Updated news on the Gambino, Genovese, Bonanno, Lucchese and Colombo Organized Crime Families of New York City.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Turncoat Genovese mobster denies lemonade assault charge


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The region’s most notorious mafia killer was arrested Sunday and charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon after he allegedly hurled a carton of lemonade at a female relative.
The dispute was over a sick dog, which a witness said Anthony J. Arillotta threatened to kill, according to court records.
Arillotta, 50, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Monday in Springfield District Court. Judge John McKenna set his bail at $500.
Assistant District Attorney Tyson Fung asked the judge to set bail at $2,500 cash, saying Arillotta, of Springfield, was on federal probation.
Arillotta was the federal government’s star witness in two separate mob murder trials in New York City in 2011 and 2012. He began cooperating with law enforcement shortly after his 2010 arrest, according to court filings and testimony.
In 2010 he pleaded guilty to the 2003 murders of former mentor Adolfo “Big Al” Bruno and his former brother-in-law, Gary Westerman, and the attempted murder of a New York union boss. He served an eight-year prison sentence and opted out of witness protection. Sources said he returned to Springfield in the spring of 2017.
At his arraignment Monday, McKenna set Sept. 25 as a “clarification of counsel” date, saying Arillotta does not qualify for a court-appointed lawyer. Kevin Riva, a private practice bar advocate who was representing multiple defendants in district court Monday, represented Arillotta at the arraignment only.
Riva said Arillotta was working full time, and that a family member was at court to post bail.
According to Riva’s account of the incident, Arillotta is allergic to dogs; a family member left a sick dog at the home, and he wanted it removed.
A report on the arrest by Springfield police officer Brendan Linnehan said officers spoke with Arillotta’s son, who told them Arillotta had threatened to kill the dog, and that he then called a female relative, who arrived at the home with the victim. Arillotta and the victim got into an argument, “both screaming and calling each other various names,” the report said.
Arillotta “picked up a full carton of Lemonade” and threw it at the victim during the argument, Linnehan wrote. The victim was struck in the leg but did not suffer any visible injuries, the report said. She declined medical treatment.

https://www.masslive.com/springfield/2019/07/former-mafia-killer-anthony-arillotta-denies-assault-charge-accused-of-throwing-lemonade-carton-at-relative.html

Jennifer Lawrence to star in new movie related to the Colombo family


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
Academy Award-winner Jennifer Lawrence is set to play a mob wife-turned-police informant in Mob Girl to be helmed by Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino.The upcoming crime drama is learned to be an adaptation of Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Teresa Carpenter’s non-fiction crime story under the same name. The script penned by Angelina Burnett will be produced by Lawrence along with Justine Polsky, Sorrentino and Lorenzo Mieli.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film revolves around Arlyne Brickman, a woman who grew up among mobsters in New York City. Over the course of time, she becomes a “mob girlfriend” who wanted a piece of the action herself. Later, Brickman becomes a police informant and a major witness in the government’s case against the Colombo crime family.
“Seeing this story from a woman’s point of view is a fresh and exciting approach to telling a classic mob story. We could not imagine a more perfect team of stellar filmmakers, with Jennifer starring in a tour de force role and Paolo at the helm, to bring Arlyne’s strength and unique perspective to life on screen,” Deadline quoted Brad Weston, Makeready studio’s executive, as saying.The film comes as the first collaborative project between Lawrence’s Excellent Cadaver and Weston’s Makeready.

https://telanganatoday.com/jennifer-lawrence-to-star-in-crime-film-mob-girl

Nevada black book removes dead Colombo mobster's name from list of excluded persons


