Five Families of New York City

John Gotti’s Grandson Arrested for Choking Girlfriend Before Prison Term

2026-06-04T16:16:18.136-04:00

The enduring, volatile legacy of the Gambino crime family lineage took another dramatic turn on Long Island, New York. Carmine Gotti Agnello, the 40-year-old grandson of the legendary "Dapper Don" John Gotti, was taken into police custody following a violent domestic incident. The high-profile arrest occurred just days before he was scheduled to self-surrender to federal authorities to begin serving a 15-month prison sentence for running a multi-million dollar pandemic-era relief scam.

For decades, the Gotti name has been synonymous with the heights of the New York underworld and the subsequent glare of media scrutiny. This latest interaction with law enforcement reminds the public that while the structural power of the old-school multi-family syndicates has diminished, the familial legal troubles surrounding their descendants remain a fixture in New York courts.

🚨 The Long Island Assault: Inside the June 2026 Nassau County Arrest

The Domestic Dispute in East Norwich

According to official press advisories and court documents filed by the Nassau County Police Department, officers responded to a 911 domestic disturbance call on the night of Tuesday, June 2, 2026, at approximately 10:20 p.m. The incident took place inside Agnello’s residential property located on Mill River Road in the affluent enclave of East Norwich, Long Island.

[Verbal Argument Inside Home] ──► [Escalation to Physical Attack] ──► [Victim Escapes & Contacts Cops]
                                                                                  │
                                                                    [Agnello Tracked Down & Arrested]

Law enforcement officials reported that a verbal dispute between Carmine Gotti Agnello and his 29-year-old girlfriend quickly turned physical. The criminal complaint notes that the argument stemmed from a domestic dispute where Agnello accused the victim of infidelity.

As the confrontation escalated, Agnello allegedly tracked the woman outside the residence, where he slapped her on the left cheek and struck her with a closed fist on the left side of her face. The physical encounter intensified when Agnello reportedly placed both hands firmly around the victim's neck, applying heavy pressure that resulted in a criminal obstruction of breathing.

During the altercation, Agnello allegedly kicked the victim and snatched her $2,000 smartphone, smashing it violently onto the ground to prevent her from contacting emergency services. The victim managed to break free from the property, leave the immediate area, and successfully flag down authorities.

Formal Charges and Arraignment Details

Following a brief search by local detectives, Agnello was located and arrested without incident on Wednesday night, June 3, 2026. Law enforcement processed him on multiple state-level charges, including:

Second-Degree Criminal Mischief (Felony charge due to the value of the destroyed property)
Third-Degree Assault (Misdemeanor)
Criminal Obstruction of Breathing or Blood Circulation (Misdemeanor)

On Thursday morning, June 4, 2026, Agnello was brought before a judge at the Nassau County First District Court in Hempstead. Flanked by his criminal defense team, Agnello entered a formal plea of not guilty to all counts. Despite the severity of the allegations and his status as a convicted federal felon awaiting a prison report date, Agnello was released on his own recognizance without being required to post financial bail under current New York statutory guidelines. The presiding judge issued a temporary, absolute order of protection, legally barring him from making any form of contact with the victim.

💰 Looming Prison Time: The $1.1 Million COVID Fraud Scheme

What complicates Agnello's state-level domestic violence arrest is his current standing with the federal judiciary. On April 20, 2026, just weeks prior to this assault, Agnello stood inside the federal courthouse in Central Islip, New York, where United States District Judge Nusrat J. Choudhury sentenced him to serve 15 months in federal prison.

