangs Section.
https://nypost.com/2025/07/09/us-news/lucchese-captain-anthony-villani-sentenced-for-illegal-gambling-racket/
Monday, June 16, 2025
Canada takes down leadership of Rizzuto Crime Family in major operation
The alleged leaders of the Rizzuto crime family have been arrested in a sweeping police operation that one expert says has “effectively decapitated” what remains of Montreal’s most notorious Mafia clan. Leonardo Rizzuto, 56, and Stefano Sollecito, 57, were among 11 suspects taken into custody on Thursday with another five sought as part of Project Alliance, a three-year investigation into organized crime in Quebec. Rizzuto — the son of the late mob boss Vito Rizzuto — appeared in court by video, where his lawyer entered a not guilty plea. Sollecito, who appeared frail and in a wheelchair, remains in custody. The charges against the men relate to a series of killings between 2011 and 2021. The arrests followed co-ordinated raids by nearly 150 officers across Montreal, Laval, Quebec City and nearby regions. Also detained were Nicola Spagnolo, Davide Barberio and Jean-Richard Larivière, a longtime member of the Hells Angels. Antonio Nicaso, an expert on organized crime and a professor at Queen’s University, called the arrests a serious setback for the Rizzuto network. “It is a devastating blow that effectively decapitates the leadership of the Rizzuto crime family, an organization that for some years now has lost the power it once held in Montreal,” Nicaso told The Gazette. Criminologist Maria Mourani said the operation reflects the importance of the targets. “We see several very important members of the Italian Mafia in Montreal who are being targeted,” she said. “This is good news.” She said it remains to be seen what happens, but the arrests may bring about a possible “slight destabilization” of Montreal’s criminal landscape. “Every time there are police operations, there are individuals who will replace other individuals,” Mourani said. “You can expect that some groups will try to take the dishes.”
This is the third major operation targeting the Rizzuto network in less than two decades, following Project Colisée in 2006 and Project Magot-Mastiff in 2015. The latter collapsed after allegations of police misconduct, and charges were dropped. Authorities say the latest probe is notable for its murder charges. Though police did not confirm it on Thursday, the probe was largely built on information from Frédérick Silva, a convicted hit man now serving multiple life sentences. Several search warrants related to the current investigation were carried out during December 2023. Back then, the Sûreté du Québec said in a statement the search warrants were “part of a major criminal investigation, which aims to elucidate several murders linked to organized crime that occurred in Montreal and (north of Montreal) from the middle of the 1990s until today. Certain individuals associated with notorious groups such as the Italian Mafia, the Hells Angels and criminalized street gangs are targeted by the investigation.” On Thursday, Mourani said there is no sole leader in Quebec’s organized crime but instead there are just “different groups and families.” The Sicilian-rooted Rizzuto family once dominated Montreal’s underworld, but its influence has since waned. “Will these individuals be convicted? Will they stay off the streets?” Mourani said. “We’ll have to watch closely.”
https://www.montrealgazette.com/news/local-crime/article986717.html
Thursday, June 12, 2025
Colombo mobster busted in Florida for medicare fraud
Thomas “Tom Mix” Farese, the reputed Colombo crime family’s consigliere, has gotten into trouble again with the feds in Florida, authorities say. This week, Farese and three associates in the durable medical equipment business were charged with swindling millions of dollars out of the Medicare program for senior citizens. They’re accused of submitting false bills to the taxpayer-funded program for unnecessary braces and paying kickbacks to telemedicine companies in exchange for supplying a pipeline of patients and physicians. Farese, 82, and the other defendants made their first appearances in federal court in Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday. Farese, who authorities say has been a notorious fixture in the mob rackets in New York and South Florida for decades, pleaded guilty last month to a money-laundering charge in a similar federal case in New Jersey that alleged a $93 million healthcare fraud scheme against Medicare and other government programs. He faces sentencing in July. Broward conspirators: feds Farese, who formerly owned a luxury townhome in Delray Beach and now lives in Florida, is accused of conspiring with Parkland couple Ed and Robbyn Cannatelli and Virgina Lockett, of Margate, to use a handful of medical equipment “fronts” to submit false Medicare bills for knee, back and wrist braces, according to an indictment. The indictment, filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay G. Trezevant, says the Florida fronts — Embrace All, Progressive Medical and Advance Medical — were owned by Ed Cannatelli, Farese and his longtime Colombo family associate, Patsy Truglia, who was charged in a related case in 2021. Truglia, formerly of Parkland, pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud federal healthcare programs, including Medicare, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison and ordered to repay $18 million to the U.S. government. The latest indictment does not mention that Farese is connected to the Colombo crime family in New York, though his role as its consigliere has been widely reported by news media. The Miami Herald was unable to locate defense lawyers for the Cannatellis, Farese and Lockett because their case, returned by a grand jury in the Middle District of Florida based in Tampa, had not been filed in the federal court system. The Herald obtained the indictment from that office. Life and times of Tommy Farese Starting in the 1970s, Farese has been involved in an array of South Florida rackets — such as using his shipping company to smuggle marijuana and his strip clubs to launder drug money — years before expanding into the hotbed of healthcare fraud. Farese first made headlines in Fort Lauderdale following his 1978 indictment for being the “mastermind” of a large marijuana smuggling and distribution operation under the cover of his Olympic Shipping Lines operation, according to a story in the Florida Bulldog. The case was sensational because it included allegations of bribery against a pair of former state representatives that arose out of conversations tape-recorded by police who bugged Farese’s office. Organized crime strike force prosecutors convicted Farese in 1980. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison, but was released in 1994. Soon after, undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agents posing as dealers began targeting him with a plan to wash more than $1 million through his strip clubs. Farese had hidden interests in Hialeah’s Club Pink Pussycat, Goldfinger in Sunrise, and Club Diamonds in West Palm Beach. Agents said that for a fee Farese laundered the purported drug money for them. Farese was charged with racketeering in January 1996, and later pleaded guilty and got 10 years. He was released from prison in 2005. Farese was arrested again in January 2012, this time on money-laundering charges. Truglia was charged with him. After a December 2012 trial in federal court in Brooklyn, Farese was acquitted but Truglia was convicted. The New York Daily News reported the case was “severely hobbled by the absence of two mob rats who secretly recorded the evidence, but were kept off the witness stand because they had been engaging in misconduct while working as informants.”
