Former cop turned Genovese associate admits lying about income on loan application
A former Passaic police officer turned mob enforcer who served more than
a decade behind bars for stabbing and beating a debtor could be heading
back to prison after pleading guilty on Wednesday to making a false
statement on a loan application.
Stefano Mazzola, 69, of Rockaway told U.S. District Judge Michael Shipp in Trenton that he made and used false statements and documents in an effort to fraudulently obtain a $238,000 mortgage from a bank in 2011. During the application process, Mazzola falsely claimed he had been employed for 13 years as the owner of an MRI business in Fairview and that he had served as the marketing director of another medical business for 12 years. He also claimed that he earned about $12,000 a month.
In fact, for much of that time he was in prison. As part of a plea deal, the government agreed to dismiss charges filed in February that Mazzola used threats of violence in a bid to collect a $30,000 debt, said his defense attorney, Miles R. Feinstein of Clifton. A violation of the terms of his release will also be dismissed, Feinstein said. Mazzola had been in custody since his arrest by the FBI in February but was granted bail at the plea hearing, Feinstein said.
According to the new charges, Mazzola conspired with an unidentified co-conspirator between April and June of 2011 to fraudulently obtain a refinancing of the mortgage on a residential property by lying to the bank about his employment and income.
Under federal sentencing guidelines, he faces two years to 30 months in prison.
Mazzola, who once boasted on a wiretap that he opened a victim’s head “like a cantaloupe,” was sentenced to 12½ years in prison in 1999 for assaulting a debtor in a Passaic store as part of a plot to collect an $80,000 loan-sharking debt.
Mazzola, a reputed Genovese crime family associate, has also previously served time on state armed robbery charges and a federal extortion charge stemming from his involvement with the Genovese crew once headed by Louis “Streaky” Gatto.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/Former_Passaic_cop_turned_mob_enforcer_admits_lying_about_income_on_loan_application.html#sthash.r5OtE7RM.dpuf
Stefano Mazzola, 69, of Rockaway told U.S. District Judge Michael Shipp in Trenton that he made and used false statements and documents in an effort to fraudulently obtain a $238,000 mortgage from a bank in 2011. During the application process, Mazzola falsely claimed he had been employed for 13 years as the owner of an MRI business in Fairview and that he had served as the marketing director of another medical business for 12 years. He also claimed that he earned about $12,000 a month.
In fact, for much of that time he was in prison. As part of a plea deal, the government agreed to dismiss charges filed in February that Mazzola used threats of violence in a bid to collect a $30,000 debt, said his defense attorney, Miles R. Feinstein of Clifton. A violation of the terms of his release will also be dismissed, Feinstein said. Mazzola had been in custody since his arrest by the FBI in February but was granted bail at the plea hearing, Feinstein said.
According to the new charges, Mazzola conspired with an unidentified co-conspirator between April and June of 2011 to fraudulently obtain a refinancing of the mortgage on a residential property by lying to the bank about his employment and income.
Under federal sentencing guidelines, he faces two years to 30 months in prison.
Mazzola, who once boasted on a wiretap that he opened a victim’s head “like a cantaloupe,” was sentenced to 12½ years in prison in 1999 for assaulting a debtor in a Passaic store as part of a plot to collect an $80,000 loan-sharking debt.
Mazzola, a reputed Genovese crime family associate, has also previously served time on state armed robbery charges and a federal extortion charge stemming from his involvement with the Genovese crew once headed by Louis “Streaky” Gatto.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/Former_Passaic_cop_turned_mob_enforcer_admits_lying_about_income_on_loan_application.html#sthash.r5OtE7RM.dpuf
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