Five Families of New York City

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

Thursday, November 14, 2024

Long Island gambling operation linked to Bonanno family busted

  November 14, 2024    Dapper_Don


Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly announced the indictments of five individuals for operating an illegal gambling operation in Nassau County between September 2023 and April 2024.

DA Donnelly said that in July 2023 NCDA began a 14-month long investigation, involving wire taps and other covert surveillance, into a supposed illegal online sportsbook allegedly operated by Anthony Frascone and Anthony Pellegrino.

According to the indictment, investigators discovered that between September 2023 and April 2024, associates Joseph Pietaro – a former New York City Police Officer – along with Philip Carucci and Frank LoNigro allegedly operated as runners for the sports book, each having multiple bettors under them.

Pellegrino allegedly established accounts through a website for the runners with unique usernames and passwords. The runners allegedly used these accounts to access and manage the bets of their bettors, as well as to keep track of their profits, a portion of which they retained and a portion of which were given to Pellegrino.

Pietaro, Carucci, and LoNigro, allegedly also supplied usernames and passwords to bettors, and settled debts with bettors offline, in person. The profits were then allegedly shared with Pellegrino, who was responsible for keeping track of the figures related to the sports book.

Frascone, the alleged leader of the outfit, also kept records of and received a portion of the profits generated from the sports book and, according to the investigation, also shared a portion with other associates in the Bronx.

“These five individuals allegedly operated a sophisticated online sports betting operation in Nassau County, profiting off of hundreds of bets that took place during the 14-month period of our investigation,” said DA Donnelly. “One bettor alone owed more than $150,000 in debt to this alleged operation, showing the breadth of this illegal book. My office is committed to taking down illegal gambling networks and holding accountable the bookkeepers, runners, and other agents who try to skirt state laws toward their own selfish ends.”

NCDA determined that hundreds of bets were placed through the alleged illegal gambling operation and runners accepted multiple bets for thousands of dollars during the course of the investigation.

There are a limited number of licenses available in New York State for the operation of legitimate sports books. These licensed sports books are closely scrutinized, operate under strict guidelines from the state, and a portion of their profits are subject to New York State taxes.

Anthony Frascone, 75, of East Meadow, was arraigned today before Judge Robert Schwartz on seven counts of Promoting Gambling in the First Degree (an E felony); Criminal Usury in the First Degree (a C felony); Criminal Usury in the Second Degree (an E felony); 54 counts of Promoting Gambling in the Second Degree (an A misdemeanor); Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree (an E Felony); and Conspiracy in the Fifth Degree (an A misdemeanor). The defendant pleaded not guilty and was released on his own recognizance. He is due back in court on December 18, 2024. Frascone faces up to five to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Anthony Pellegrino, 59, of Merrick, was arraigned today before Judge Schwartz on seven counts of Promoting Gambling in the First Degree (an E felony); Criminal Usury in the First Degree (a C felony); Criminal Usury in the Second Degree (an E felony); 54 counts of Promoting Gambling in the Second Degree (an A misdemeanor); Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree (an E felony); and Conspiracy in the Fifth Degree (an A misdemeanor). The defendant pleaded not guilty and was released on his own recognizance. He is due back in court on December 19, 2024. Pellegrino faces up to five to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Philip Carucci, 59, of Levittown, was arraigned today before Judge Schwartz on charges of Promoting Gambling in the First Degree (an E felony); Possession of Gambling Records in the First Degree (an E felony) and Conspiracy in the Fifth Degree (an A misdemeanor). The defendant pleaded not guilty and was released on his own recognizance. He is due back in court on December 18, 2024. Carucci faces up to one to three years in prison if convicted.

Joseph Pietaro, 57, of West Islip, Suffolk County, was arraigned today before Judge Schwartz on fifty counts of Promoting Gambling in the Second Degree (an A misdemeanor) and one count of Conspiracy in the Fifth Degree (an A misdemeanor). The defendant pleaded not guilty and was released on his own recognizance. He is due back in court on December 18, 2024. Pietaro faces up to one to three years in prison if convicted.

Frank LoNigro, 51, of Merrick, was arraigned today before Judge Schwartz on six counts of Promoting Gambling in the First Degree (an E felony); one count of Promoting Gambling in the Second Degree (an A misdemeanor); and one count of Conspiracy in the Fifth Degree (an A misdemeanor). The defendant pleaded not guilty and was released on his own recognizance. He is due back in court on December 19, 2024. LoNigro faces up to one to three years in prison if convicted.

In addition to operating the illegal sports book, Pellegrino and Frascone also allegedly engaged in illegal loansharking activities, issuing a usurious loan to at least one individual for thousands of dollars and penalizing him three points, or three percent interest, each week over the life of the loan. The interest rate equates to an annual interest percentage rate of approximately 156%.

Frascone also allegedly received a portion of the interest payments on that loan after payments were made by the victim to Pellegrino.

The defendants all surrendered to NCDA Detective Investigators on November 7, 2024.

The case is being prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Kelsey Lorer of the Organized Crime and Rackets Bureau, under the supervision of Bureau Chief Jeremy Glicksman and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for the Investigations Division Rick Whelan. Frascone is represented by Murray Richman, Esq. Pellegrino is represented by Dennis Lemke, Esq. Pietaro is represented by Michael Schillinger, Esq. Carucci is represented by Gregory Zak, Esq. and LoNigro is represented by Eric Franz, Esq.

The charges are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless found guilty.

https://www.nassauda.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=1716

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Thursday, October 17, 2024

Ex-husband of Real Housewives of New Jersey star gets 7 years for hiring Lucchese Soldier to beat up new husband

  October 17, 2024    Dapper_Don


Dina Manzo’s ex-husband was sentenced Tuesday to seven years in prison after being convicted of hiring a mobster to attack the “Real Housewives of New Jersey” alum’s new spouse.

The US Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey announced in a press release that Thomas “Tommy” Manzo was ordered to serve “84 months in prison for hiring, then assisting, a soldier in the Lucchese Crime Family to assault his ex-wife’s current husband.”

A jury convicted Tommy, 59, on June 4 of one count of committing a violent crime in aid of racketeering, one count of conspiracy to commit a violent crime in aid of racketeering and one count of falsifying and concealing documents related to a federal investigation.

In addition to prison time, Judge Susan D. Wigenton sentenced Tommy to three years of supervised release.

“Whether you’re actually in the Mafia or not, hiring the mob to assault someone because of your marital problems is abhorrent,” US Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said in a statement Tuesday. “Covering up the role you played only makes it worse. The jury’s verdict, and today’s sentence, make clear that this office will spare no resources to hold accountable anyone who commits such crimes.”

Dina, 52, has not publicly commented on her ex’s sentencing, but she did post a cryptic quote to her Instagram Story on Tuesday.

“Because at the end of the day, the right people fight for you. The right people show up. The right people care, not only when life is convenient, but when it is difficult and messy and it aches all over,” the quote read.

Tommy was accused of hiring Lucchese crime family member John Perna to physically assault Cantin, who Dina’s boyfriend at the time, at a strip mall parking lot in New Jersey in 2015.

Prosecutors claimed Tommy had hired Perna because he was “outraged that his former wife became romantically involved with another man.”

Perna was also convicted after pleading guilty in 2020 to committing a violent crime in aid of racketeering activity. He was released from prison in 2023.

“The facts and circumstances in this case read like something from a bad TV crime drama, but the evidence and testimony presented in court prove it was reality,” James E. Dennehy, the head of FBI’s Newark field office, said in a statement in June after Tommy’s guilty verdict.

Dina, who has not starred on “RHONJ” since 2014, married Cantin in 2017. They recently moved to Montecito, Calif.

https://pagesix.com/2024/10/16/celebrity-news/rhonj-dina-manzos-ex-tommy-sentenced-to-7-years-in-prison/

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Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Saturday, October 12, 2024

Former DEA agent linked to Buffalo Mafia convicted of protecting drug traffickers

  October 12, 2024    Dapper_Don


A former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent in Buffalo, New York, was convicted of corruption Thursday following a second trial on charges he used his position to protect drug traffickers he believed were associated with organized crime.

Jurors found Joseph Bongiovanni, 60, guilty on seven of the 11 counts he faced.

Prosecutors said Bongiovanni, for at least a decade, shielded childhood friends who became drug dealers and other suspects with ties to organized crime, tipping them off to investigations and falsifying DEA reports. He was accused of taking at least $250,000 in bribes that prosecutors said he used for necessities, as well as trips and other luxuries.

“This jury determined he was a corrupt federal agent,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Tripi said at a news conference after the verdict, “and he violated his oath and duties to protect those that he should have been investigating and arresting.”

The case cast a harsh light on the DEA’s supervision of agents amid a string of corruption scandals at the agency. Bongiovanni is among at least 16 DEA agents brought up on federal charges since 2015. Many of the cases resulted in prison terms, including two former DEA supervisors sentenced in a Miami bribery scandal involving intelligence leaks to defense attorneys. 

