Reality show mobster squashed beef between stock broker and another gangster
Robert "Big Head" Iovane appeared on weight-loss reality show ‘The
Biggest Loser’ in 2006. Iovane allegedly helped broker Mark Zagotti get
out debt and mobster harassment when he brokered his own deal with
Bartolomeo Vernace, who is on trial for the murders of two bar owners in
1981.
The fatso mobster “Big Head” has a big heart, too.
Reputed Gambino associate Robert Iovane, who took a shot at shedding flab on the reality TV diet show “The Biggest Loser,” came to the rescue of a beleaguered stockbroker who was being threatened by another gangster.
Iovane was also a client of broker Mark Zagotti, and didn’t like the way he was being roughed up by Queens pizza maker Joseph Gambina, who was irate over losing all his dough.
Gambina beat up the broker in the basement of his Polo Pizzeria in Elmhurst, demanding that the broker make good on the $20,000 he had lost.
“(Iovane) basically stated, ‘You shouldn’t take this; we all understand there are risks in the market. He’s taking advantage of you,’” Zagotti testified Thursday at the trial of Gambino capo Bartolomeo Vernace, who is charged with the 1981 murders of two bar owners killed over a spilled drink.
So the gentle giant introduced Zagotti to Vernace, and presto, the 1997 beef was squashed.
Zagotti gave Vernace a couple thousand dollars as a “gift” for his intervention.
But Gambina may have gotten the last laugh — he turned rat and testified Wednesday that Iovane was a gangster in Vernace’s crew before becoming a fledgling TV contestant.
Reputed Gambino associate Robert Iovane, who took a shot at shedding flab on the reality TV diet show “The Biggest Loser,” came to the rescue of a beleaguered stockbroker who was being threatened by another gangster.
Iovane was also a client of broker Mark Zagotti, and didn’t like the way he was being roughed up by Queens pizza maker Joseph Gambina, who was irate over losing all his dough.
Gambina beat up the broker in the basement of his Polo Pizzeria in Elmhurst, demanding that the broker make good on the $20,000 he had lost.
Robert Iovane (left) appeared on 'The Biggest Loser' in 2006.
“(Iovane) basically stated, ‘You shouldn’t take this; we all understand there are risks in the market. He’s taking advantage of you,’” Zagotti testified Thursday at the trial of Gambino capo Bartolomeo Vernace, who is charged with the 1981 murders of two bar owners killed over a spilled drink.
So the gentle giant introduced Zagotti to Vernace, and presto, the 1997 beef was squashed.
Zagotti gave Vernace a couple thousand dollars as a “gift” for his intervention.
But Gambina may have gotten the last laugh — he turned rat and testified Wednesday that Iovane was a gangster in Vernace’s crew before becoming a fledgling TV contestant.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/biggest-loser-mob-associate-helped-squash-beef-article-1.1302163#ixzz2OzFHKX81
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