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article308464880.html#storylink=cpy
Killer Colombo hitman serving life for 4 murders denied compassionate release
A Mafia killer who whacked other members of his own Colombo crime family hit crew— and shoved the severed penis of one murder victim into the dead man’s mouth — will not get compassionate release, a federal judge in Brooklyn ruled.
John Pappa, 50, won’t get a break on his two life sentences plus 65 years for four gangland murders in the 1990s, Brooklyn Federal Court Judge Pamela Chen ruled, describing his crimes as “brutal and senseless” and suggesting the remorse he showed at a hearing last year was a cynical act.
“The court cannot shake the impression, after observing and listening to defendant over the course of the two-hour April proceeding, that he feels no remorse about committing the four murders nor empathy for the victims or their families,” Chen wrote. “Defendant’s statements … felt hollow and performative.”
Pappa, who has the creed “Morte prima di disonore” — meaning “death before dishonor” — tattooed across his back, committed the 12th and final murder of the bloody Colombo civil war of the early 1990s, then killed a fellow button man because he wanted credit for the slay.
The whole sordid affair was laid out in Chen’s ruling, filed May 30.
Pappa and another mobster, John Sparacino, were part of a three-man “hit team” assembled by Eric Curcio, and on Oct. 20, 1993, they rubbed out Colombo underboss Joseph Scopo, ambushing him as he pulled up to his Queens home in Ozone Park.
Sparacino sprayed Scopo’s car with bullets, but Scopo managed to get out of his car and run off.
Pappa ran after him, shot him three times and killed him.
Sparacino began taking credit for the killing, which angered Pappa and Curcio, so the two started plotting to kill him. But first, they went after one of Sparacino’s friends, Rolando Rivera. because he told his girlfriend that Curcio warned him to stay away from Sparacino.
Rivera’s loose lips doomed him. On June 7, 1994, Curcio and Pappa drove with Rivera in a stolen van to Staten Island, and when they crossed into the Forgotten Borough, they shot him four times and shoved him out of the van while it was moving.
An off-duty cop found Rivera alive, but he died shortly after.
Their attention turned back to Sparacino after learning he’d dissed Curcio and Pappa at a nightclub. So they enlisted a pal in the drug trade, Calvin Hennigar, to lure Sparacino to his Staten Island home. There, Hennigar shot him in the back of the head.
Pappa and Hennigar drove Sparacino’s body to another spot on Staten Island in a stolen car, and lit the vehicle on fire, their victim still inside.
An autopsy revealed Sparacinio’s gruesome fate — he had been hog–tied and mutilated, with a flap of skin cut from his face and his severed penis shoved in his mouth.
Finally, Pappa turned on Curcio, who he thought wasn’t giving him credit for the Scopo kill, and who may have killed one of his close friends.
“I killed Joe Scopo, I did all the work,” Pappa complained to Joseph Iborti, who testified at Pappa’s 1999 trial.
No one would help Pappa with the hit, so he went solo, ambushing Curcio outside his place of business on Oct. 4, 1994 — shooting him more than 10 times.
Pappa was convicted of all four killings in 1999, while Hennigar was found guilty of the Sparacino slay.
Pappa put in for compassionate release in 2022, arguing that his history growing up led him into the arms of La Cosa Nostra. His father was a Genovese gangster murdered by the Colombo crime family in retaliation for committing two slayings — a story people told Pappa as a child — and his stepfather was locked up for drug and tax evasion charges.
“Pappa was raised in a life of organized crime and drug dealing, and after his father was killed and his stepfather was incarcerated, he
began to look up to organized crime members to fill the fatherhood gap,” wrote his lawyer, Shon Hopwood.
At a tense hearing last year, the loved ones of Pappa’s victims spoke out, asking Chen to keep him locked away forever.
“You’re a phony, you’re a fake, you’re a loser, and you’re a killer, and that’s all you’ll ever be. Remember that. You’ve taken lives. You’ve
gotten that taste. Don’t act like you deserve anything from anybody. You deserve nothing but suffering like we’ve suffered,” said Michelle Gedz, who was five months pregnant with Rivera’s daughter when he died. “You are pure evil and you are the spawn of evil, and there is nothing else you will ever be.”
At the April 2024 hearing, Pappa told Chen he found his humanity in prison.
“It’s been productive. It’s been transformative. I’ve completely changed my way of thinking, my belief system. I’ve learned that working as hard as you possibly can, being honest and helping others, that those are the three keys to a meaningful life,” he said. “I now see things clearly, act correctly, and my actions are positive, effective, and completely unselfish.”
Sparacino’s brother, Salvadore, interrupted Pappa as he spoke, declaring: “And the Oscar goes to you.”
https://www.nydailynews.com/2025/06/08/colombo-killer-john-pappa-jailed-for-life-in-4-nyc-rubouts-denied-compassionate-release/
Wednesday, June 4, 2025
Tuesday, June 3, 2025
Gotti grandsons busted for beating down mob associate in Queens
Two grandsons of the late Gambino crime boss John Gotti were arrested and charged with assaulting a former family friend.
Cops said brothers Frankie Gotti, 27, and John Gotti, 31, son of the late crime boss’ youngest son, Peter, were arrested after assaulting Gino Gabrielli, who was accused of breaking into a home associated with one of the brothers and stealing $3,300.
Gabrielli, an alleged mob associate, was arrested Sunday and charged with burglary, grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property after the break-in.
Not satisfied with the arrest, the brothers tracked Gabrielli down to his mother’s house in Howard Beach and administered a beatdown in front of his own mother, officials said.
Frankie and John Gotti were arraigned before Judge Sharifa Nasser-Cullar in Queens Criminal Court early Tuesday evening. They were released on their own recognizance without bail and are scheduled to return to court Aug 7. They said nothing as they left court.
In 2015, federal authorities said, Gabrielli accidentally set himself on fire while torching the Mercedes-Benz of a Queens businessman who had stopped making his annual payoffs to an irate mob captain involved in an extortion scheme.
The victim’s home security video system caught Gabrielli, first seen dousing the year-old car with an accelerant, fleeing the scene with his pants ablaze.