Bongiovanni was convicted of four counts of obstruction of justice, as well as single counts of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and making false statements to law enforcement.

Jurors acquitted him of a bribery charge, and additional fraud, conspiracy and obstruction charges.

Bongiovanni’s attorney, Robert Singer, said he would appeal.

Thursday’s verdict comes after a jury in April convicted the former Buffalo agent of lying to federal authorities about a DEA file he kept at home, but could not not reach agreement on most other charges.

During a retrial on the unresolved counts that began Aug. 5, jurors heard from more than 60 witnesses.

Bongiovanni did not testify at either trial.

“This was a hard fought road to justice,” U.S. Attorney Trini Ross said. “But in the end we got there.”

The case is part of a sex-trafficking prosecution involving the Pharoah’s Gentlemen’s Club outside Buffalo. Bongiovanni was childhood friends with the strip club’s owner, Peter Gerace Jr., who authorities say has close ties to both the Buffalo Mafia and the violent Outlaws Motorcycle Club. Gerace is awaiting trial on numerous charges, including that he bribed Bongiovanni. He has pleaded not guilty.

Judge Lawrence Vilardo allowed Bongiovanni to remain out of custody but required him to wear an ankle monitor pending sentencing June 9. He faces up to 20 years in prison.

https://apnews.com/article/dea-corruption-bongiovanni-organized-crime-837b08fc6e1ed59c8ba752d9f6b857a7

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Jury finds Bonanno Soldier guilty of extortion and threatening turncoat debtor

  October 12, 2024    Dapper_Don


A Bonanno crime-family member who threatened to “slap the s–t out” of a turncoat and then forced him to strip butt naked to find a wire was found guilty of extortion Friday by a Brooklyn federal jury.

John Ragano, a hulking solider nicknamed “The Maniac,” was convicted following a four-day trial where the mobster was caught on tape threatening to beat down Vincent Martino, a mob informant who owed him $150,000 in illegal loans.

The July 2023 recording was captured just five days before Ragano was sent to prison on a separate racketeering conviction — when the portly gangster met Martino, who accused Ragano, 62, of being a rat in the back of A&G Auto Dismantlers in Ridgewood.

The Mafioso can be heard acting dumbfounded by Martino’s accusation before he accuses the mob associate of wearing a wire and demanding him to drop his trow.

“Then take off your f–king shit right now, man. Take off your f–king pants right now,” a raging Ragano says in the recording.

“Let me see — I want to see. I don’t have a wire on me either.”

Martino testified Wednesday that his pants were around his ankles and his shirt as the made man searched for a wire and continued lacing him, telling him he was going to “f–king slap the shit out of [him]” if he ratted him out to the feds.

“You owe me my f–king money. Let’s see how you’re going to do when I get out,” Ragano seethes in the recording.

The strip search failed to find the hidden microphone, which was attached to Martino’s clothes, prosecutors said.

Martino, a mob associate, said that he noticed two men were approaching him from behind with what appeared to be a tire iron and another metal weapon so he grabbed his pants and ran to his car to call the feds — as Ragano’s last words on the recording warn Martino that he knows where he lives.

Martino was one of the key witnesses at trial after he found himself $275,000 in the hole to the mob after taking a series of loans out when he fell on hard times.

He said he began cooperating with the feds to dig himself out of the debt hole to the mob.

Ragano, who’s serving a nearly five year sentence for the racketeering, was acquitted of extortion conspiracy, witness harassment and witness tampering.

“The defendant’s extortion of a victim while on pre-trial release, carried out even in the sanctity of the federal courthouse, is an affront to the criminal justice system and a glaring example of this Bonanno mobster’s flagrant disrespect for the law,” United States Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement. “With today’s verdict, the jury has delivered a clear message that the rule of law will prevail over extortionate threats.”

The wiseguy will be sentenced at a later date and faces up to 20 years in prison.

https://nypost.com/2024/10/11/us-news/bonanno-wiseguy-convicted-of-threatening-forcing-turncoat-to-strip-naked-over-debt/

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Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Bonanno Soldier forced loan sharking victim to strip naked

  October 09, 2024    Dapper_Don

 

A Bonanno crime-family soldier called “The Maniac” forced one of his loan-sharking victims to get naked to see if he was wearing a wire, barking, “Take off your f–king pants right now!” prosecutors said Tuesday.

John Ragano, 62, allegedly made associate Vincent Martino strip while threatening to “slap the s–t out of him” if he was wearing a wire for the feds during a meeting July 5, 2023, just five days before Ragano was to be sent to prison in a Brooklyn federal racketeering case.

“OK, well, then take off your f–king s–t right now, my man. Take off your f–king pants right now, lemme see, I want to see,” a raging Ragano allegedly instructed Martino at his office when the underling denied being wired up.

Martino, who apparently had a wire on his clothes, followed Ragano’s instructions — and somehow still managed to secretly record the whole meeting anyway, even as he stood naked while two other men stood behind him with a crowbar and another with a tire iron, federal prosecutors have said.

“John Ragano forced a man who owed money to strip naked in a garage in Queens and threatened to slap the s–t out of him,” federal prosecutor Andrew Reich said at the beginning of Ragano’s trial in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Another mob associate, Broadway-show-tunes singer-turned-criminal Andrew Koslosky, 66, testified that he collected loan payments from Martino for Ragano — who he painted as a hair-trigger-tempered “big fella.

“He made it clear that people didn’t want to cross him,” Koslosky said.

During Kolosky’s testimony, jurors were shown a photo of how he recorded payments in an envelope named “Italian” — while another photo showed stacks of cash amounting to $6,200 that was paid by Martino in April 2021.

“When he put his fist down on the desk, the whole room shook,” Koslosky said of Ragano, who is charged with extortion, harassing a witness and witness tampering.

Martino — who went into the marijuana trafficking business with Ragano — had taken a $150,000 loan from Ragano in February 2021 and he agreed to pay $2,050 in interest per week until the loan was paid off in full in cash, according to prosecutors.

But Martino stopped making payments at some point, and he began working with the feds in March 2023, when he agreed to start recording any conversations he had with Ragano and his debt collectors, Reich said.

Martino went on to make a slew of $1,000 payments after cooperating with the feds, but in June 2023, he was told by one of Ragano’s guys that the Mafioso wanted to discuss “an issue” with the loan in person, prosecutors alleged.

Martino then met with Ragano that July 5 and told Ragano that he wanted to stop repaying the loan.

Both men accused each other of working for the feds before Ragano made him strip off his clothes, according to court papers.

The alleged shakedown came just five days before Ragano was to report to prison for nearly five years after pleading guilty to extortion charges in November 2022.

Martino testified late Tuesday that he resorted to taking “street loans” — slang for taking cash from the Mafia — during the pandemic in 2020 after falling on hard times when his construction company failed to take off in 2018.

He racked up $125,000 in debt from members of the Colombo crime family before turning to the Bonannos for another $150,000 because he was falling behind on debt payments, Martino testified.

Martino wound up owing the mob $275,000, according to prosecutors.

Both Ragano and Martino were named in a major racketeering case that took down the Colombos — including boss Andrew “Mush” Russo — related to the infiltration of a Queens labor union in 2021.

Martino pleaded guilty in the same case in December 2022 to conspiracy to distribute marijuana.

Ragano, also known by the nickname “Bazoo,” had previously served a 10-year prison stint after he was convicted in state court for kidnapping in 1999.

Martino will continue testifying Wednesday as he details how he snitched on Ragano.

Ragano’s lawyer, Ken Womble, admitted to jurors that Ragano was a member of the Mafia while downplaying the intimidation tactics alleged by prosecutors in his opening statements.

“This is a case about money amongst mobsters. That’s the whole story of this case,” Womble said, adding that “asking for a loan to be paid back is not a crime at all.

https://nypost.com/2024/10/08/us-news/bonanno-wiseguy-john-ragano-forced-loan-shark-victim-to-strip-naked-feds/

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Wednesday, October 2, 2024

Longtime wealthy Genovese associate is union boss resposible for nationwide port strike

  October 02, 2024    Dapper_Don


Harold Daggett — the union boss who has vowed to “cripple” the US economy if ports don’t ban automation and raise dockworkers’ wages sharply — had a Bentley convertible parked outside his sprawling mansion in New Jersey this week, exclusive photos obtained by The Post reveal.

Photos taken by drone on Tuesday show the British luxury car parked with its top up outside what appears to be a five-car garage that’s connected to his 7,136-square-foot, Tudor-style home by a covered skyway.

The hulking, two-story mansion — located on a 10-acre property in Sparta, a leafy enclave 50 miles west of New York City — encircles a spacious backyard patio with an amoeba-shaped pool. A covered outdoor bar is situated next to what appears to be a massive, brick pizza oven.

