Colombo captain pleads guilty to racketeering and stalking and faces up to seven years in prison
Like father, like son.
A reputed organized-crime family capo and his son took a pair of plea deals Monday in a case that netted nearly a dozen other accused Colombo mobsters and associates.
Joseph Amato, 62, pleaded guilty to racketeering and stalking in Brooklyn federal court Monday morning — admitting to shaking down businesses and tracking his girlfriend with a GPS device on her car.
Later that afternoon, his 28-year-old son, Joseph Amato Jr., copped to threatening an unnamed man with violence if he didn’t repay a loan in December of 2018.
Amato’s extraordinary efforts to track his gal pal’s movements actually led the feds in 2019 to bust his son and 18 others — including 11 alleged members and associates of the mob family — on charges of racketeering, loansharking and extortion.
The girlfriend apparently found the gadget, and it wound up on an MTA bus, “likely to thwart Amato’s stalking efforts,” court papers said — where it was found by a mechanic.
The feds then started wiretapping the family and allegedly uncovered a range of criminal activities from their pals — including an attempt to fix an NCAA basketball game.
“I participated in at least two overt acts,” Amato Sr. said via videoconference Monday morning.
He admitted that he took partial control of the Staten Island business through extortion and took property from another through threats of force.
He also admitted to regularly removing a GPS device from his girlfriend’s car to charge it and replanting the tracker on her car Jan. 1, 2015, and Oct. 21, 2016, and repeatedly telling her he knew her location.
“I knew it would reasonable and emotion distress to her,” he said.
The elder Amato is expected to be sentenced to five to seven years as part of his deal, allowing him to avoid a 20-year stint in the slammer.
His son, who remains out on bond, is expected to be sentenced to 21 to 27 months in prison.
Both Amatos are scheduled for sentencing on July 20.
https://nypost.com/2021/03/22/reputed-colombo-mobster-takes-plea-deal-in-racketeering-case/
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