Gabrielli pleaded guilty to the arson in August 2016.
In 2017, John Gotti, the grandson, was sentenced to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to selling oxycodone pills in New York City.
At the time, his lawyer, Gerard Marrone, said his client’s name was a blessing and a curse.
“His last name is what his last name is and he’s always walking around with a target on his back,” Marrone said. “It’s a double-edge sword, I think sometimes the name is a cross [to bear], but sometimes I think it’s a blessing. They’re a beautiful family, they’re very supportive of him since Day One. They really stick together, the entire family.”
https://www.nydailynews.com/2025/06/03/gotti-grandsons-busted-queens-beatdown-reputed-mob-associate/
Wednesday, May 28, 2025
Wednesday, May 21, 2025
Former Colombo Street Boss plotted to kill federal officials who sent him to prison
The Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office revealed in the court documents that federal agents “received a tip from a confidential source reporting that DeLeo is actively planning to kill two current and one former federal official.” The federal officials were all involved in DeLeo’s conviction more than a decade ago, according to court documents.
As Target 12 first reported, DeLeo, 82, was arrested on May 15, but federal officials didn’t publicly release details about his arrest until filing the new court documents on Tuesday night. DeLeo’s criminal history dates back decades and the FBI alleged he served in the 1970s as an associate of the Patriarca crime family, which operated out of Providence.
In 2012, DeLeo was sentenced to more than 16 years in prison for racketeering, among other crimes. He got out of prison under supervised release in May 2024, and federal agents alleged he’s recently been planning to kill the people who put him away. (The people were not publicly identified.)
The confidential source told agents DeLeo shared with him that an associate of La Cosa Nostra, or the Mafia, had obtained “tools” on his behalf, which federal officials took to mean firearms. DeLeo was also seeking a silencer, according to court documents.
DeLeo was allegedly asking around for personal information about the people he was targeting, “including the home addresses and names of immediate family members,” according to court documents.
Federal agents conducted search warrants on him and his home earlier this month and found “hard copy packets of personal information for multiple people,” including two of the federal officials. The source told agents he asked DeLeo about the information, and the aging mafioso told him “they were his ‘retribution.'”
FBI agent Molly Driscoll wrote in a sworn affidavit that DeLeo initially claimed he collected the officials’ personal information himself, but agents later determined he was lying.
“Specifically, law enforcement obtained text messages between DeLeo and a third party demonstrating that DeLeo asked the third party for information related to the targeted individuals,” Driscoll wrote. Court documents show he was communicating with convicted felons, including people he was indicted with on sweeping racketeering charges in 2009.
Agents also recovered from his home a burglary kit, marijuana, vials of steroids, “and a handwritten note regarding silicone masks,” according to court documents.
The burglary kit contained “tools including a pry-bar, mini crowbar, bolt cutters, and a lock-picking kit,” according to Driscoll.
Federal officials alleged DeLeo has shown a history of resentment toward the people who convicted him. While in prison, DeLeo told a confidential informant in 2014 he was going to “chop off” the head of one of the federal officials who became the target of his most recent kill plot, according to court documents.
Prosecutors also detailed DeLeo’s extensive criminal history over the past six decades, which they said started when he was convicted of multiple armed robberies and other crimes at 16 years old.
“DeLeo’s entire life has been devoted to crime,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Adam Deitch and Lauren Maynard wrote in a motion for detention filed Tuesday evening.
“His criminal record is riddled with violence spanning the course of decades,” they added. “And just as aging had no impact on his activity in the past, DeLeo’s current advanced age has no bearing on his willingness or ability to continue engaging in criminal activity.”
DeLeo committed crimes in the 1970s, including armed robbery and attempted kidnapping, earning him a sentence of 25 to 40 years. But he ended up escaping custody and went on the run in Ohio, where he committed armed bank robbery and kidnapped a bank manager, according to court documents.
“While still in Ohio, DeLeo committed his most gruesome offense: kidnapping for hire a prominent physician with the intent to castrate him, but instead shooting and killing the victim when he resisted DeLeo’s attempted abduction,” wrote the prosecutors.
DeLeo was released early on a commuted sentence in 1997, and he eventually rose to prominence in the Colombo crime syndicate, one of the five families of New York, according to FBI agents. He ran his own violent gang in the Boston area known as the “DeLeo Crew,” according to prosecutors.
DeLeo eventually became the reputed street boss of the Colombo family before he was indicted in 2009, according to federal agents. The prosecutors are now asking a federal judge to detain DeLeo for violating the terms of his supervised release. No new criminal case had been filed against DeLeo in federal court as of Tuesday.
“DeLeo has spent his life committing violent crimes,” they wrote. “It appears that he intends to spend his sunset years doing the same. The seriousness of the most recent threats, DeLeo’s long and violent criminal record, and his history of attempting to flee from custody all lead to one conclusion: DeLeo must be detained.”
Defense attorneys for DeLeo have asked that he be released from detention because he’s suffering from multiple health problems, including issues they said will require oral surgery.
The attorneys also argued in court documents that he isn’t receiving the medical attention he needs at the Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls and should be transferred to a federal prison.
DeLeo’s detention hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Thursday.
https://www.wpri.com/target-12/mobster-ralph-deleo-plotted-to-kill-federal-officials-who-put-him-away-court-docs-show/
Thursday, May 15, 2025
Parole violation sends former Colombo Street Boss back to jail
A convicted murderer and reputed former street boss of the Colombo crime family has been arrested in Massachusetts, Target 12 has learned.
Ralph F. DeLeo, 82, was arrested on Thursday, according to new court documents filed in Massachusetts U.S. District Court. DeLeo, who’d been in federal prison for about a decade, was released on parole in 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons website.
Details of his arrest haven’t yet been announced, but DeLeo appeared Thursday afternoon for a revocation hearing before Massachusetts U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Levenson. He was advised of his rights and the charges against him before being sent back into the custody of federal officials, according to minutes of the hearing.
DeLeo has been scheduled for a detention hearing at 2:30 p.m. Friday.
FBI Boston spokesperson Kristen Setera said DeLeo was taken into custody “without incident.” She referred all further questions to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
A spokesperson for Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Leah Foley declined to comment on the arrest, pending the outcome of the hearing.
