Colombo associates charged with Ground Zero shakedown
Ground Zero can't shake the mob.
Eight members of the Colombo crime family were indicted yesterday for allegedly offering kickbacks to land a subcontract at the site -- and then threatening to use muscle to collect on late payments from the company.
Prosecutors in Brooklyn federal court alleged the mob clan offered kickbacks to a foreman at Ground Zero to ensure that Testa Corp, a Boston-area excavator, would subcontract with All Around Trucking, a Colombo carting company.
The mobsters then threatened to shut the Freedom Tower operation down -- using force if necessary -- when Testa fell several hundred thousand dollars behind in payments, according to the charges.
"You want me to yoke the guy up and hit him over the f - - - ing head with a coffee pot?" alleged mobster James Bombino asks Michael Persico, the son of jailed former crime-family boss Carmine "The Snake" Persico, according to wiretaps arranged by the feds.
Persico -- whose only run-in with the law until now had been a drunk-driving bust -- told Bombino to "threaten the job," according to the tapes.
At one point, Bombino told a confidential informant that Persico told him: "We have to light a fire under their ass. Where's the check? They're shakin' in their boots."
But Persico's cousin, Theodore "Skinny" Persico Jr., who was on supervised release for a previous racketeering conviction, appears much more willing to use violence, according to the FBI recordings.
When a former Gambino-family member comes to "Skinny" Persico looking for protection after jumping to the Colombo clan, he tells the man: "If it was up to me, I'd go get a gun and shoot them or stab them or beat them up when I see 'em," according to the tapes.
"Skinny" then allegedly began extorting money from him in exchange for protection.
Two married associates, Edward and Alicia Garofalo, also were accused of embezzling money from the Teamsters Local 282 pension fund by submitting phony claims, the prosecutors claimed.
It's the first federal rap for Michael Persico, son of Colombo boss Carmine (The Snake) Persico and brother of ex-acting boss Alphonse (Allie Boy) Persico, both jailed for life.
Dressed in a blue, crushed-velvet sport coat and jeans, the mob scion pleaded not guilty to racketeering in Brooklyn Federal Court yesterday.
"Mr. Persico is not your typical organized crime associate," prosecutor Amy Busa said.
Sources said surveillance caught Persico, 53, meeting with high-level Colombos. He's a big earner for the clan as owner of Romantique Limousines, with interests in a cafe and bagel shop, sources added.
He's charged with ordering mob associate James Bombino to extort Testa Construction to subcontract Ground Zero debris removal to All Around Trucking, reputedly controlled by the crime family.
"They're shakin' in their boots over us," Bombino allegedly reported back to Persico.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/03/10/2010-03-10_mob_family_man_faces_wtc_racketeering_rap.html#ixzz0hnADH9KO
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/mob_bribe_plot_at_wtc_uaeNvSpybQdwwp4DApTGwM#ixzz0hn9RGYPr
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