A gate on the far side of the patio opens toward what looks like a free-standing sauna surrounded by a spacious wooden deck. A expansive swathe of forest surrounds the property on all sides.

The posh compound is nestled in a picturesque section of the Garden State near the Delaware Water Gap, where five-bedroom homes list for as much as $6 million, according to Zillow.

One realtor who spoke to The Post said that Daggett put the four-bedroom, six-and-a-half bathroom property on the market in 2004 at a listing price of $3.1 million before reducing it to $2.9 million. He eventually took it off the market.

Daggett, who fought back federal accusation of having Mafia ties, became president of the International Longshoremen’s Association in 2011, a job that comes with a salary of $728,000 annually on top of an additional $173,000 from ILA-Local 1804-1.

In 2005, he was accused of steering union benefits contracts to firms that paid kickbacks to organized crime at a Brooklyn trial, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Daggett took the witness stand that year after federal prosecutors charged him and two others with racketeering.

He described himself as a target of the mob – though a turncoat Mafia member had testified Daggett was a member of the Genovese crime family, The New York Times reported.

During the course of the trial, one of Daggett’s co-defendants – Lawrence Ricci, an alleged Genovese associate – disappeared. His body was found weeks later decomposing in the trunk of a car outside a New Jersey diner.

Ricci’s death remained unsolved, though speculation circulated that he was killed after refusing to plead guilty to avoid news reports of the trial.

Daggett was acquitted, along with the other co-defendants.

The 78-year-old boss — who is often seen in public sporting a polo shirt and a chunky gold medallion around his neck while casting himself as a staunch advocate for blue-collar workers — also previously owned a 76-foot yacht, according to reports.

“They’re gonna be like this,” Daggett said, grabbing his neck in a choking gesture during an interview last month as it became apparent that the union and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), the group negotiating for the ports, would fail to reach agreement on a new contract.

“I’ll cripple you. I will cripple you and you have no idea what that means. Nobody does,” he said.

The foul-mouthed union boss has apparently dug in his heels for a protracted strike.

“I don’t have a f—ing crystal ball between my legs, but it will last very long, I would tell you that,” he told The Wall Street Journal.

More than 45,000 dockworkers went on strike on Tuesday, shutting down 36 ports from Maine to Texas for the first time in nearly half a century.

The dockworkers’ strike, their first since 1977, could snarl supply chains and cause shortages and higher prices if it stretches on for more than a few weeks. It is also costing the US economy more than $3 billion per day.

Beginning after midnight, the workers walked picket lines Tuesday and carried signs calling for more money and a ban on automation that could cost workers their jobs.

Experts say consumers won’t likely notice shortages for at least a few weeks, if the strike lasts that long, though some perishable items such as bananas could disappear from grocery stores — although at this time of year, most other fruits and vegetables are domestically grown and not processed at ports, according to Alan Siger, president of the Produce Distributors Association.

In anticipation of a strike, most major retailers also stocked up on goods, moving ahead shipments of holiday gift items.

The USMX said both sides did budge from their initial positions.

The alliance offered 50% raises over the six-year life of the contract.

Comments from the union’s leadership had briefly suggested a move to 61.5%, but the union has since signaled that it’s sticking with its initial demand for a 77% pay increase over six years.

“We have demonstrated a commitment to doing our part to end the completely avoidable ILA strike,” the alliance said Tuesday.

The ports’ pay offer is more than every other recent union settlement, the group said.

“We look forward to hearing from the Union about how we can return to the table and actually bargain, which is the only way to reach a resolution,” the statement said.

On Tuesday, the Biden administration put pressure on port employers to raise their offer to secure a deal with dockworkers.

Administration officials led by Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su have been urging both sides to return to the bargaining table.

https://nypost.com/2024/10/02/business/harold-daggetts-sprawling-nj-mansion-has-bentley-5-car-garage-and-guest-house/

  

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Thursday, September 26, 2024

Grandson of deceased Gambino Boss pleads guilty to COVID relief fraud

  September 26, 2024    Dapper_Don

 

The grandson of John Gotti, the infamous former boss of the Gambino crime family, pleaded guilty on Thursday to fraudulently collecting more than $1 million in Covid disaster relief loans, much of which he invested in cryptocurrency.

The grandson, Carmine G. Agnello Jr., 38, was arraigned on Thursday in a federal courthouse in Central Islip, Long Island, on charges of wire fraud. Mr. Agnello faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $2.2 million.

Breon S. Peace, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement that Mr. Agnello had “shamefully” used the pandemic “as an opportunity to line his pockets.”

On Thursday, Mr. Agnello appeared alert and solemn as he entered his plea in court, answering the judge in one-word answers. He stood beside his lawyer, James R. Froccaro Jr., wearing a blue checkered blazer and a white silk pocket square. His hair was pulled back in a bun, and he had a fading tan. He appeared anxious, until his mother, Victoria Gotti, arrived in court.

Ms. Gotti sat behind her son in the gallery, wearing knee-high patent leather boots and carrying a Louis Vuitton bag. At one point, she wiped tears from her eyes. While being questioned by the judge, Nusrat Jahan Choudhury, about the bond, Ms. Gotti described her son as “my song.”

After the proceedings, Mr. Agnello left the federal courthouse under a cloudy sky, declining to speak with reporters before driving off in a Mercedes Maybach.

Mr. Agnello’s grandfather, who died in 2002, seized control of the Gambino family in a murderous coup and went on to run the organization through the late 1980s, when it was the nation’s most powerful crime ring.

Mr. Agnello’s mother, a novelist and a former columnist for The New York Post, married his father, Carmine "the Bull" Agnello, another Gambino family mobster, in 1984. The pair divorced in the early 2000s, not long after the elder Mr. Agnello had been sentenced to prison.

A former Gambino family associate reportedly testified in 2007 that about three decades earlier, Mr. Gotti had ordered him to wound Mr. Agnello after learning that Mr. Agnello had beaten up his daughter; the associate said he shot him in the rear. Ms. Gotti called the accusation a lie.

The junior Mr. Agnello starred alongside his mother and his two brothers, Frank and John, in “Growing Up Gotti,” a reality television show showcasing their Long Island mansion, its marble-and-leopard-skin décor and their unique family life. The show ran for three seasons on A&E, starting in 2004, before it was canceled.

The charges against Mr. Agnello concern a scheme that began in April 2020, when he fraudulently applied for at least three loans through a Covid-era relief program that provided loans for small businesses affected by the pandemic. Mr. Agnello applied on behalf of Crown Auto Parts & Recycling L.L.C., a Queens-based business he operated.

In order to get the loans, prosecutors say, Mr. Agnello submitted documents with false information, including his intended use for the loans. He also submitted a statement saying that he did not have a criminal record, despite charges against him from an earlier case.

Between April 2020 and November 2021, prosecutors say, Mr. Agnello stole $1.1 million in relief funds from the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, which he used to line his pockets — for example, by investing about $420,000 in a cryptocurrency business.

He is due back in court for his sentencing on May 7.

The charges are not Mr. Agnello’s first brush with law enforcement officials.

In 2018, Mr. Agnello was charged with operating an unlicensed scrapyard in Queens and falsifying business records, according to news reports. In that case, Mr. Agnello was accused of crushing hundreds of vehicles at his business, LSM Auto Parts & Recycling, with no license to do so. Mr. Agnello pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges and served no prison time for the charges.

This July, Mr. Agnello’s business agreed to pay at least $210,000 in fines and clean up toxic fluids that had leaked out of the business's scrap yard in Queens, according to a settlement announced by the New York attorney general, Letitia James.

But scrapyard schemes, it seems, are something of a family trait.

In January 2000, Mr. Agnello’s father was indicted on federal charges that he had used strong-arm tactics to dominate a lucrative scrap-metal industry in the Willets Point neighborhood of Queens. The senior Mr. Agnello, who prosecutors said ran the Gambino family’s car theft ring, was charged after threatening a rival scrap company in Queens that was actually run by the Police Department as part of a sting operation.

He later pleaded guilty to federal racketeering and tax charges and was sentenced in October 2001 to nine years in prison.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/26/nyregion/gotti-grandson-guilty-plea.html

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Flipped Bonanno Captain dies in Florida while in witness protection

  September 26, 2024    Dapper_Don


The first domino to fall in the Bonanno crime family was Frank Coppa, a corpulent capo who once survived a car-bomb attack and procured fried chicken for hungry hit men before an execution.

In 2002, he was serving time for securities fraud when he was indicted on racketeering and extortion charges. Facing an even longer prison sentence, he notified the F.B.I. that he wanted to cooperate with the government.

It was the first time a Bonanno member had flipped, violating the mafia’s solemn oath of loyalty, Omertà.

Mr. Coppa’s decision to cooperate with federal prosecutors, knowingly putting his life at risk, led at least 10 other members to do the same and ultimately helped the government convict Joseph Massino, the Bonanno boss, of seven murder charges and immobilize his mafia family.