DeLeo, who grew up and launched his criminal career in the Boston area, rose to the highest levels of the New York-based Colombo crime family, becoming a reputed “street boss” for about a year around 2008, according to the FBI.
He pleaded guilty in 2012 to sweeping racketeering charges, along with illegal possession of firearms and ammunition. As part of the racketeering charge, federal agents accused him of trafficking illegal narcotics, extortion and loan sharking among other things.
The so-called “DeLeo Crew” operated primarily in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, Florida and Arkansas, according to the FBI.
The Colombo family is considered one of the five most powerful crime families in New York under the umbrella of La Cosa Nostra.
DeLeo was convicted of murder in Ohio for the 1977 slaying of Dr. Walter Bond, according to The Columbus Dispatch. DeLeo’s sentence was commuted by Ohio Gov. Richard Celeste after serving 12 years.
Celeste told The Dispatch at the time he agreed to commute DeLeo’s sentence because he was assured DeLeo “wasn’t going to be out on the street,” according to the newspaper.
Ralph F. DeLeo, 82, was arrested on Thursday, according to new court documents filed in Massachusetts U.S. District Court. DeLeo, who’d been in federal prison for about a decade, was released on parole in 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons website.
Details of his arrest haven’t yet been announced, but DeLeo appeared Thursday afternoon for a revocation hearing before Massachusetts U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Levenson. He was advised of his rights and the charges against him before being sent back into the custody of federal officials, according to minutes of the hearing.
DeLeo has been scheduled for a detention hearing at 2:30 p.m. Friday.
FBI Boston spokesperson Kristen Setera said DeLeo was taken into custody “without incident.” She referred all further questions to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
A spokesperson for Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Leah Foley declined to comment on the arrest, pending the outcome of the hearing.
DeLeo, who grew up and launched his criminal career in the Boston area, rose to the highest levels of the New York-based Colombo crime family, becoming a reputed “street boss” for about a year around 2008, according to the FBI.
He pleaded guilty in 2012 to sweeping racketeering charges, along with illegal possession of firearms and ammunition. As part of the racketeering charge, federal agents accused him of trafficking illegal narcotics, extortion and loan sharking among other things.
The so-called “DeLeo Crew” operated primarily in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, Florida and Arkansas, according to the FBI.
The Colombo family is considered one of the five most powerful crime families in New York under the umbrella of La Cosa Nostra.
DeLeo was convicted of murder in Ohio for the 1977 slaying of Dr. Walter Bond, according to The Columbus Dispatch. DeLeo’s sentence was commuted by Ohio Gov. Richard Celeste after serving 12 years.
Celeste told The Dispatch at the time he agreed to commute DeLeo’s sentence because he was assured DeLeo “wasn’t going to be out on the street,” according to the newspaper.
https://www.wpri.com/target-12/mobster-ralph-deleo-arrested-in-massachusetts/
Monday, May 12, 2025
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Friday, April 25, 2025
Son of late New England mobster pleads guilty to killing former girlfriend
Michael Marrapese, 46, pleaded guilty to first-degree domestic murder in the killing of 29-year-old Lauren Ise just as his trial was slated to begin before Superior Court Judge Maureen B. Keough, court records show.
Cranston police went to 245 Bay View Ave. on March 13, 2019, to check on Ise after Providence detectives relayed a tip that she had been murdered by her estranged boyfriend, Marrapese. They found her body and signs of foul play.
Marrapese had lived with Ise in the duplex until shortly before her death. Her mother, Cheryl Palazzo, said during an anti-domestic violence walk in her daughter's honor that Ise had broken up with Marrapese and was living alone at the apartment. Marrapese, Palazzo claimed, had threatened her the night before the slaying.
Ise did not have a protective order against Marrapese, according to the Cranston police. Police had responded to the apartment for domestic disturbances, and Ise had reported feeling threatened after Marrapese moved out.
Marrapese was arrested weeks before the killing for disorderly conduct after Cranston police charged his brother, Steven Andrew Marrapese of Providence, with fighting and assault and battery on Ise while using a folding knife, according to a court complaint.
Steven Marrapese is currently serving time in maximum security at the Adult Correctional Institutions, while his brother is in the high-security unit.
Mafia capo Frank L. “Bobo” Marrapese Jr., known as one of the most vicious enforcers for New England crime boss Raymond L.S. Patriarca, died in December 2017 at Rhode Island Hospital.
Marrapese, 74, had been serving time at the ACI for murder, racketeering and extortion at the time of his death.
The elder Marrapese operated the Acorn Social Club on Federal Hill, a key meeting spot for mobsters from across New England. Marrapese shot mob associate Richard “Dickie” Callei to death at the club on March 15, 1975. He then had the corpse buried near a golf course in Rehoboth, Massachusetts.
After Callei’s murder, it took nearly a decade to catch Marrapese, although he continued to commit other crimes, such as a hijacking case involving stolen La-Z-Boy recliners in the early 1980s.
Marrapese was convicted of Callei’s murder in 1987 and sentenced to life in prison. He was released on parole in 2008.
Within two years, state police alleged, he and other mob figures were running a large-scale sports gambling ring that was raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars. Marrapese was among two dozen associates arrested in May 2011. He was sentenced in 2013 to nine years for racketeering and extortion.
Though Marrapese spent most of his adult life in prison for various crimes, not all the charges stuck. He was acquitted in the murder of Anthony “The Moron” Mirabella at Fidas Restaurant in May 1982, as well as the August 1982 murder of 20-year-old Ronald McElroy, who was beaten to death with a baseball bat after accidentally cutting off Marrapese and other mobsters who were street racing in Providence. Marrapese maintained his innocence in McElroy’s murder.
Marrapese’s time as a Patriarca enforcer spanned from the 1960s to the 1980s.
https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/crime/2025/04/24/son-of-late-mobster-bobo-marrapese-admits-to-killing-ex-girlfriend/83252124007/?utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook#n1b2060hwcmrw90793srkxozeq248rdk
Thursday, April 24, 2025
Wednesday, April 23, 2025
95 year old Genovese gangster who plotted to kill John Gotti granted compassionate release
A 95-year-old mobster who once plotted to whack John Gotti will be allowed to die at home with his family, after a federal judge granted the ailing wiseguy compassionate release.