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The Nevada Gaming Commission has determined that a mobster named in Nevada’s Black Book can no longer hurt the casino industry.
The reason: He’s been dead for more than two years.
Charles Joseph “Charlie Moose” Panarella, who had a reputation as a brutally sadistic hit man for the Colombo crime family in New York, was removed from “The List of Excluded Persons,” commonly known as the Black Book, in a unanimous vote Thursday.
“Because Mr. Panarella is deceased, he no longer poses a threat to the Nevada gaming industry, so therefore the (state Gaming Control) Board respectfully requests his removal,” Deputy Attorney General Tiffany Breinig said in remarks to the commission.
Panarella would have been 92 when he died. Former Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, who was a criminal defense lawyer for a number of mob associates before taking office in 1999, recalled his friendship with Panarella in his memoir “Being Oscar: From Mob Lawyer to Mayor of Las Vegas.”
“I had represented him in a number of cases, and you couldn’t find a more thankful client,” Goodman said in the book. “The feds, of course, had a different view of him. His reputation in the underworld was steeped in violence.”
Goodman said Panarella and a mob associate, Natale “Big Chris” Richichi, gave him a plaque that he hanged in his office as a reminder of their gratitude for representing them against federal charges.
“With me, he was always aces, always 100 percent, a very, very nice fellow,” Goodman said of Panarella in an interview Friday. “I know what they said about him, I know about the allegations where he apparently killed somebody and stuffed their private parts in their mouth, that kind of thing. But you could never tell that by the way that he treated my staff. He was always very decent. He treated the ladies in my office with respect and always was a very fine person and he had a wonderful family that accomplished a lot.”
Goodman also said he has never been a fan of “The List of Excluded Persons.”
“I’ve always said that the Black Book, ‘The List of Excluded Persons,’ is probably the most unconstitutional document in our nation’s history and the process attendant to it was silly,” Goodman said. “It was a way of law enforcement trying to cover up its inability to go after the real criminals by putting these fellows who were colorful and the subject of dime-store novel magazines into the Black Book without any nexus whatsoever with a violation of a gaming regulation or gaming law.
“Nothing in Charlie Panarella’s life would suggest that he ever was a cheat or took advantage of the casinos. It was just because he had a reputation.”
Panarella was placed on the ‘Excluded Persons’ list in September 1997. According to the listing, his last known address was in Las Vegas. He was known by seven aliases, and the listing said he was born in January 1925.
The attorney general’s office submitted a death certificate as evidence that he had died.
Gaming Commission Chairman Tony Alamo said the certificate was signed July 18, 2017.
“You can see that this really isn’t a high-priority matter,” Alamo said of the removal.
There have been 34 names removed from the Black Book since it was established in 1960, mostly because the people listed had died, according to Alamo. He said three people have been removed while alive, including a pair of people who were excluded in 1965 and removed from the list a month later. He said his research did not uncover a reason for the reversal.
With Panarella’s removal, there are now 35 people on the list, including one woman.
Two have been on the list the longest: Alvin George Kaohu and Wilford Kalaauala Pulawa, since Jan. 23, 1975. Their last known addresses are in Hawaii.

https://www.reviewjournal.com/business/casinos-gaming/name-of-dead-mob-associate-removed-from-nevadas-black-book-1811935/

Mafia son in court as brother he tried to have killed looks on


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The mob scion accused of shelling out more than $200,000 to have his own father whacked in a McDonald’s drive-thru appeared in court Tuesday for the first time — as the brother he also tried to kill looked on from the gallery.
Anthony Zottola Sr. remained stone-faced as he shuffled into the courtroom following his arrest for allegedly orchestrating the murder of his Bonanno-linked father, 71-year-old Sylvester “Sally Daz” Zottola.
The 41-year-old’s brother, Salvatore Zottola, looked on from the front row in the gallery while an unidentified female relative sobbed nearby.
Salvatore, 42, survived a caught-on-camera shooting outside his family’s Locust Point home that prosecutors say was intended to “lure out” the elder Zottola.
Court papers claim Anthony plotted to kill both men for over a year, allegedly in an attempt to gain control of his father’s illegal gambling operation, which involved “Joker Poker” video games.
Prosecutors Tuesday confirmed all defendants are considered eligible for the death penalty — though they’ve yet to decide whether they’ll be pursuing a capital murder case.
Lawyers for and relatives of Zottola declined to comment as they left court.

https://nypost.com/2019/07/30/mob-son-accused-of-hiring-hit-man-to-whack-father-faces-brother-in-court/