“Coppa’s cooperation was the first major development in a series of prosecutions which, during their course, resulted in the indictment of virtually every high-ranking member of the Bonanno family,” Amy Busa, a federal prosecutor, wrote in court papers. “Coppa’s cooperation with the government has been truly historic.”

In return, Mr. Coppa was sentenced to time served and entered the federal government’s witness protection program. He died on Oct. 17, 2023, at his home in Sarasota, Fla., according to a death certificate obtained by The New York Times. No cause was listed. He was 82.

His death was first reported last month by “The Sit Down: A Crime History Podcast,” a popular show for aficionados of mafia history.

After Mr. Coppa decided to flip, F.B.I. agents took him to the bureau’s training facility in Quantico, Va., where he spent two weeks explaining the inner workings of the Bonanno family and narrating gruesome details of multiple murders, including two he helped set up.

In 2004, he testified in federal court against Mr. Massino, a close friend whose own rotundity was sneered at in the tabloid newspapers that were feasting on details spilling out of the trial, in Brooklyn.

The Daily News noted that Mr. Coppa had “turned over personal photos of the two fatsos vacationing together in Europe.” The New York Post columnist Steve Dunleavy called Mr. Coppa a “mob turncoat” who “rolled over like a circus dog on a raft of wiseguys.”

Mr. Coppa, known as Big Frank, spent two days on the witness stand describing a world seemingly drawn from a Mario Puzo novel, with characters nicknamed Bobby Wheelchairs, Sally Bagel, Gene the Hat, Patty from the Bronx and Little Nicky Eyeglasses.

At times, it got testy.

“How did you force people to do things, Mr. Coppa?” Mr. Massino’s defense lawyer asked, according to the trial transcript. “You don’t look like such a tough guy.”

“I don’t?” Mr. Coppa replied.

The proceedings were also banal, harrowing and surreal — sometimes all at once.

One afternoon in 1978, Mr. Coppa testified, he left a bagel shop he had invested in and tried to get into his car.

“What happened?” a prosecutor asked.

“I got blown up,” Mr. Coppa said.

“How were you injured?” a prosecutor said.

“Severely,” Mr. Coppa said. “Blown apart.”

He spent several months in a hospital recovering. He suspected that the bomber was another underworld figure with whom he was having a dispute. Mr. Coppa sent several Bonanno members to kill the man. They shot him five times in his driveway in Staten Island. He survived.

A few months later, the man called Mr. Coppa.

“He was trying to see if I did it,” Mr. Coppa testified. “I told him, ‘Don’t worry about it, go about your life.’” He added, “I wasn’t sure if he did it, and I was sorry that I had him shot.”

Mr. Coppa also detailed his role in the death of Dominick Napolitano, a Bonanno member, known as Sony Black, who was executed in 1981 for unwittingly connecting the family with an undercover F. B.I agent, Joseph D. Pistone, who used the alias Donnie Brasco. Mr. Pistone later wrote a book about that experience and was played by Johnny Depp in “Donnie Brasco,” a 1997 film adaptation.

The night of Mr. Napolitano’s murder, Mr. Coppa testified, he had bought fried chicken for the hit men as they prepared for the execution, at a Bonanno member’s house in Queens.

It happened while Mr. Massino waited in a car nearby. Mr. Coppa, guarding the home’s front door, let Mr. Napolitano in for a prearranged meeting in the basement. Mr. Coppa testified that he heard three shots soon after they descended the stairs — one, then a pause, then two more. It turned out that one of the assassin’s guns had jammed. The other Bonanno associate finished the job.

“He died like a man,” Mr. Coppa testified.

Though he carried a .38-caliber revolver most of his life, Mr. Coppa was never accused of pulling the trigger in a murder. His toughness, especially when it came to doing time, was questionable. He acknowledged in court that when he went to prison for the first time, in 1992, he cried uncontrollably for days.

Among law enforcement officials, Mr. Coppa was known as a clever wise guy. He made millions of dollars for himself and the Bonanno family in pump-and-dump schemes, boosting the value of penny stocks to quickly turn a profit. He also shook down underworld figures outside the Bonanno family who were engaging in securities fraud.

“He was one of the smartest mob guys you’re ever going to meet,” a former F.B.I. agent involved in the case said in an interview on the condition of anonymity so that he could speak about the investigation. “He understood how to engineer these financial frauds. He was at a completely different level when it came to most of these guys.”

The former agent said he believed that Mr. Coppa had been remorseful.

“One of the reasons he cooperated is that I think he regretted his participation in the violent stuff when he was younger,” the official said. “He lived off that reputation for many years. But he was actually likable in a way.”

Frank Coppa was born on Sept. 11, 1941, in Brooklyn, according to his death certificate, which listed his parents as Michael Coppa and Marianna Mattera.

During his testimony, Mr. Coppa sketched out a blue-collar upbringing. He said his father was a stevedore. As a teenager, Frank waited tables and bagged groceries. His first arrest was when he was 19, charged with burglarizing a clothing store. He later drove school buses, he testified.

Mr. Coppa testified that he met Mr. Massino in 1977 at the Fulton Fish Market, in the Bronx, and that he became a soldier in the Bonanno family not long after, joining a criminal enterprise founded and ruled by Joseph Bonanno for more than three decades until the mid-1960s. The two men became close friends, even vacationing with their wives in Monte Carlo and Paris, where Mr. Massino bought Mr. Coppa rosary beads to carry in his wallet.

Mr. Massino was convicted in the 2004 trial and received two life sentences. Not long after, he decided to cooperate with the government, serving as a prosecution witness against other mafia figures. He was released into the witness protection program and died last year.

Details of Mr. Coppa’s life after working with the F.B.I. are unclear.

During Mr. Massino’s trial, Mr. Coppa said he hoped the government would let him keep about $2 million that he had stashed away, along with several homes and vehicles. It is believed that Mr. Coppa left the witness protection program years ago, when the depleted Bonanno crime family was no longer a threat to his life.

Public records listed him as residing in Sarasota in a high-rise condominium, which his wife, Marguerite Coppa, purchased in 2010 for $457,500, according to the deed.

Information about his survivors was not available.

While on the witness stand, Mr. Coppa testified about his induction into the Bonanno crime family. He was taken to an apartment in Brooklyn, where he waited in a bathroom as the leadership team inducted other new members in the living room.

Soon it was his turn. He joined hands with the leaders.

“What was the oath that you took?” the prosecutor asked.

“Oath of silence,” Mr. Coppa said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/26/nyregion/frank-coppa-dead.html

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Thursday, September 12, 2024

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Tuesday, July 9, 2024

NYC orders Gotti family business to clean up chemicals and pay hefty fine

  July 09, 2024    Dapper_Don


It was an offer they couldn’t refuse.

Family businesses run by the Gottis have agreed to pay at least $210,000 in fines and clean up toxic chemicals that spewed from a Queens scrap yard they operate, according to a settlement announced Tuesday by state Attorney General Letitia James.

LSM Auto Parts & Recycling (LSM), BGN Real Estate and two related companies agreed to a remediation plan to clean up the dangerous ooze that seeped off their property.

Carmine Gotti Agnello Jr., the grandson of infamous late Gambino crime-family mob boss John Gotti, is one of the owners of the Jamaica-based LSM Auto Parts & Recycling at 155-11 Liberty Ave. in Jamaica.

BGN Real Estate and Three Sons Real Estate Group, which owns the property of the scrap yard, belongs to Victoria Gotti, John Gotti’s daughter and Carmine’s mother.

LSM and its affiliates will be required to clean up the property under the watchful eye of the state Department of Environmental Conservation and pay a penalty of $210,000, according to the settlement.

The companies could pay additional penalties of $287,000 if they fail to meet clean-up requirements — bringing total potential fines to $497,000.

“LSM made an environmental mess, and now they are responsible for cleaning it up,” AG James said in a statement.

A lawsuit filed by James in 2022 alleged that LSM ignored rules governing the proper disposal of toxic automobile waste.

The suit said the lack of care was responsible for significant amounts of oil and antifreeze seeping off the site, contaminating the groundwater and soil in an area near the surrounding low-income neighborhood.

“For too long, LSM ignored basic laws and regulations about handling dangerous chemicals and exposed neighbors to toxic pollutants,” the AG said. “Now, LSM will finally clean up their years of pollution and we’re going to make sure they do it right.”

DEC interim Commissioner Sean Mahar, whose agency is responsible for enforcing the agreement, said in a statement, “This settlement sends a message to other companies — New York State aggressively prosecutes polluters who flout environmental laws and regulations.”

Victoria Gotti signed the settlement “Victoria Agnello,” using the last name of her ex-husband, Carmine Agnello.

A lawyer for the Gotti clan and their firms did not respond to a Post request for comment.