Louis “Bobby” Manna — who rose to the rank of consigliere, the number three spot in the Genovese Crime Family, before his 1988 arrest on racketeering charges — has served about 36 years of his 80-year federal racketeering sentence. He was denied release back in 2020.
On April 16, New Jersey District Court Judge Robert Kirsch granted Manna compassionate release under the First Step Act, stating that his grim health prognosis and his efforts at rehabilitation behind bars tipped the scales in his favor.
“Mr. Manna’s well-chronicled severe health problems undoubtedly establish ‘extraordinary and compelling reasons’ for compassionate release,” Kirsch wrote. Those problems include a stroke, high risk Stage II metastatic lung cancer, chronic kidney disease and a recurring infection.
He was placed in a “Fall Watch” room, under 24-hour medical observation, at the Federal Medical Center prison in Rochester, in September.
Manna will be placed on five years of supervised release, on 24-hour house arrest with electronic monitoring, and won’t be allowed to communicate with anyone but his custodians and probation officials.
“The court is satisfied that these conditions, which essentially render Mr. Manna a dying prisoner in his custodians’ home, reflect the seriousness of his crimes and are just punishment for a man at the very last stage of life,” Kirsch said.
Manna, whose criminal history dates back to at least 1952, oversaw the “Manna Faction” of the Genovese family, and answered at times to underboss “Fat” Tony Salerno and boss Vincent “Chin” Gigante,
He was admired in organized crime circles in his heyday for never turning government informant even as he faced down prison terms, and once refused a shot of Novocaine for a prison tooth extradition because he was afraid he’d break omerta.
Manna was convicted of plotting to kill rival Gambino family boss John Gotti and his brother Gene back in the late ’80s. He was caught discussing the plan on a FBI bug planted in a Hoboken restaurant: “Remember I told you it was a big hit? John Gotti.”
The feds warned Gotti about the plot, and the attempt never got off the ground.
He also ordered the August 1987 rub-out of Irwin Schiff, an FBI informant who was also skimming cash from the Genovese family. A masked gunman, selected by Manna, walked out of the bathroom of the Bravo Sergio Restaurant on the Upper East Side and shot Schiff twice in the head.
Judge Maryanne Trump Barry, President Trump’s late sister, handed down Manna’s sentence in 1989. Trump signed the First Step Act, which ultimately led to Manna’s release, during his first term as president.
https://www.nydailynews.com/2025/04/23/genovese-gangster-95-who-once-plotted-to-kill-john-gotti-gets-compassionate-release/
Friday, April 18, 2025
Supreme Court rules Genovese associate committed a violent act
Whether attempted murder rose to a crime of violence split the Supreme Court 7-2 on Friday, with the majority finding that an associate of the infamous Genovese crime family committed a violent act despite his unsuccessful murder-for-hire plot.
In a 7-2 ruling, the justices ruled that Salvatore Delligatti’s attempted murder plot was a crime of violence.
“Delligatti insists that his position — that murder is not a crime of violence — is not as outlandish as it sounds,” Justice Clarence Thomas, a George H.W. Bush appointee, wrote for the majority.
Thomas said Delligatti’s argument defied precedent, congressional intent and logic.
“Intentional murder is the prototypical ‘crime of violence,’ and it has long been understood to incorporate liability for both act and omission,” Thomas wrote.
Justices Neil Gorsuch, a Donald Trump appointee, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, a Joe Biden appointee, dissented.
Delligatti planned to murder Joseph Bonelli, a local “bully” suspected of threatening the Genovese family’s gambling business. He gave his partner $5,000 and a .38 revolver to kill Bonelli, but police intercepted the accomplice and several members of the Crips gang before the crime took place.
A jury convicted Delligatti on six charges including conspiring to murder for hire, operating an illegal gambling business, racketeering and attempted murder. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Violent crime carries a mandatory minimum sentence under the Violent Crimes in Aid of Racketeering Act. Facing an additional six years in prison, Delligatti sought to convince the court that his crimes fell short of the statute’s use of force requirement because his murder plot failed.
The high court disagreed, finding that the firearms sentencing enhancement applied when an individual intends to cause bodily injury — whether or not those intentions materialize.
Thomas said it is impossible to deliberately cause physical harm without the use of physical force. Delligatti’s second-degree murder conviction proved that he intentionally caused the death of another person.
Delligatti can’t escape that conclusion under harm by omission, the court ruled, because a person can use something by deliberate inaction, such as using the rain to wash a car by leaving it parked on the street.
“The knowing or intentional causation of injury or death, whether by act or omission, necessarily involves the use of physical force against another person,” Thomas wrote.
Gorsuch chastised the majority for diverging from the statute’s text, arguing that the ruling was too broad. A lifeguard who sees someone struggling to swim and does nothing to save them, Gorsuch claimed, could now be convicted of a crime of violence if the person drowned.
“In cases like that, prosecutors can prevail simply by showing that a defendant did nothing when he had a legal duty to do something,” Gorsuch wrote. “And because a defendant can be convicted of the crime without proof that he used, attempted to use, or threatened to use physical force against anyone or anything at all, New York’s offense cannot qualify as a crime of violence.”
Gorsuch said the decision “comes up short on every count,” neglecting definitional terms, ignoring contextual clues and misinterpreting precedent. He added that his position didn’t guarantee a lighter sentence for Delligatti because the judges have imposed a sentence of up to 28 years.
“With or without a §924(c)(1) enhancement, those convicted of serious offenses in our federal criminal justice system routinely face serious sentences and judges amply equipped with the means to issue them,” Gorsuch wrote.
https://www.courthousenews.com/supreme-court-rebukes-genovese-crime-family-associate-finding-attempted-murder-is-violent/
Thursday, April 17, 2025
Monday, April 14, 2025
Feds round up Lucchese family's New Jersey crew
Buncha wiseguys.
A New Jersey councilman and high-ranking Lucchese crime family members are among dozens nabbed in a massive mobbed-up gambling ring allegedly run out of restaurants across the Garden State, officials announced Friday.