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Former union leader linked to Chicago mob sentenced to jail


Five months after he pleaded guilty to embezzlement, a onetime union leader with reputed mob ties told a federal judge, “The only reason I’m standing here today is because my name is John Matassa.”
Matassa faced sentencing Monday, more than two years after being hit with a 10-count federal indictment. He explained that he’d been targeted by the U.S. Department of Labor. But U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly saw things differently.
“You pled guilty to a felony to avoid going to trial,” Kennelly said. “That’s why you’re here right now. Not because your name is John Matassa.”
Then, the judge handed Matassa a six-month prison sentence and added six months of home confinement. The case stemmed from Matassa’s job as the secretary-treasurer of the Independent Union of Amalgamated Workers Local 711.
During Monday’s sentencing hearing, Kennelly described that organization as “the weirdest union that I’ve ever seen.” He repeatedly mentioned that it collected barely enough dues to pay Matassa’s salary and expenses.
Matassa admitted last February to an embezzlement scheme in which he began in 2013 to split his weekly paycheck from the union with his wife. Prosecutors said she became the union’s highest-paid employee — despite not actually working for it. Matassa’s attorneys said she helped him do his job.
In 2014 and 2015, Matassa raised his wife’s salary without the approval of the union’s president or its executive board. Meanwhile, Matassa had applied for old-age insurance benefits from the Social Security Administration in 2013.
Those benefits would have been reduced if he made too much money. However, as a result of the arrangement with his wife, Matassa collected $75,108 in insurance benefits to which he was not entitled, according to his plea agreement.
The charges against Matassa followed a long career in which his name notably surfaced during the 2009 trial of John Ambrose, a deputy U.S. marshal who leaked details about mob hitman Nicholas Calabrese.
Calabrese became a key cooperator with federal investigators and was under the protection of the marshals. Matassa allegedly functioned as a go-between for the information that eventually made its way to then-imprisoned Chicago mob boss, James “Little Jimmy” Marcello.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2019/7/22/20706262/six-months-prison-union-leader-reputed-mob-ties

Monday, July 22, 2019

Man who murdered Gambino boss is delusional with conspiracy theories


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The man accused of gunning down a Mafia kingpin on Staten Island wasn’t intending to kill a mob boss that day, his lawyer says.
In his eyes, Anthony Comello was taking out “a prominent member of the deep state” — whom he allegedly tried to “arrest” at first.
“He ardently believed that Francesco Cali, a boss in the Gambino crime family, was a prominent member of the deep state, and, accordingly, an appropriate target for a citizen’s arrest,” said Comello’s attorney, Robert C. Gottlieb, in court documents filed Friday.
“Mr. Comello became certain that he was enjoying the protection of President Trump himself, and that he had the president’s full support,” Gottlieb added, according to the New York Times.
The 24-year-old had been convinced that Cali was connected to the infamous QAnon conspiracy, which claims there’s a political “deep state” secretly running the country from within the government, among other things.
“Mr. Comello’s support for ‘QAnon’ went beyond mere participation in a radical political organization,” his lawyer said. “It evolved into a delusional obsession.”
Gottlieb intends to argue in court that Comello’s delusions about the QAnon conspiracy drove him to commit murder — and that they are enough to prove he is not guilty by reason of insanity. He’s seeking to have Comello placed in psychiatric care rather than prison.
According to Gottlieb, the young man’s obsession with the “deep state” and other QAnon conspiracies — like the belief that certain Democratic politicians are secretly pedophiles — led to him making multiple “arrest” attempts earlier this year.
In February, Comello allegedly tried to take Mayor Bill de Blasio into custody on two separate occasions, one of which involved him showing up at Gracie Mansion.
He then attempted to place two California Democrats under arrest — Reps. Maxine Waters and Adam Schiff — and even tried getting the US Marshals Service to help. But they reportedly denied his request.
The incidents were later confirmed by law enforcement officials.
Over the years, Comello made “thousands and thousands” of posts, messages and forum comments about the QAnon conspiracies, which Gottlieb plans to use in court as evidence.
“Patriot sleeper cells are awake,” he wrote on one occasion.
Gottlieb said Comello believed that Cali, a member of the Gambino crime family, had been connected to the deep state after seeing a post online that suggested Mafia figures were also part of the conspiracy.
He is accused of killing the mob boss on March 13 outside his Todt Hill home. The slaying was believed to be “premeditated” — with prosecutors charging Comello with second-degree murder.
“The defendant fired 12 bullets, striking him 11 times,” said Staten Island Assistant District Attorney Carrie Low at Comello’s bail hearing. “He drove by the victim’s house several times hours before the attack.”
During his first court appearance in March, Comello showed up with his palm covered in drawings of symbols and phrases tied to QAnon. Low described him at the time as a member of the “far-right organization.”
“He believes that only their laws are the laws he and the rest of this country should follow,” she said.
Comello is due back in court on Aug. 13.