Carmine Gotti Agnello Jr. — who along with his two brothers starred in the reality show “Growing Up Gotti’’ 16 years ago — was busted in 2018 on charges of crushing cars without a license and falsifying business records.

Like his grandfather, he had a touch of Teflon.

Carmine copped a plea to reduced misdemeanor charges — dodging prison time — in exchange for a $1,000 fine and a forfeiture of $4,605 in ill-gotten gains.

Mafioso John Gotti, 61, died of throat cancer in prison in 2002 while serving a life sentence without parole for a string of murders.

https://nypost.com/2024/07/02/us-news/gotti-family-business-ordered-to-clean-up-toxic-chemicals-pay-210k-fine-over-nyc-scrap-yard-mess/

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Friday, June 21, 2024

Former Genovese Acting Captain decapitated by truck while crossing Brooklyn street

  June 21, 2024    Dapper_Don


It was La Crossing Nostra.

The 86-year-old man who was decapitated by a truck that plowed into him at a Brooklyn crosswalk is a former acting captain for the Genovese crime family, The Post can exclusively reveal.

Anthony Conigliaro — a one-time mafioso known as “Tony Cakes,” “Tony the Dessert Man,” among other dessert-themed sobriquets — died June 12 in an accidental hit by a city Department of Transportation truck, his lawyers and law-enforcement sources said.

“He spent his life looking over his shoulder but he forgot to look both ways before crossing the street,” one police source said.

Before Conigliaro’s gruesome death, he apparently lived a quiet life by himself in a small Bay Ridge apartment building on Dahlgren Place.

A neighbor told The Post that Conigliaro, a dad of two, always looked out for others.

“We miss him. Everybody misses him,” he said.

But the neighbor didn’t know about Conigliaro’s past — which not only included a connection to the mafia, but also a nearly two-decade-old racketeering case.

Brooklyn federal prosecutors in 2005 accused Conigliaro — who toiled for years in the wholesale cake business, selling sweets across the New York City area and running an Italian ice and gelato stand in Little Italy, according to court documents — of being a soldier in the Genovese crime family.

Conigliaro worked as a loan shark for the Genovese, the feds said in a four-count indictment. 

He eventually copped a guilty plea to a racketeering conspiracy charge, for which he received a 13-month sentence, court records state.

Conigliaro also was arrested in 1999 for criminal usury and in 2006 in a grand larceny case, which has since been sealed, sources said.

The Post’s attempts to contact Conigliaro’s family were unsuccessful.

Mathew Mari, a longtime mob lawyer who counted Conigliaro as a friend and client, said the man he knew as “Tony Cheesecake” successfully delved into the dessert business after his time behind bars.

“Later on in life he became known as Tony the Dessert Man,” Mari said.

“He was a kind gentle soft spoken very quiet guy. Always trying to help people.”

A small memorial for the apparent former goodfella — four bouquets of flowers and two candles — was set up Friday at 92nd Street and Dahlgren Place, where he was fatally struck.

Grisly footage from the crash showed Conigliaro’s head severed several yards from his crumbled body — and a DOT driver, who was behind the wheel of a city truck when the elderly man walked against a traffic light to cross the street, looking teary-eyed and devastated.

“Now we know why that DOT guy was crying… he’s probably asking for witness protection,” one source said.

https://nypost.com/2024/06/21/us-news/genovese-mobster-tony-cakes-idd-as-elderly-nyc-pedestrian-decapitated-by-dot-truck/

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Wednesday, June 12, 2024

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Wednesday, June 5, 2024

Staten Island Gambino crew busted in over 80 count indictment

  June 05, 2024    Dapper_Don


New York Attorney General Letitia James today announced the arrests and indictments of 17 individuals on charges stemming from the operation of lucrative loansharking and illegal gambling operations on Staten Island controlled by members of the Gambino organized crime family. The individuals were charged in an 84-count indictment for their roles in an illegal sports gambling operation that handled more than $22.7 million in illegal bets and an illegal loansharking operation that brought in weekly loan payments on approximately $500,000 in usurious loans. In addition, four individuals were charged in a separate indictment for an illegal mortgage fraud scheme to purchase a $600,000 home in New Jersey. 

Among those arrested today are alleged Gambino soldiers John J. LaForte, Anthony J. Cinque, Jr., and John Matera, alleged Gambino associates Edward A. LaForte, Frederick P. Falcone, Sr., Giulio Pomponio, Daniel F. Bogan, and alleged Colombo associate Charles Fusco.

“Illegal gambling and loan sharking schemes are some of the oldest rackets in the mob’s playbook,” said Attorney General James. “While organized crime may still be active in New York, today we are putting several Gambino family members out of business. These criminal enterprises took tens of millions of dollars from New Yorkers and trapped many in dangerous amounts of debt. I thank all of our partners in law enforcement for their collaboration in this investigation to bring these individuals to justice and keep New Yorkers safe.” 

The investigation, conducted with the New York City Police Department (NYPD), the New York Waterfront Commission, and the United States Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, utilized court-authorized wiretaps and bugs, covert video surveillance cameras, search warrants on an offshore illegal gambling website, and search warrants of the residences of some of the defendants. 

Much of the enterprise’s loansharking and bookmaking business, including the collection of illicit revenue from loansharking victims, was conducted during meetings at the Eltingville Shopping Center and the Greenridge Shopping Center on Staten Island.

The investigation uncovered that Frederick P. Falcone, Sr., a former member of the NYPD, and Edward A. LaForte acted as loan sharks who maintained detailed ledgers with the names of victims and their respective usurious loan amounts. At times, Falcone, Sr. and LaForte needed authorization and funding from LaForte’s brother John J. LaForte and Anthony J. Cinque, Jr. to make the usurious loans. Evidence amassed during the investigation, including intercepted communications, showed that both John J. LaForte and Anthony J. Cinque, Jr. are soldiers in the Gambino Crime Family and utilized this role to oversee the illegal operations.

Additionally, the investigation uncovered that Edward LaForte had a managerial role within an illegal sports gambling operation utilizing an offshore illegal gambling website that is not legally sanctioned in New York state. From September 2022 to March 2023, the operation involved over 70 bettors who wagered approximately $22,753,964. The operation was also run with Amy McLaughlin, who allegedly assisted in maintaining and organizing the gambling ring, keeping records of the weekly gambling figures, and collecting and distributing proceeds. In addition to receiving illegal gambling proceeds, John LaForte operated and acted in a supervisory role over the operation. John LaForte and Anthony Cinque, Jr. also funded a portion of the illegal gambling activities to assist with the payment of winning bettors.  

In his role managing the gambling operation, Edward LaForte supervised several sheetholders – individuals who manage the bets and collections for individual bettors – and other individuals who participated in the illegal sports gambling operation. These individuals have been identified as Charles Fusco, Robert W. Carter, Giulio Pomponio, Arthur Geller, Daniel M. Scarabaggio, Daniel H. Shah, Vincent J. Ricciardi, Frederick Falcone, Sr., Frederick Falcone, Jr., Louis A. Palombo, Daniel F. Bogan, and John Matera. Often, the gamblers who were wagering illegally through these sheetholders would fall into debt and the members of this criminal enterprise would exploit this opportunity by providing a usurious loan and charging and collecting illegally high interest on these loans, making a profit off of a gambler who had fallen into debt.

In addition, a separate mortgage fraud investigation originating from wiretap communications of the gambling and loan shark operations revealed that John LaForte and his wife Tracy Alfano recruited his nephew Joseph W. LaForte, Jr. to fraudulently apply for and accept a mortgage loan to purchase a $600,000 home in Monmouth County, New Jersey. Joseph W. LaForte, Jr. acted as a straw purchaser of the property where John LaForte and Tracy Alfano currently reside. John Palladino, acting as a mortgage broker, assisted the others in obtaining the mortgage by guiding them through the process. Palladino coached them through the transfer of money to show mortgage eligibility as well as closing on the loan and the property.

The 84 count indictment related to the loan sharking and gambling operations – unsealed today before Richmond County Supreme Court Judge Lisa Grey – charged 17 individuals with multiple crimes, including Enterprise Corruption, Criminal Usury in the First Degree and Second Degree, and Promoting Gambling in the First Degree. If convicted of Enterprise Corruption, a Class B felony, the defendants face a maximum of 25 years in prison. 