Prospect Park Councilman Anand Shah, 42, allegedly managed illegal poker games and ran an online sportsbook tied to four members of the mob family, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin alleged at a press conference in Newark on Friday morning.
“I’m keenly aware of the public’s perception of elected officials in New Jersey and the lack of trust that so many have in their public officials and governmental institutions,” Platkin said. “The arrest of a city council member only adds fuel to that fire.”
Shah was one of 37 people arrested and 39 people charged in the sweeping gambling case that was part of a two-year investigation that uncovered illegal operations in Woodland Park, Garfield, and Totowa that netted $3 million in illegal profits, the AG alleged.
At the top of the racket was George Zappola, 65, of Red Bank, who is part of the Lucchese ruling panel, officials claimed.
Below him was Lucchese captain Joseph “Big Joe” Perna, 56, of Belleville, and below him Lucchese soldiers John Perna, 47, of Little Falls, and Wayne Cross, 75, of Spring Lake, authorities alleged.
On Wednesday, cops raided four illegal poker clubs connected to the Lucchese family, two of which were run out of the backrooms of restaurants. They also searched a business in Paterson that was storing gambling machines and the homes of seven people who were allegedly managing the gambling operation.
The raid led officials to discover more poker clubs and dozens of people who hosted poker games, worked at the clubs, or managed bettors on an illegal online sportsbook on sites outside the US, Platkin said.
“This was a highly structured, highly profitable criminal enterprise run by people who thought they were above the law,” said Theresa Hilton, the director of the Division of Criminal Justice.
There were high-level managers who delegated daily operations to managers, decided how the clubs were run, settled disputes, and used threats to collect debts, the AG said.
The lower-level managers collected dues — called “rents” — from the hosts of the poker games, Platkin said.
Hosts — or the “house” — had to recruit their own players, provide food and beverages for the games, and financially stake them. For this, the hosts collected a percentage of the bets for themselves, called a “rake,” the AG claimed.
The hosts either paid the dealers or gamblers were allowed to work off unpaid debts by acting as a dealers, the AG said.
Attendees could bet on gambling machines inside the clubs if they were waiting to get into a poker game, Platkin said.
As for online gambling, “agents” ran the sportsbooks for gambling sites abroad and would manage a group of bettors — or “packages,” the AG said.
And the agents and sub-agents had to send up a portion of their profits to the high-level management, Platkin alleged.
The websites allowed the mobsters to use the internet and technology to carry out the same criminal activities La Cosa Nostra had been doing the old-fashioned way since the 19th century, Platkin said.
Shah is charged with racketeering, conspiracy to promote gambling and money laundering and other charges for which he could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted on the top charge.
He is not accused of using his office to carry out the alleged crimes and is not accused of being a made member of the Mafia — but rather an associate of it, officials alleged.
He’s due on Tuesday in Morris County court, where prosecutors will be arguing for him to be kept in jail while his case plays out.
Shah didn’t immediately return an email request for comment. Lawyers for Zappola, Cross, and John Perna didn’t immediately return requests for comment. It was not immediately known who was representing Joe Perna.
https://nypost.com/2025/04/11/us-news/nj-politician-lucchese-mobsters-arrested-in-gambling-ring/
Sunday, March 30, 2025
Monday, March 24, 2025
Bonanno Soldier gets an additional 37 months in prison for forcing loanshark victim to strip naked
Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, John Ragano, also known as “Bazoo,” a member of the Bonanno organized crime family, was sentenced by United States District Judge Hector Gonzalez to 37 months in prison for extortionate collection of credit in connection with a $150,000 loan. The sentence imposed today will be served following the completion of Ragano’s 57-month sentence for the conspiracy to commit extortionate collection of credit of the same victim. Additionally, as part of the sentence, Ragano was ordered to pay the government $3,000 in forfeiture. Ragano was convicted of the charge in October 2024 following a four-day jury trial.
John J. Durham, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York and Leslie R. Backschies, Acting Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the sentence.
“Today’s sentence punishes Ragano’s blatant disregard for the law, even while under court supervision for crimes brazenly carried out within the federal courthouse,” stated United States Attorney Durham. “This prosecution represents my Office’s steadfast commitment to combatting the Mafia in our district.”
“Despite previous arrests and detention, John Ragano tormented his victim to make weekly exorbitant loan payments and enforced humiliating methods when faced with resistance,” stated Acting FBI Assistant Director in Charge Backschies. “His actions reflected his apathy to the criminal justice system as he repeatedly attempted to extort his victims in the midst of active legal proceedings. Today’s verdict emphasizes the FBI’s intolerance of the mob’s historical inclination to utilize coercive and threatening tactics to fulfill their greedy demands.
In early 2021, the defendant Ragano loaned the victim $150,000 in cash and required the victim to make interest payments of approximately $1,800 a week. These payments did not reduce the principal of the $150,000 loan. On September 14, 2021, Ragano was arrested in connection with the extortionate loan to the victim, as well as separate schemes to traffic marijuana and commit fraud. After Ragano was released on bond from the Metropolitan Detention Center in December 2021, he continued to try to collect the $150,000 loan from the victim while under pretrial supervision. He did so by approaching the victim in-person at status conferences held at the federal courthouse, and by directing another individual (Individual #1) to contact the victim. On November 28, 2022, Ragano pleaded guilty to conspiring to issue the extortionate loan to the victim. However, in 2023, despite his previous guilty plea, ongoing court supervision, and sentence to 57 months’ imprisonment in connection with his previous guilty plea as to the 2021 loan, Ragano continued to extort the victim to collect payments on the 2021 loan, which resulted in a subsequent indictment for extortionate collection of credit and harassment of a witness.