https://nypost.com/2019/07/22/suspected-mob-boss-killer-thought-victim-was-prominent-member-of-the-deep-state/

Saturday, July 20, 2019

Son of deceased Genovese boss Chin Gigante sentenced to 2 years in prison


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Vinny “The Chin” Gigante’s love child, who is a reputed high-level wiseguy in the Genovese crime family, was handed a two-year prison sentence on Friday for what prosecutors described as a 16-year shakedown of a union official.
The sentence for Vincent Esposito, the 51-year-old son of Gigante and the boss’ longtime mistress Olympia Esposito, was on the low end of a stipulated sentencing range worked out as part of Esposito’s plea agreement.
Prosecutors had agreed to push for no more than 30 months on the racketeering conspiracy charge.
Esposito admitted to extorting annual payments from a United Food and Commercial Workers official from 2001 to 2017. When he was arrested in 2018, authorities raided his $12 million Upper East Side townhouse and found $3.8 million in cash, two unlicensed guns, brass knuckles and a​n actual​ list of made guys in La Cosa Nostra.
Esposito’s father, the former head of the Genovese family, was also known as “The Oddfather” for putting on an act in which he would shuffle around Greenwich Village in a bathrobe and slippers to help with his claims that he was legally insane — a ruse that fell flat in 1997 when he was sent to prison on eight racketeering charges.
At Esposito’s sentencing hearing, his attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, argued that Gigante’s reputation “cast a shadow” over Esposito.
“The name Vinny ‘The Chin’ brings up all kinds of feelings,” Lichtman said.
Before issuing Esposito’s sentence, District Judge Victor Marrero of the Manhattan federal court noted that he received 45 letters from Esposito’s supporters — including one from the guard keeping watch over Esposito for his house arrest — that paint a “glowing portrait” of the defendant. But he said the charges against him show a “dark side.”
“It’s probably fair to say that qualifying for membership in an organized crime family does not happen overnight,” Marrero said, adding that becoming a made guy doesn’t come from “public charity, solid citizenship and caring for widows and orphans.”
Esposito is required to surrender in 45 days.

https://nypost.com/2019/07/19/notorious-genovese-boss-son-gets-prison-for-shakedown-of-union-official/

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Judge tells Bonanno captain he bears more responsibility and hands him 7 year sentence


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Sometimes it really sucks being the captain — especially in the mafia. 
Joseph “Joe Valet” Sabella, a Bonanno capo who pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy, has been sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison after a judge said he bears more responsibility than his underlings
“You were involved more extensively as a captain, as a leader, and you have to take responsibility as a captain to your family,” said Judge Alvin Hellerstein
The sentence was on the low end of the range of years suggested by the federal sentencing guidelines. And the racketeering conspiracy charge was not Sabella’s first — in 2004, while allegedly working as a foot soldier for the crime family, he and six other members pleaded guilty to various charges. 
Sabella moved up the ranks and, last year, he was one of 10 reputed Bonanno wiseguys who were collared. That included alleged acting boss Joseph “Joe C” Cammarano Jr., who was acquitted on racketeering and extortion charges in March.  
As part of his latest plea agreement, Sabella, 54, admitted to violently shaking down a former business partner with whom he owned a valet parking business outside of a Staten Island restaurant after he refused to pay up. 
Sabella also admitted to teaming up with consigliere John Zancocchio and another alleged member of the family in the savage beatdown of Steven Sabella — no relation — inside a Staten Island strip club and then extorting the beaten man’s interest in a loansharking business, two strip clubs and a gambling ring. 
Joseph Sabella, who appeared for his sentencing on Thursday in a gray blazer, a white shirt and dark pants, also admitted to using fraud to maintain control of a Brooklyn demolition company — shaking the company down for $20,000 a year for protection — and taking over a dump site where mob-backed companies could dump potentially hazardous materials for cut rates.
Sabella was ordered to surrender to a prison in South Carolina on Aug. 27.

