Judge Excuses Taxes for Genovese/Gambino Linked Club
A New York administrative law judge has ruled that "the estate of a businessman held to be responsible for taxes on a once-prosperous Manhattan strip club does not have to pay more than $4 million in back taxes because the club became so thoroughly infested by organized crime that it was unmanageable" as reported by Joel Stashenko for the New York Law Journal:
While the late Frank A. Marchello was properly held by the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance as being a responsible officer for the V.I.P. Club, Administrative Law Judge Winifred M. Maloney concluded that Marchello was thwarted, through no fault of his own, in carrying out his corporate duties by mob influence that one federal prosecutor said had "bled the club dry" financially. The same was true of Steve Aslan, a man Marchello hired to manage the club at 20 West 20th St.
Both the Gambino and Genovese crime families allegedly had their hands in the pot during the time period at issue:
Gambino crime family figures Salvatore "Fat Sal" Scala and Thomas "Monk" Sassano muscled their way into club operations and began collecting "protection payments" ranging from $2,500 to $15,000 every two weeks from Aslan and co-manager Jon Vargo, the decision said. * * * To compound matters, Judge Maloney's determination indicated that Vargo was also making payments of about $5,000 a week to the Genovese crime family and that, over time, Vargo took more than $1 million out of the club to pay gambling debts he had incurred with Genovese bookies. * * * In all, Judge Maloney calculated that at least $4 million was siphoned from the club through extortion and other payments related to organized crime between the club's opening in 1996 and 2002, when it collapsed financially.
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