As proven during Ragano’s October 2024 trial, on March 25, 2023, the victim recorded a meeting with Individual #1, who explained that Ragano wanted the entire amount of the loan repaid and that “nobody’s looking for anybody to get hurt.” A week later, on March 31, 2023, Individual #1 told the victim that Ragano was “a little upset” that the loan was outstanding. On July 5, 2023, the victim went to a used auto parts yard where Ragano worked to discuss the loan. Unbeknownst to Ragano, the victim recorded the meeting. The victim told Ragano that he was going to stop repaying the loan. Ragano accused the victim of cooperating with the government and demanded that he remove all his clothes. Ragano stated: “Okay, well then take off your f--king s--t right now my man. Take off your f--king pants right now, lemme see, I want to see.” At Ragano’s insistence, the victim complied and took off all his clothing. At that point, two men at the business walked up behind Ragano, one of whom was holding metal tools. Ragano then demanded the victim pay the money the defendant believed he was owed, telling him, “You owe me my f---king money, let’s see how you’re gonna do when I get out.” Despite being forced to strip naked, the victim was still able to record the confrontation, including Ragano’s parting words, “I’ll see you when I get out tough guy…Don’t forget I know where you’re at now.”
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Organized Crime and Gangs Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Devon Lash and Andrew D. Reich are in charge of the prosecution with the assistance of Paralegal Specialist Kristina Kim. Assistant United States Attorney Tanisha Payne of the Office’s Asset Recovery Section is handling forfeiture matters.
The Defendant:
JOHN RAGANO (also known as “Bazoo”)
Age: 62
Franklin Square, Long Island
E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 24-CR-50 (HG)
https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/bonanno-crime-family-soldier-sentenced-37-months-imprisonment-extortionate-collection
Sunday, March 23, 2025
Sunday, March 16, 2025
Gambino Soldier gets nearly 12 years for $400 million fraud
James LaForte Brutally Assaulted Receivership Attorney, Threatened Government Witnesses, Extorted Merchants
PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney David Metcalf announced that James LaForte, 48, of New York, New York, was sentenced today by United States District Court Judge Mark A. Kearney to 137 months’ imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release to include 12 months’ home confinement, for crimes committed as part of a criminal enterprise that ran a fraudulent investment vehicle[1] known as Complete Business Solutions Group, Inc., d/b/a Par Funding (“Par Funding”) for a number of years, before it was taken over by a court-appointed receivership pursuant to a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. LaForte was also ordered to pay $2,488,645 in restitution, representing the portion of investor proceeds that he illegally diverted from Par Funding’s numerous investors for his own use through sham merchant contracts and other self-dealing conduct.
In February 2024, the defendant, his brother Joseph LaForte, Par Funding’s president and CEO, and Joseph Cole Barleta, Par Funding’s chief financial officer, were charged in an amended second superseding indictment with racketeering conspiracy and related crimes.
James LaForte pleaded guilty in September 2024 to racketeering conspiracy, securities fraud, and extortionate collection of debt, as well as obstruction of justice, for his violent assault on one of the Par Funding receivership’s Philadelphia attorneys, and retaliation, for threatening several government witnesses.
“James LaForte served as one of his brother’s enforcers,” said U.S. Attorney Metcalf. “He not only used threats of violence to collect on Par Funding’s debt, but stalked and assaulted an attorney, in retaliation for that man’s efforts to hold the LaForte family responsible for one of the largest financial frauds in Philadelphia’s history. As today’s sentence shows, this brand of brazen and violent lawbreaking simply won’t be tolerated in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.”
“Since its earliest days, the FBI has been dedicated to investigating complex financial crimes,” said Wayne A. Jacobs, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Philadelphia. “James LaForte participated in a criminal enterprise driven by greed and sustained through threats and violence. The FBI is proud to stand with our partners in the pursuit of justice — disrupting these schemes and ensuring restitution for victims.”
“The defendant in this case was brought to justice for his participation in a criminal enterprise that caused significant financial harm to numerous investors,” said Special Agent in Charge Patricia Tarasca of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General (FDIC OIG), New York Region. “The FDIC OIG will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to pursue those who commit such egregious crimes that threaten investors and the safety and soundness of our Nation's financial institutions.”
Joseph LaForte also pleaded guilty in September 2024 to racketeering conspiracy, securities fraud, and related crimes and is scheduled to be sentenced on March 26, 2025. Barleta pleaded guilty in October 2024 to one count of racketeering conspiracy and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 2, 2025.
This case was investigated by the FBI, Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General, and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Matthew Newcomer, Samuel Dalke, and Eric Gill.
The SEC in Florida investigated and litigated the civil securities fraud charges, which formed the basis of a portion of the Par Funding criminal prosecution.
[1] On January 21, 2025, the Court found the Par Funding fraud scheme caused an actual fraud loss of approximately $404,000,000, which it reduced to $288,395,088 after factoring in credit for collateral seized from Par Funding by federal authorities when the investigation became public in July 2020.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-edpa/pr/par-funding-enforcer-sentenced-11-12-years-prison-rico-conspiracy-obstruction-justice
Turncoat Gambino hitman linked to the Gotti family now a New Jersey Councilman
He’s gone from lawbreaker to lawmaker.
John Alite, a former Gambino crime family enforcer-turned-mob turncoat, was sworn in Wednesday as a councilman representing the sleepy New Jersey borough of Englishtown.
“You know what? I can really do some good. I already had a bad past, and I’m here to redeem my whole life, and I would like to go out doing everything in a positive way,” Alite, 62, told The Post.
His work in the 1980s and 1990s as a top “earner” for the “Teflon Don,” Gambino boss John Gotti, and son John “Junior” Gotti, will serve him well in politics, he explained.
“I understand the Machiavelli stuff, the treachery,” said Alite.
“I mean every aspect of the street is like the government, so I understand the maneuvering these candidates are doing, so I feel I’ll be able to bring my knowledge and past history into politics.”
Alite said he spent 14 years in prison on convictions that include six murders, at least 37 shootings and countless beatdowns while working as a Gambino henchman.
But he didn’t have to put any rivals in cement boots to score his council seat.
He was appointed to fill a vacancy through the end of the year after being recruited by Englishtown Mayor Daniel Francisco and other local leaders impressed by his civic work helping youths.
At first there were skeptics – including some members of the Council — but Alite eventually convinced them he was someone they couldn’t refuse.
“Yeah, there were people who opposed it — but I don’t run from my past at all,” he said. “I use it as a way to move forward, to influence kids and get them off the street, to turn a negative into a positive.”
The ex-mobster will hold the seat for an additional two years through 2027 — unless someone dares file paperwork by March 21 to challenge him in an election.
