Pizza fight thug was robbing banks say the feds
You can't teach an old con new tricks.
Benny Geritano, busted last month in Brooklyn for allegedly trying to slice up a celebrity pizzeria owner in a fight over a woman, had resumed his career burglarizing banks, federal prosecutors say.
Geritano, a member of the infamous "Night Drop Crew," a Mafia-linked gang that operated from 1993 to 2003, was freed from prison in September.
In the seven months before he got busted for his knife fight with Lucali pizzeria owner Mark Iacono, Geritano allegedly tried to burglarize two banks and was plotting "multiple" other jobs.
The new accusations emerged at a court hearing involving the pizzeria knife play, which left a street in Carroll Gardens looking like it was covered in tomato sauce.
"The FBI has information . . . that [Geritano] has been out planning bank burglaries -- multiple bank burglaries," Assistant US Attorney Nicole Argentieri told Magistrate Judge Lois Bloom in Brooklyn federal court.
The allegations are based on information from confidential informants and "have been corroborated by physical surveillance by [FBI] agents and by other sources that indicated that [Geritano] has not only planned the burglaries, but he's attempted to rob the banks on two occasions," Argentieri said.
The "Night Drop Crew" specialized in bank burglaries and robberies, and were famous for breaking into financial institutions' fortified night-deposit boxes -- usually located in a building's exterior wall -- in search of cash and checks.
The crew operated in New York and New Jersey, but also branched out to Miami, Las Vegas and farther-flung locales such as Green Bay, Wis., and Minnetonka, Minn.
Geritano served his 71 months in prison for the bank jobs but was also sentenced to three years' probation.
After his street fight, feds put Geritano, 38, back behind bars for violating probation.
He hasn't been charged in any new bank jobs and his lawyer, Steven Kartagener, said that Geritano is "absolutely innocent of all these charges."
His fellow gladiator, Iacono, was released without bail for the fight.
Benny Geritano, busted last month in Brooklyn for allegedly trying to slice up a celebrity pizzeria owner in a fight over a woman, had resumed his career burglarizing banks, federal prosecutors say.
Geritano, a member of the infamous "Night Drop Crew," a Mafia-linked gang that operated from 1993 to 2003, was freed from prison in September.
In the seven months before he got busted for his knife fight with Lucali pizzeria owner Mark Iacono, Geritano allegedly tried to burglarize two banks and was plotting "multiple" other jobs.
Mark Iacono
"The FBI has information . . . that [Geritano] has been out planning bank burglaries -- multiple bank burglaries," Assistant US Attorney Nicole Argentieri told Magistrate Judge Lois Bloom in Brooklyn federal court.
The allegations are based on information from confidential informants and "have been corroborated by physical surveillance by [FBI] agents and by other sources that indicated that [Geritano] has not only planned the burglaries, but he's attempted to rob the banks on two occasions," Argentieri said.
The "Night Drop Crew" specialized in bank burglaries and robberies, and were famous for breaking into financial institutions' fortified night-deposit boxes -- usually located in a building's exterior wall -- in search of cash and checks.
The crew operated in New York and New Jersey, but also branched out to Miami, Las Vegas and farther-flung locales such as Green Bay, Wis., and Minnetonka, Minn.
Geritano served his 71 months in prison for the bank jobs but was also sentenced to three years' probation.
After his street fight, feds put Geritano, 38, back behind bars for violating probation.
He hasn't been charged in any new bank jobs and his lawyer, Steven Kartagener, said that Geritano is "absolutely innocent of all these charges."
His fellow gladiator, Iacono, was released without bail for the fight.
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