Those charged in today’s indictment include: 

  1. John J. LaForte, 56, of Monmouth County, New Jersey 
  2. Anthony J. Cinque, Jr., 39, Richmond County, New York
  3. John Matera, 53, Monmouth County, New Jersey
  4. Edward A. LaForte, 58, Richmond County, New York
  5. Frederick Falcone, Sr., 66, Richmond County, New York
  6. Giulio Pomponio, 61, Richmond County, New York
  7. Charles Fusco, 49, Richmond County, New York 
  8. Daniel F. Bogan, 41, Richmond County, New York
  9. Robert W. Carter, 56, Richmond County, New York
  10. Louis A. Palombo, 61, Richmond County, New York
  11. Arthur Geller, 62, Ocean County, New Jersey 
  12. Daniel M. Scarabaggio, 62, Ocean County, New Jersey 
  13. Daniel H. Shah, 38, Hudson County, New Jersey 
  14. Vincent J. Ricciardi, 59, Ocean County, New Jersey 
  15. Amy L. McLaughlin, 44, Richmond County, New York
  16. James Miranda, 23, Richmond County, New York
  17. Frederick Falcone, Jr., 41, Richmond County, New York

Another four-count indictment was unsealed before Richmond County Supreme Court Judge Lisa Grey charging four individuals, including Gambino soldier John LaForte, with Residential Mortgage Fraud in the Second and Third Degree, and Falsifying a Business Record in the First Degree. If convicted of Residential Mortgage Fraud in the Second Degree, a Class C Felony, the defendants face a maximum of 15 years in prison. 

Those charged in this indictment include: 

  1. John J. LaForte 56, Monmouth County, New Jersey 
  2. Tracy Alfano, 38, Monmouth County, New Jersey
  3. Joseph W. LaForte, Jr., 34, Richmond County, New York 
  4. John Palladino, 54, Monmouth County, New Jersey

The charges against the defendants are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. 

“This case is a stark reminder that organized crime continues to thrive in the New York metropolitan area,” said Commissioner Paul Weinstein of the New York Waterfront Commission. “The Gambino Crime Family has historically exerted its influence on the Port of New York. Disruption of its profits from gambling and loansharking weaken that family’s grip. We will continue to work together with our law enforcement partners to combat corruption and racketeering and to keep the public safe.”

“As we have seen for over a century and once again here, illegal bookmaking is often intertwined with organized crime,” said New York State Gaming Commission Chairman Brian O’Dwyer. “This is why we have regulated gaming with strong safeguards, player protections, and revenue to make our communities better. With the numerous legal gambling opportunities available in our state, there is no legitimate reason to wager with offshore operations and blindly line the pockets of alleged gangsters. I applaud Attorney General James and our partners in government for working together to bring this important case.”

“These arrests reflect the commitment of the NYPD and our law enforcement partners, at all levels of government, to keep our communities safe by dismantling organized crime and protecting the public from its insidious effects,” said NYPD Commissioner Edward A. Caban. “I commend all of our investigators and everyone at the state Attorney General’s office for their dedication to this long-term case and their ongoing commitment to our shared public safety mission.” 

“While sports betting may be legal in the state of New York, operating an off-the-books multi-million dollar gambling enterprise, engaging in blatant usury and intimidation, and sinking countless New Yorkers into crippling debt is not,” said Richmond County District Attorney Michael E. McMahon. “Illegal gambling is by no means a victimless crime and these 17 defendants, including nearly a dozen Staten Islanders, stand accused of raking in tens of millions of dollars from our neighbors while engaging in brazen loansharking and mortgage fraud. I commend our partners in the New York State Attorney General’s Office, NYPD, Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, and U.S. Department of Labor, Office of the Inspector General for their incredible investigatory efforts and commitment to holding these individuals accountable in the courtroom.”

The investigation was led by NYPD Sergeant Jack Dagnese, formerly of the Criminal Enterprise Investigations Section, under the supervision of NYPD Sergeant Joseph Rivera, Lieutenant Jason Forgione, Inspector Osvaldo Nunez and Assistant Chief Jason Savino of the Criminal Enterprise Investigations Section, and under the overall supervision of Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny. 

For the Office of the Attorney General (OAG), the investigation was led by Organized Crime Task Force (OCTF) Detectives Shavaun Clawson and Ramon Almodovar, under the supervision of OCTF Supervising Detective Paul Grzegorski, Assistant Chief Ismael Hernandez, and Deputy Chief Andrew Boss, with special assistance from the detective specialists from the OAG Special Operations Unit, led by Deputy Chief Sean Donovan. The Attorney General’s Investigations Division is led by Chief Oliver Pu-Folkes.

For the New York Waterfront Commission, the investigation was conducted by Detective Joseph Curran and Detective William McCabe, under the supervision of Sergeant Andrew Varga and under the overall supervision of Executive Director Phoebe Sorial. 

The case is being prosecuted by OCTF Assistant Deputy Attorney General Joseph Marciano, under the supervision of Downstate OCTF Deputy Chief Lauren Abinanti with the assistance of OCTF Legal Analyst Christine Cintron. Nicole Keary is the Deputy Attorney General in Charge of OCTF. The Criminal Justice Division is led by Chief Deputy Attorney General José Maldonado. Both the Investigations Division and the Division for Criminal Justice are overseen by First Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Levy.

https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2024/attorney-general-james-announces-arrests-alleged-crime-family-members-staten

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Mob connected construction executive convicted of posing as woman owned business to win contracts

  June 05, 2024    Dapper_Don


A repeatedly convicted Manhattan contractor with mob ties was sentenced to two to six years in prison on Tuesday for a litany of crimes including endangering his workers and pocketing millions while disguising his firm as woman-owned in order to draw lucrative carpentry contracts.

A smiling Larry Wecker, 83, wearing a burgundy shirt, gray pants and handcuffs, appeared calm at his brief Manhattan Supreme Court sentencing, with nothing to say before Judge Althea Drysdale handed down the term.

He agreed to the stint in an upstate New York prison in a deal with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office before pleading guilty to enterprise corruption in January for several schemes. Those included covering up undocumented workers’ injuries and stiffing them on wages and benefits, stealing thousands from his clients through phony bills and pretending that a woman owned his company, JM3.

Wecker also copped to attempted weapons possession for packing a  .38-caliber revolver at his Sutton Place, Manhattan, apartment. His company pleaded guilty to scheme to defraud.

Over the decades, Wecker has racked up multiple state and federal convictions for involvement in organized crime and corrupt construction work, including in 2001 for bribing a labor official in a case brought by former DA Bob Morgenthau that identified Wecker as an associate of the Lucchese and Genovese crime families. He served 16 months for those crimes. The same year, he pleaded guilty in Brooklyn federal court to conspiracy to commit tax crimes stemming from the mob’s reign over New York’s concrete industry, getting a 41-month term.

The convicted octogenarian was arrested in May 2023 along with seven other players in construction following a large-scale probe by the DA that was prompted by suspicious cash checking. Indicted beside Wecker for falsifying business records was his longtime associate, contractor Shamsuddin Riza, who’s since pleaded guilty in a separate case to orchestrating a straw donor scheme to pump illegal donations into Eric Adams’ 2021 campaign for mayor. Adams has not been accused of wrongdoing in that case.

Starting in 2015, Wecker’s latest schemes included creating a bogus firm called LNR Construction in co-defendant Lisa Rossi’s name and getting it certified as minority- or women-owned to obtain contracts as a pass-through, prosecutors said.

He also falsified records and laundered millions to make it appear as though his firm, which specializes in drywall and carpentry in government-subsidized affordable housing, was subcontracting with women- or minority-owned firms, according to court docs. Wecker bribed legitimately deserving business owners to bid on multimillion-dollar city and state contracts, prosecutors said.

The contracts were for at least seven projects in Brooklyn, Manhattan, the Bronx and New Rochelle, N.Y., and required a portion of the work to be done by women or minority workers. They were instead handled by Wecker’s more than 60 employees and subcontractor companies that mainly enlisted undocumented laborers without insurance to work for cash.

In court papers filed when Wecker was indicted, prosecutors said he often sought to cover up injuries suffered by off-the-books workers. In a call intercepted in January 2021, Wecker said one of his laborers who had just broken his arm on the job “don’t need no f–king doctor” and told the foreman in charge to make the injured worker come back to work the next day and then pretend the person fell on the street.

Asked for comment Tuesday, Bragg’s office pointed to a previous statement that described Wecker’s scams as having robbed legitimate minority and women-owned businesses of the chance to do business. Wecker’s Palm Beach, Fla.-board attorney, Robert Franklin, did not immediately return the Daily News’ call seeking comment.

https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/06/04/construction-exec-with-mob-ties-gets-up-to-6-years-for-posing-as-woman-owned-biz-endangering-workers/

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Ex-husband of Real Housewives of New Jersey star convicted of hiring mobster to attack new lover

  June 05, 2024    Dapper_Don

 

The ex-husband of “Real Housewives of New Jersey” star Dina Manzo was convicted Tuesday of hiring a mobster to beat up his former beau’s new lover — and now he’s facing more than four decades in prison.

Federal prosecutors said Tommy Manzo, a prominent New Jersey restaurateur who lives in the ritzy suburb of Franklin Lakes, planned the 2015 attack on David Cantin, Dina’s now-husband, then recruited an alleged mafioso from the Lucchese crime family to pull it off.

