Gambino crime family defendants plead guilty
Four men pleaded guilty Friday in a New York federal court to organized crime charges linked to the Gambino crime family, officials said.The charges result from a variety of activities that include assault, loansharking, drug trafficking and trying to recruit illegal aliens to work in adult entertainment clubs.
The Justice Department described the four men, Alphonse Trucchio, Michael Roccaforte, Anthony Moscatiello and Christopher Colon, as being "a captain, two soldiers and an associate of the Gambino organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra."
US Attorney Preet Bharara said, "For those who believe La Cosa Nostra's criminal activities and influence are on the decline, the sweeping charges in this case and today's guilty pleas should disabuse them of that notion."
According to the Justice Department, Trucchio and Gambino family captain Louis Mastrangelo -- who had previously pleaded guilty to criminal charges -- supervised crews of street level criminals, known as soldiers and associates.
From the late 1980s through 2010, Trucchio and his associates oversaw the Gambino family's narcotics distribution network, which was based in Queens, New York, the Justice Department reported.
"Numerous drug suppliers, wholesalers and street dealers operated under the authority and protection of the Gambino family, in exchange for paying the family a portion of their profits," the a Justice Department statement said.
Drugs they distributed included cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy and Vicodin, "which generated millions of dollars in illegal proceeds for the Gambino family," the Justice Department said.
The accused men's other illegal activities included extorting payments from business owners and strip clubs, stabbing one person and hitting another with a car while trying to collect a debt and operating illegal gambling enterprises.
Charges are pending against 11 more defendants. Other people already pleaded guilty in the case.
The FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service participated in the investigation.
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