                      ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
                      │    THE COVID DISASTER RELIEF SCAM       │
                      └────────────────────┬────────────────────┘
                                           │
          ┌────────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────┐
          ▼                                                                 ▼
┌──────────────────────────────────┐                              ┌──────────────────────────────────┐
│   The Fraudulent SBA Applications  │                              │                                Diversion of Taxpayer Capital  │
│ • Submitted via Crown Auto Parts │                              │                                   • $420,000 Transferred to Crypto │
│ • Falsified Employee Payroll Logs│                              │                                      • Personal Cash Allocations      │
│ • Concealed Misdemeanor Record   │                              │                                      • $1.2M Ordered in Restitution   │
└──────────────────────────────────┘                              └──────────────────────────────────┘

Crown Auto Parts and the Small Business Administration Scams

The federal conviction stems from a multi-year financial investigation spearheaded by the Eastern District of New York (EDNY) U.S. Attorney's Office and federal postal inspectors. Court filings revealed that between April 2020 and November 2021, amidst the height of the global pandemic, Agnello engaged in a calculated scheme to defraud the United States Small Business Administration (SBA).

Operating through his business enterprise, Crown Auto Parts & Recycling, LLC, based in Jamaica, Queens—a neighborhood historically linked to Gambino-controlled automotive and scrap metal rackets—Agnello submitted a sequence of fraudulent applications for the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program (EIDLP).

The documentation intentionally lied about the business's structural employee metrics and gross payroll overhead. Crucially, Agnello checked boxes certifying under penalty of perjury that he possessed no prior criminal record, deliberately concealing a 2018 misdemeanor conviction to bypass federal compliance checks. In total, the federal government inadvertently disbursed $1.1 million in disaster relief loans straight into accounts controlled by Agnello.

Cryptocurrency Diversions and the Financial Penalty

Instead of deploying the federal capital to secure employee retainment or maintain automotive garage operations, federal prosecutors proved that Agnello immediately diverted the cash for personal enrichment. Most notably, Agnello transferred roughly $420,000 of the stolen taxpayer relief funds directly into a high-risk cryptocurrency startup investment scheme, using the remaining funds as a personal piggy bank.

Alongside his 15-month prison term, Judge Choudhury handed down severe financial judgments, ordering Agnello to execute $1,268,302 in mandatory restitution back to the SBA, complete 100 hours of community service, and remain under strict court supervision for two years following his eventual release from prison.

📺 Kidneys, Context, and the Reality TV Upbringing

The Medical Defense Request: Victoria Gotti’s Kidney Failure

During his April 2026 sentencing hearing, Agnello’s defense attorneys fought hard to keep him out of a federal cell, pleading with the court to substitute prison time with home confinement. The core of their argument rested on a compelling family medical emergency: Agnello's mother, Victoria Gotti—the high-profile daughter of John Gotti—is reportedly suffering from severe kidney failure.

The defense asserted that Carmine was a direct blood match and was actively preparing to undergo surgeries to donate a kidney to his mother. His legal team argued that putting him in a federal correctional facility would disrupt this life-saving transplant.

While Judge Choudhury rejected the home confinement request, she granted a concession, indicating that if the medical transplant date was formalized during his incarceration, his attorneys could file a formal motion for a medical furlough to allow the procedure to take place. Agnello was handed a self-surrender date of June 12, 2026 (with some court-related continuances extending out to July 20, 2026) to report to the Bureau of Prisons. This fresh domestic violence arrest on Long Island could severely disrupt that timeline, as federal prosecutors may move to revoke his pre-surrender release due to a violation of his bail conditions.

"Growing Up Gotti" and a Distorted Reality

During the court proceedings, Agnello’s defense counsel offered a unique argument regarding his development, blaming his actions on his unusual childhood. As a teenager in the early 2000s, Carmine, alongside his brothers John Jr. and Frank, starred in the hit A&E reality television show "Growing Up Gotti."

[Childhood Reality TV Fame] ──► [Glamorization of Mafia Lineage] ──► [Distorted Legal Reality]

The show focused on Victoria Gotti raising her three slicked-back haired teenage sons in their sprawling Long Island mansion, turning the family into pop-culture stars. His defense attorney argued to the judge that being thrust into the national media spotlight at such a vulnerable age, inside a household that frequently romanticized its organized crime associations, gave the young Agnello a skewed perception of the law. Outside the courthouse, his uncle, former Gambino acting boss John "Junior" Gotti, expressed his frustration to reporters regarding the family's ongoing legal battles:

"His mother did a fine job raising him, but the circumstances surrounding our family are always incredibly difficult. As you all know, we've had 15 separate members of our family go to prison over the years. I think it’s enough. I think our family has done its time."