https://nypost.com/2019/07/18/judge-gives-reputed-bonanno-boss-stiff-sentence-for-racketeering/

Wednesday, July 17, 2019

Joint raids in Italy and USA bust 19 mobsters


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New York’s Gambino crime family and its cronies in the Italian Mafia got slammed during a series of coordinated, international police raids that were triggered by a trans-Atlantic WhatsApp message.
Italian authorities on Wednesday announced the arrests of 18 reputed mobsters, some of whom were paraded in handcuffs through the streets of Palermo, Sicily, by state police and FBI agents.
A 19th suspect was also being sought in the US, and law-enforcement officials searched the homes of reputed gangsters on Staten Island and in Philadelphia, an FBI spokeswoman said.
The crackdown capped a joint investigation — dubbed “New Connection” — that the feds and Italian state police conducted into ties between the Gambinos and Sicily’s Inzerillo crime family.
The probe uncovered a “strong bond established between Cosa Nostra Palermo and US organized crime,” according to Italian police.
Law-enforcement officials made their moves simultaneously at 3 a.m. in Italy and 9 p.m. Tuesday in the New York region, based on a message sent via the WhatsApp messaging service, Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper said.
The app is not only free to use, but also allows communications between American and European cellphones that employ different wireless technologies.
The mob roundup “will definitely have effects in New York City and 18th Avenue in Brooklyn,” where the Gambinos maintain their base of operations, a law-enforcement source told The Post.
“The Sicilians have become the power in the Gambino crime family since John Gotti went away,” the source said, referring to the “Dapper Don” who died in prison in 2002.
“They are the money earners and the enforcers in the family.”
Among those busted was Thomas Gambino, 47, who’s suspected of holding a key position in the Gambino family, CBS News reported.
Italian police said Gambino was caught on video while meeting with ranking members of the Inzerillo clan on a speedboat off the coast of Palermo last summer.
The group was allegedly discussing the sale of property formerly owned by then-Gambino boss Francesco “Franky Boy” Cali, according to the BBC.
The Sicilian-born Cali married into the Inzerillo family, which fled Italy following a bloody, early 1980s war with the rival Corleonesi faction, but has been making a comeback since the 2017 death of Sicilian mob boss Salvatore “Toto” Riina, also known as “The Beast.”
Cali, 53, was gunned down outside his Staten Island home in March in a killing allegedly committed by construction worker Anthony Comello, 24.
Cali’s killing hasn’t been tied to his role in the mob, with law-enforcement sources instead saying that Comello — whose lawyer plans to mount an insanity defense — may have been seeking revenge against Cali for ordering his niece not to date Comello.
Others arrested include Salvatore Gambino, the mayor of Toretta, a small town outside Palermo, and Rosario “Sal” Gambino, a former New Jersey resident who was deported to his native Italy following his conviction for heroin trafficking.

https://nypost.com/2019/07/17/italian-cops-and-fbi-agents-bust-19-mafia-suspects-in-joint-raids/