In return, the feds said, the 59-year-old Manzo promised his hired gun a free wedding at his catering hall, The Brownstone in Paterson, New Jersey. 

After a two-week trial in Newark federal court, Manzo was found guilty of committing a violent crime in aid of racketeering, conspiracy to commit a violent crime in aid of racketeering resulting in serious bodily injury and concealing documents related to a federal investigation, the feds said in a press release.  

“The facts and circumstances in this case read like something from a bad TV crime drama, but the evidence and testimony presented in court prove it was reality,” James E. Dennehy, head of FBI’s Newark field office, said in a statement.

“We truly hope the victims in this investigation are able to move on with their lives and forget about Manzo and his criminal mafia bedfellows.”

Besides the jail time, Manzo faces fines of up to $500,000, the feds said.

He will be sentenced Oct. 15.

Manzo’s attorney, Zach Intrater, declined to comment Tuesday afternoon. 

The conviction slams the door on Manzo’s marathon case, which began when the feds indicted him in 2020 for an assault they said happened about five years earlier.

That’s when Manzo — whose family has owned The Brownstone since the 1970s — offered a deeply discounted wedding to mob capo John Perna of Cedar Grove, New Jersey, in return for Perna roughing up Cantin.

“Manzo was outraged that his former wife became romantically involved with another man,” prosecutors said in court documents. “Rather than accept that, as law-abiding individuals do, Manzo wanted to extract physical revenge. Unwilling or incapable of doing so directly, he leveraged his catering hall.”

Perna and a guy from his crew caught up with Cantin in the parking lot of a Passaic County strip mall in July 2015, then worked him over with a slapjack, the feds said.

The savage attack left Cantin battered and scarred, according to court documents.

Perna — the son of former mob capo Ralph Perna — later pleaded guilty to committing a violent crime in aid of racketeering activity and was sentenced to nearly three years in prison.

He was released last August, according to jail records.

Meanwhile, Manzo remained free on bail as the case against him proceeded at a nearly glacial pace. 

Earlier this year, a federal judge dismissed the first set of charges because prosecutors had taken too long to bring them to trial.

But authorities quickly re-indicted him, and the long-dormant case finally began picking up steam. His trial finally began May 20. 

“As a unanimous jury found, Manzo committed multiple offenses by providing a free wedding in exchange for the assault and then concealing documents relating to that wedding,” US Attorney Philip Sellinger said in the statement.

“He will now face just punishment for his crimes.”

Manzo married Dina in an over-the-top 2005 wedding chronicled on the VH1 reality series “My Big Fabulous Wedding.”

But the couple split in 2012 over his alleged infidelity, “Real Housewives of New Jersey” star Kim DePaola told The Post in 2020 — though the couple didn’t officially divorce until 2016.

https://nypost.com/2024/06/04/us-news/rhonj-dina-manzos-ex-convicted-of-mob-tied-attack-on-her-new-lover/

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Tuesday, June 4, 2024

Genovese associate appeals gun charge to the Supreme Court

  June 04, 2024    Dapper_Don


The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to decide whether an associate of an infamous crime family should face additional prison time for attempted murder. Salvatore Delligatti helped run an illegal  sports-gambling operation in Queens for Robert DeBello, a “made” member of the Genovese crime family, part of the La Cosa Nostra criminal network in New York. 

The justices took up Delligatti’s appeal to knock five years off his prison sentence because his murder plot failed — and he argues it therefore can't be considered a crime of violence. The court will decide whether an act of omission can disqualify an attempted murder from being considered part of that category. 

In 2014, DeBello and Delligatti plotted to murder Joseph Bonelli, a local “bully” suspected of threatening the family’s gambling business. Bonelli was also causing issues for a gas station owner who paid Delligatti to orchestrate the murder. 

Delligatti gave an accomplice $5,000 and a .38 revolver to murder Bonelli with the help of several members of the Crips gang. The crew planned to kill Bonelli when he arrived home but abandoned their initial attempt when Bonelli showed up with another person. 

Delligatti ordered the crew to return and kill both Bonelli and his companion. By the time the group went back the next day, the police had been tipped off to the plot and intercepted the crew. 

A grand jury indicted Delligatti on six charges, including conspiring to commit murder for hire, operating an illegal gambling business, racketeering and attempted murder. 

Delligati was also charged with using a gun during a crime of violence, which carries a mandatory consecutive sentence. The government names the crime of violence in Delligati’s case as the attempted murder charge. 

A jury in New York federal court found Delligatti guilty of all charges and he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Delligatti appealed, arguing that his firearm charge wasn’t constitutional because his second-degree murder charge did not meet the elements of a crime of violence. 

Delligatti claims that his crime was committed through inaction and therefore cannot be considered a crime of violence. Under this reading, Delligati could not be charged with using a gun during a crime of violence, which added five years to his sentence to be served consecutively to his concurrent 240-month sentence. 

“A use-of-force clause applies only where a crime ‘has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force,” Allon Kedem, an attorney with Arnold & Porter representing Delligatti wrote. ”But where an offense can be committed by ‘total inaction,’ the defendant may ‘exert no physical force at all on the victim.’ Even an offense resulting in serious bodily injury or death, therefore, does not necessarily involve the use of physical force.”

The Second Circuit rejected Delligatti’s argument, finding no question that intentionally causing the death of another person involved the use of force.  

Delligatti urged the justices to review his case, arguing that the lower courts were split on the conflict. 

“Mr. Delligatti’s predicate offense of second-degree murder under N.Y. Penal Law § 125.25(1) is a good example because, like other New York homicide offenses, it can be committed by ‘failure to perform a legally imposed duty’” Kedem wrote.

The government agreed with Delligatti, telling the court that his case would be a good opportunity to resolve the circuit split. 

https://www.courthousenews.com/justices-to-rule-on-meaning-of-violence-in-sentencing-for-genovese-crime-family-associate/

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Tuesday, May 14, 2024

Friday, May 10, 2024

Wednesday, May 8, 2024

Monday, April 29, 2024

Elderly Genovese Captain sentenced to two years in prison for punching steakhouse owner

  April 29, 2024    Dapper_Don


An elderly mafia capo got two years in prison for socking a Manhattan steakhouse owner to collect a gambling debt, and his lawyer said he had no regrets about the fateful punch.

Federal prosecutors were asking Anthony “Rom” Romanello get a much more serious sentence, nearly seven years, to account for the 86-year-old  Genovese member’s long, mostly unpunished life of crime.

But Romanello’s lawyer, Gerald McMahon, called the charges a “meatball case” that prosecutors sat on for years in the hopes Romanello would do something more serious so they could try and flip him against now-deceased Genovese big Anthony “Tough Tony” Federici.

“When the government asks for 71 months, and the judge gave 24, thank God justice was done in Brooklyn,” an ebullient McMahon said after the sentencing in Brooklyn Federal Court Monday. “His lawyer thinks, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that Rom has no regrets.”

Romanello was convicted in December of extortion-related charges after he punched steakhouse owner Shuqeri “Bruno” Selimaj on May 11, 2017 to collect an $86,000 gambling debt owed by the restaurateur’s kin. The punch, inside Selimaj’s now-closed swanky Lincoln Square Steak, was caught on video.

McMahon argued that his elderly client punched Selimaj because the restaurateur called him a “washed-up Italian.”

“What would Gerry McMahon do? I would have knocked him flat out,” the defense lawyer told reporters Monday.

The confrontation happened after Selimaj’s nephew, Toni, and the nephew’s brother-in-law, Eddie, lost big gambling with a Queens ring run by bookie Michael Regan, according to prosecutors.

Romanello, a regular at Selimaj’s restaurants, knew all the parties involved, and was brought in to resolve the debt — which he did in three menacing visits over two months, prosecutors allege.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Dana Rehnquist characterized Romanello as a lifelong career criminal who hasn’t held legitimate work since the 1960s. In a letter to Judge Eric Komitte, she argued that Romanello was convicted of 23 crimes over his life, but only sentenced to 36 months.

He got no jail time for bribing cops in the 1970s, three years for a $900,000 armed robbery in the 1980s, and probation in 2007 and 2012 for obstruction of justice and racketeering conspiracy.

In a one-sentence response letter, McMahon referred to Rehnquist’s arguments as “unhinged screeching” — a description Rehnquist took issue with Monday.

“This is about a defendant who lived his whole life as someone who commits crimes,” Rehnquist told the judge on Monday. “What this defendant did was illegal … and the defendant has never understood that, because he’s never been held accountable for his crimes.”

She also suggested that a longer sentence would put other aging La Cosa Nostra members on notice. “He can’t use old age as a shield to not be punished,” she said.

Two members of Romanello’s family booed the prosecutors as they left the courtroom after the sentencing.

McMahon also blasted the victim’s family as degenerate gamblers who collected $300,000 from Regan when their bets paid off, but refused to pay $86,000 when they lost.