“I’ve been told I won’t be challenged because there’s other seats held by people less popular than me, and obviously I’m in the public eye and do lots of media and [motivational] talks around [Monmouth] County,” he said. “Everybody knows me, so I’d be hard to beat in a race.”
The former wiseguy said he’s more qualified than any lefty Democrat currently holding higher office.
“You hear some of these people like [Texas Democratic Rep.] Jasmine Crockett talk, and they don’t sound educated,” added Alite, who graduated Franklin K. Lane High School in Brooklyn and went to University of Tampa on a baseball scholarship only to drop out a few years later after blowing out his arm.
And he’s already looking at his next move.
“I was asked — I can’t talk about names, but I was already asked to go for a higher position,” said Alite, who confided he’s eyeing someday running for Congress, and aims to model himself after President Trump, whom he’s campaigned for since 2016 and personally met five times.
“He’s not your typical politician; he gets the job done; he’s a workaholic. I mean he’s got so many good qualities,” said Alite, who records show has donated $6,501 to Trump and other Republican candidates since 2020.
The Queens-born goodfella reinvented himself since becoming a free man in 2012 — four years after becoming the star government witness in a 2008 racketeering case against his one-time best friend Junior Gotti.
The trial ended in a hung jury.
Alite said he wants to mend fences with Junior, but he’s not holding his breath.
Gotti did not return messages. However, he told The Post in 2016 that he’s a “forgiving guy” — but not when it comes to Alite.
“He is one of the most shameless human beings that God has created . . . He uses the Gotti theme to enhance his career,” Gotti said.
Alite co-authored five books about mob life, is a prolific podcaster and also earns a paycheck as a traveling motivational speaker who tackles topics like domestic violence, bullying and the nation’s drug epidemic.
He makes a good enough living that he waived the modest $3,500-a-year borough council salary, but admitted it’s a far cry from the “millions of dollars” he earned “during a good year” in the mob, when his portfolio included owning four NYC nightclubs and a dozen homes along the East Coast.
At the top of Alite’s political platform is speaking out against the dangers of illegal drugs. His 30-year-old daughter Chelsea died three years ago of a fentanyl overdose. The tragedy led him move to Englishtown.
Alite — who could never rise to being a made man in the Italian mob because he’s 100% Albanian — said he wants to make sure there are enough after-school programs to keep “kids off the street” and away from drugs.
“The drug influence in this county is terrible,” said Alite, whose one-time employer was notorious for trafficking cocaine. “As a kid I was part of that, and now I have a chance to change that.”
Alite, who is divorced and has four sons, was surrounded by his mother and other family members when he was sworn in Wednesday at Englishtown Borough Hall. Afterwards, he participated in his first Council meeting.
On the agenda for the tiny Central Jersey community with a little over 2,300 residents: filling potholes, Christmas lights, eyesore fencing, and appointing an acting police chief.
Francisco, Englishtown’s mayor, said Alite deserves a chance.
“I can only judge him on what I know,” he said. “John is a guy that is quick to being open and friendly. He has vast experience and connections in the political and business world.”
“I know he does a lot of outreach work,” the mayor added. “He shares a vision for development in our local downtown, and I think he’s going to be instrumental to this effort to redefine our community’s landscape.”
https://nypost.com/2025/03/15/us-news/ex-gambino-mobster-john-alite-now-councilman-in-englishtown-new-jersey/
Wednesday, March 5, 2025
Mixed verdict in trial of Long Island cop accused of selling his badge to the Bonanno crime family
A former Nassau County cop accused of moonlighting for the mob while still wearing a badge was found guilty Wednesday of making false statements to the FBI — but cleared of an obstruction of justice charge.
A Brooklyn federal court jury deliberated for nine hours over two days before reaching its verdict, with ex-cop Hector Rosario having no visible reaction as the verdict was read.
“We’re glad the jury acquitted on the obstruction, and it’s a relief they did,” his lawyer, Lou Freeman, said outside the courtroom.
Prosecutors said during the eight-day trial that the 51-year-old former cop “sold his badge” to the mob for a $1,500 a month payoff – and even set up phony raids to harass rival Mafiosos.
They said Rosario waged war on the Genovese mob on behalf of his alleged Bonanno family handlers after a deal for the two crime syndicates to split the proceeds from an illegal gambling den called the Gran Caffe fell apart – and then allegedly lied to the feds about his illicit moonlighting gig.
A 15-year veteran of the Nassau County department when he was busted in 2022, Rosario allegedly also tipped off the mob about law enforcement activity.
Federal prosecutors said the former cop lied to the FBI at least 30 times when he was interviewed about his link to the mob in January 2020.
“He chose the crime family over the public he swore to protect,” Assistant US Attorney Anna Karamigios told jurors during opening arguments in US District Court in Brooklyn.
Prosecutors said Rosario pulled off “at least one” phony raid on rival gambling operations run by a Genovese associate, according to federal court documents.
The ex-cop allegedly targeted Salvatore “Sal the Shoemaker” Rubino’s backroom casino inside his Long Island store, Sal’s Shoe Repair.
The Merrick business served as a front for poker games three times a week and computerized gambling machines.
Rubino, who testified at Rosario’s trial, pleaded guilty to charges in April along with his associates.
But Rosario’s lawyer maintained that prosecutors didn’t prove their case – and relied largely on three mob turncoats who cut cooperation deals with the feds.
“We are asking you not to be swayed by the inflammatory evidence of the Mafia,” defense attorney Kestine Thiele said during closing arguments Monday.
“You cannot convict our client on the word of three convicted members of the Mafia who all have lied in the past, who have lied to hundreds of people over the course of their criminal behaviors and in their personal lives,” Thiele said.
Jurors in the case declined to comment on the split verdict as they left court on Wednesday.
Brooklyn prosecutors asked the judge to revoke Rosario’s $500,000 bail, but the request was denied and he remains free until his sentencing, when he will face up to five years in prison.
“This corrupt detective chose to prove his loyalty to an organized crime family over the public he was sworn to protect,” US Attorney John Durham said in a statement after the verdict. “When police officers exploit their positions for personal gain, it erodes public trust in law enforcement.”
https://nypost.com/2025/03/05/us-news/verdict-reached-in-case-of-alleged-long-island-mob-cop-accused-of-selling-his-badge-to-bonanno-crime-family/
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