Tuesday, July 16, 2019

Prosecutors say son of deceased Genovese boss should get two years in prison


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The son of infamous bathrobe-wearing crime boss Vincent “The Chin” Gigante should serve no less than two years in prison for extorting a labor union official, Manhattan prosecutors argued in a new filing.
The recommendation that Vincent Esposito serve somewhere between 24 and 30 months behind bars is part of a plea deal he copped in April.
The 51-year-old, the son of late Genovese boss Gigante and his longtime mistress Olympia Esposito, pleaded guilty to a rackeetering conspiracy charge for his role in the crime family’s 16-year shakedown scheme.
He also agreed to forfeit $3.8 million — which prosecutors say he’s now trying to use in a bid for leniency ahead of his sentencing, which is scheduled for Friday but may be postponed.
“Esposito essentially seeks to buy his way out of a prison sentence,” they wrote in court documents filed Monday in Manhattan federal court. “Esposito must be judged by this Court for his own conduct, without regard to his payment of forfeiture.”
The feds also accuse Esposito of painting himself as the victim — and filing “self-serving” motions and bail applications to “downplay the severity of his offense.”
He’s been under house arrest at his “multi-million dollar Upper East Side townhouse, in the company and care of his mothers and sisters” pending sentencing, which he’s claimed should be punishment enough for his crimes, prosecutors said.
“Living in one’s own home, surrounded by loved ones, can hardly qualify as just punishment for these offenses, particularly given the means available to Esposito,” they said.
The Probation Office, which makes its own sentencing recommendations, suggested a sentence of 18 months, noting that Esposito has no prior criminal history and an “enlarged aorta.”
But the feds disagreed, saying his criminal conduct lasted well over a decade and that the Federal Bureau of Prisons is more than capable of providing “appropriate medical care.”
The defense has yet to file its own recommendations.
Gigante was best known as the “Oddfather” for wearing a bathrobe and slippers on his jaunts through Greenwich Village — an act the feds claimed was meant to bolster his claims of mental illness.
He died in prison in 2005 at age 77.

https://nypost.com/2019/07/16/genovese-boss-son-should-get-at-least-2-years-in-prison-prosecutors/

Tuesday, July 9, 2019

Mob associate convicted for possessing machineguns


Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, Paul Ragusa, an associate of the Bonanno and Gambino organized crime families, was sentenced by United States District Judge Pamela K. Chen to 72 months’ imprisonment for possessing nine firearms, including three automatic assault rifles and a silencer. Ragusa possessed the firearms while serving a custodial sentence at a residential re-entry facility in connection with three prior felony convictions. Ragusa pleaded guilty to the firearms charge in October 2018.

Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, announced the sentence.

“While serving a prior sentence for violent crimes involving machineguns, Ragusa was ready and willing to transport more guns, including assault rifles,” stated United States Attorney Donoghue. “Today’s sentence incapacitates the defendant, who clearly continues to pose a danger to the community.” Mr. Donoghue thanked the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and New York City Police Department, as well as law enforcement partners in Canada, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the GTA Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit Public Prosecution Service of Canada, Ontario Regional Office.

Between July and October 2017, Ragusa met with a cooperating witness (CW) whom he knew through their prior affiliation with the Giannini Crew, a criminal enterprise responsible for numerous violent crimes. During recorded conversations with the CW, Ragusa agreed to commit a murder-for-hire. Ragusa stated that he did not need a gun, because he would stick an “ice pick” through the victim’s head.

On October 25, 2017, the CW asked Ragusa if he knew anyone who could transport firearms. Ragusa responded, “Yeah, me! I’ll do it!” On November 2, 2017, Ragusa met an undercover FBI agent who drove him to a warehouse in Nassau County, where Ragusa packed nine firearms, including two AK-47 assault rifles and one M16 rifle, into a large bag. Ragusa and the agent drove to a parking lot in Queens, where Ragusa loaded the firearms into a waiting undercover FBI vehicle. Ragusa was paid $2,000 in cash. Unbeknownst to Ragusa, the firearms were the property of the FBI and had been rendered inoperable.

The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Organized Crime and Gangs Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Tanya Hajjar and Drew Rolle are in charge of the prosecution.

The Defendant:

PAUL RAGUSA
Age: 48
Brooklyn, New York

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 17-CR-613 (PKC)

https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/convicted-felon-and-organized-crime-associate-sentenced-72-months-imprisonment