“On the street, street justice would say that those guys deserve a far bigger beating than what was administered to Bruno,” he said. “They know it’s a meatball case. It’s a nothing case.”

He said prosecutors waited on the charges for more than four years, but Romanello never committed any new crimes. Romanello even skipped last year’s big Genovese crime family Christmas party while he was out on bail, McMahon said.

“He’s pretty much been out of the life. He certainly intends to stay out of the life,” McMahon said.

Romanello’s been in jail since December, which means he’ll likely be released in 15 months with good time.

Komitte said he hoped Romanello manages to uphold the law for the rest of his golden years. “We all know people are living well into their 90s these days, sometimes their hundreds,” he said. “I have every confidence as I sit here today that the meaning of this sentence, as reduced as it is, has come through clearly.

Romanello’s co-defendant, Joseph Celso, had his sentencing adjourned until next month.

https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/04/29/elderly-genovese-capo-86-gets-two-years-after-punching-nyc-steakhouse-owner/

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Thursday, April 18, 2024

New York set to establish new waterfront commission to combat mob influence

  April 18, 2024    Dapper_Don


Gov. Kathy Hochul won support from state lawmakers to create a waterfront commission to fight the kind of mob corruption made famous in Marlon Brando’s 1954 flick “On the Waterfront.”

Hochul beat back objections from the dock workers’ union to push through a new unit to replace the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor — a joint venture with New Jersey that Garden State Gov. Phil Murphy pulled out of last year.

Murphy knocked the bi-state agency, founded in 1953, saying it was a relic that was weighed down by bureacracy and impeding port business. Jersey state police now oversee the port business on the other side of the river.

The International Longshoremen’s Association opposed Hochul’s plan for a new group, saying they should follow Murphy’s lead.

But Hochul prevailed with the legislature in the $237 billion budget deal, saying she did not want to return to the bad old days when the violent Mafia terrorized the New York docks.

“Governor Hochul is fighting crime wherever it occurs: on our streets, in our subways, and even on the waterfront. She promised to crack down on criminal activity by reinstating the Waterfront Commission — and she got it done,” said John Lindsay, the governor’s spokesman.

The new commission will be led by one commissioner appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the Senate.

Like the prior comission, it will continue to conduct critical investigations into organized crime in the Port of New York, as well as ensure fair hiring practices that bar discrimination.

It will conduct background checks and license companies and people working in the cargo business at the port.

The commission will have the power to oust employees from the workforce who are found to have engaged in serious criminality and other violations.

“In 1953, the conditions under which waterfront labor was employed within the port of New York district were depressing and degrading…..resulting from the lack of any systematic method of hiring, the lack of adequate information as to the availability of employment corrupt and discriminatory hiring practices, criminal practices, and coercion of employees or employers,” the budget bill being voted on by the legislature states.

“Now, it continues to be in the best interest of the state to regulate activities within the port of New York district in this state to prevent such conditions and to prevent circumstances that result in waterfront laborers suffering from irregularity of employment, fear and insecurity, inadequate earnings, an unduly high accident rate, subjection to borrowing at usurious rates of interest, exploitation and extortion as the price of securing employment, a loss.”

Strict licensing and oversight of port workers will eliminate “oppressive, unlawful, discriminatory, and corrupt hiring practices,” the bill says.

The dock workers’ union, ILA 1814, said the legislature made changes that made the commission’s oversight more palatable.

“The breakup of the former bi state Waterfront Commission of N.Y. Harbor was an event that was avoidable.  But because of the former Commission’s lack of transparency, ineffective oversight, and dictatorial powers over the method and manner of hiring new longshoreman workers, the old paradigm could not be sustained,” said ILA lobbyist James “Cadillac” McMahon.

“Both the Senate and Assembly ought to be commended for their leadership and commitment to our waterfront and we are grateful for their help.”

Under the revised law, the waterfront commission must conduct a review of its regulation and recommend changes within 180 days of its existence, after consultation with employers and unions.

The commission will be barred from suspending port workers who “without unlawful purpose” consult with known criminals, according to the ILA.   

https://nypost.com/2024/04/18/us-news/hochul-wins-fight-to-create-mob-busting-waterfront-commission/

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Wednesday, April 17, 2024

Genovese gangster pleads guilty to operating gambling ring out of shoe store on Long Island

  April 17, 2024    Dapper_Don


A Long Island cobbler known as “Sal the Shoemaker” has admitted running an illegal gambling ring raising money for the Mafia out of his now-shuttered store.

Salvatore Rubino pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to a slew of charges related to the illegal gambling business and using the proceeds to bolster the coffers of the notorious Genovese crime family, federal prosecutors have announced.

He told a judge in Brooklyn federal court that there were gambling machines installed in the back of Sal’s Shoe Repair in Merrick, where he also operated poker games three nights each week, Newsday reported.

Rubino, 60, and Joseph Rutigliano, 65 — known as “Joe Box” — would collect the profits for the Genoveses and distribute the funds to high-ranking members.

Their operation was active from May 2012 through 2021, when Sal’s Shoe Repair had to shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, other mobsters operated out of seemingly innocuous business fronts across Long Island, including a gelato shop in Lynbrook called the Gran Caffe Gelateria and Centro Calcio Italiano Club in West Babylon, prosecutors said.

The businesses secretly operated poker-type gambling machines and poker games, and would bring in more than $2,000 in a single day, the feds said.

Four others involved in the massive operation pleaded guilty earlier this month, including Rutigliano and Carmelo “Carmine” Polito, 64, the alleged acting captain of the Genovese crime family, who also faced charges for running an illegal online sports betting operation through a website called PGW Lines.

He once threatened to “break” a debtor’s “face” before instructing an underling in 2019 to relay the message, “Tell him I’m going to put him under the f–king bridge,” according to prosecutors.

Joseph Macario, 69 — aka “Joe Fish” — also pleaded guilty to racketeering charges, and Mark Feuer, 61, pleaded guilty to felony charges relating to the operation of other illegal gambling businesses.

“With their guilty pleas, these five members and associates of the Genovese crime family have admitted they committed crimes to benefit a criminal enterprise notorious for inflicting harm on our communities for generations,” US Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement.

“As long as the Mafia doesn’t get it that illegal gambling is a losing proposition, they can bet on this office and our partners vigorously enforcing the law and flushing them out of the shadows,” he added.

Rubino is expected to be sentenced to between four and 10 months in prison as part of a plea deal — though he could face up to five years behind bars and have to pay $250,000 in fines, Newsday reported.

https://nypost.com/2024/04/17/us-news/sal-the-shoemaker-ran-mafia-gambling-ring-out-of-long-island-shop/

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Wednesday, April 3, 2024

FBI agents return to New York farm looking for bodies in Gambino family investigation

  April 03, 2024    Dapper_Don

 

FBI agents were back at two upstate New York horse farms after searching the same properties for bodies last year in connection to federal investigations into the Gambino crime family.

The feds, along with members of the New York State Police and NYPD, descended on the two farms on Hampton Road in Goshen and on Hamptonburgh Road in Campbell Hall on Tuesday morning, witnesses told The Times Union.

Excavators, a police K9 unit and a New York City medical examiner were also on site, video from the scene shows. It’s not clear if anything was found.

The two farms, located about five miles apart, were raided by the FBI last November after a tipster said bodies were buried on the grounds, sources told The Post at the time.

An FBI spokesperson confirmed to The Post that agents from its New York office were at the two addresses on Tuesday, but could not provide additional information about the investigation.


Both farms were formerly owned by Giovanni DiLorenzo — who has the same surname as one of the 10 alleged mafiosi from the Gambino crime family indicted in November over accusations they used violent tactics to take over the Big Apple’s garbage hauling and demolition industry.

The Campbell Hall farm is currently owned by Viviane DiLorenzo, according to property records. The Goshen farm is currently owned by GDLI LLC.

Salvatore DiLorenzo was one of 10 alleged Gambino associates indicted on racketeering charges in November in federal court in Brooklyn. Much of the indictment centers on the group’s alleged attempts to extort money from an unidentified garbage company and an unidentified demolition company, starting in late 2017.

The defendants include Joseph Lanni, also known as “Joe Brooklyn” and “Mommino,” an alleged captain in the Gambino family; and three alleged Gambino soldiers: Diego “Danny” Tantillo; Angelo Gradilone, also known as “Fifi;” and James LaForte.

They allegedly hospitalized a man in a vicious hammer attack, threatened to saw a business owner in half and tried to burn down a restaurant that had thrown them out, among other crimes, according to the 16-count indictment.

The men were hit with charges including racketeering conspiracy, extortion, witness retaliation, fraud and embezzlement. They each face between 20 and 180 years in prison for the laundry list of alleged crimes.

https://nypost.com/2024/04/02/us-news/fbi-returns-to-ny-horse-farms-connected-to-gambino-crime-family-probes/

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Saturday, March 30, 2024

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