Gambino soldier pleads guilty to threatening a cooperating witness
A REPUTED GAMBINO soldier whose father was a member of the late boss John Gotti’s inner circle, pleaded guilty Friday to threatening a cooperating witness.
It was like pulling teeth, but a federal judge extracted from Angelo Ruggiero Jr. the details of the intimidation, which took place in a Georgia jail cell.
The feds had moved the victim, Timothy Angelini, into the mob scion’s cell during the summer of 2009. Angelini was supposed to testify in the trial of another Gambino associate in Brooklyn Federal Court.
“I believed he was a cooperating witness …and when I confronted him through my tone of voice and physical demeanor I attempted to dissuade Angelini by letting him know I would be unhappy if he testified,” Ruggiero Jr., 40, said.
Judge Sterling Johnson demanded more specifics about the words used and how he would be “unhappy.”
“I said, ‘If this is true, you’re gonna have a problem with me,’ Ruggiero admitted.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Whitman Knapp said the victim knew Ruggiero’s status in the organized crime world, so those words were enough to pose a threat.
Ruggiero’s father, Angelo "Quack Quack" Ruggiero Sr., was a capo and a close friend of Gotti.
Ruggiero Jr. faces up to three years in prison when he’s sentenced Oct. 17.
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