Feds Dig Up Bags Of Cash Intended As Christmas Payoffs To Genovese Family

Feds Dig Up Bags Of Cash Intended As Christmas Payoffs To Genovese Family

  December 10, 2010    Dapper_Don

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The feds stole Christmas from the Genovese crime family.
And here's how: For years, the longshoremen under their control on the New Jersey docks have been forced to fork over cash to the gangsters.
Federal agents fighting to tear control of the waterfront from the mob intercepted $51,900 - a cash Christmas present from a union local to the crime family - that was buried in a longshoreman's backyard.
Robert Ruiz, a delegate for Local 1235 of the International Longshoremen's Association, was busted Wednesday and charged with extorting union members, according to court papers unsealed in Brooklyn Federal Court.
The accused bagman for the mob was released on $500,000 bond.
"He's a hardworking, well-regarded union official," defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo told the Daily News yesterday.
"In terms of using force to get money from someone, it just didn't happen," Agnifilo added.
Two longshoremen informed the feds that Ruiz collected "envelopes" from union members stuffed with money for the Genovese crime family, which controls the New Jersey waterfront.
The Gambino crime family controls the piers in Brooklyn and Staten Island.
"[The informant's] understanding was that he could lose his job ... or could be killed if he did not make a payment every year at approximately Christmastime," Department of Labor special agent Jonathan Mellone stated in an affidavit.
Ruiz, 51, a union member since 1979, made a big boo-boo that must have him crying boo-hoo.
He gave the whole pot of money to the informant to hold.
The informant put the cash in an ice cooler, buried it in a black garbage bag and notified the FBI.
That's exactly where agents dug up the money that belongs to the hardworking longshoremen.
Most likely, the Genovese wiseguys' hearts shriveled three sizes when they heard they weren't getting their present this year.
Before the feds even seized the money, the gangland thugs knew the heat was on months ago.
Reputed Genovese soldier Stephen DePiro was overheard in a Long Island steakhouse lamenting to late capo Tino Fiumara that "Christmas is long gone."
He was referring to the future of extortion payments, according to court papers.
And he was right.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/the_mob/2010/12/10/2010-12-10_feds_dig_up_bags_o_cash_intended_as_christmas_payoff_from_longshoreman_big_mobs_.html#ixzz17j24eNK6