🦅 Historical Context: The Gambino Family and the Agnello Lineage

To understand the broader significance of Carmine Gotti Agnello’s current legal battles, one must examine the history of his father, Carmine Agnello Sr.

                       ┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
                       │     THE GAMBINO-AGNELLO LINEAGE        │
                       └───────────────────┬────────────────────┘
                                           │
          ┌────────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────┐
          ▼                                                                 ▼
┌──────────────────────────────────┐                              ┌──────────────────────────────────┐
│     The Patriarchal Foundation                                  │                                        The Structural Father       
│ • Boss: John "Dapper Don" Gotti                                │                                        • Carmine Agnello Sr.            
│ • Controlled the Family (1985-92)                              │                                         • Gambino Soldier / Scrap King   
│ • Absolute Rejection of Anonymity                              │                                         • Dominated Queens Auto Yards    
└──────────────────────────────────┘                              └──────────────────────────────────┘

Carmine Agnello Sr. and the Scrap Metal Rackets

During the 1980s and 1990s, Carmine Agnello Sr. was a prominent soldier in the Gambino crime family, operating under the direct protection of his father-in-law, John Gotti. Agnello Sr. controlled the lucrative auto-recycling and scrap metal yards in Willets Point and Jamaica, Queens.

Known for his aggressive business style, Agnello Sr. was convicted in 2001 of federal racketeering charges that involved extorting competitor scrap metal dealers, running illegal gambling operations, and operating a systemic insurance fraud scheme. He served nine years in federal prison and was ordered to forfeit millions in asset cash to the government.

The automotive business where his son Carmine Jr. committed the 2026 COVID relief fraud—Crown Auto Parts & Recycling—is a direct continuation of the family's historical presence in the Queens industrial scrap metal sector.

The Modern Position of the Gambino Crime Family

The ongoing legal troubles of the Gotti-Agnello descendants draw considerable media attention, but federal law enforcement sources clarify that the modern, active street administration of the Gambino crime family has intentionally distanced itself from the flamboyant style of the Gotti era.

Following the 1992 conviction of John Gotti and the subsequent prosecutions of his brother Peter Gotti, control of the organization shifted back to its traditional, quiet core. The family's operations moved away from the high-profile public approach of the 1980s, returning to the low-profile strategies favored by historic leaders like Carlo Gambino.

Today, the family focuses on secure, white-collar industries, construction unions, and underground gambling rings, keeping its active street bosses away from reality television cameras and celebrity circles.

Gotti grandson sentenced to 15 months for COVID relief scam

2026-04-20T20:14:00.007-04:00

John Gotti’s grandson was hit with a 15-month federal prison sentence Monday for running a million-dollar COVID relief scam — a break from the three-year stint he was facing.

Carmine Agnello, 39, tried to dodge serious prison time on the 2024 fraud conviction for months, claiming his ailing mother, Victoria Gotti, would die without his kidney – and said he couldn’t pull off the procedure from inside a federal lockup.

Judge Nusrat Choudhury met him halfway, hitting the Teflon Don’s grandson with a lighter sentence and ordering him to pay more than $1.2 million in restitution — but opting against the max.
Carmine Agnello, John Gotti’s grandson, arriving at Federal Court in Central Islip on April 20, 2026. Agnello was hit with a 15-month federal prison sentence on Monday.
Agnello’s lawyers had pleaded for him to go free, arguing it was necessary to donate a kidney to his ailing mother, Victoria Gotti.

Agnello’s lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, said his client’s link to the notorious Gambino boss doomed him from the start.

“There was really no male role models for Carmine — they were all in jail,” he told the judge. “He tried to live up to the family name. He didn’t have a childhood that would have led to anywhere besides here.”

Agnello grew up in the shadow of the mob, with 15 relatives, including his famous granddad, spending time in prison — and was hurled into the spotlight as a kid in his mom’s 2004 reality TV show, “Growing Up Gotti.”

Agnello admitted in 2024 that he pocketed $1.1 million in COVID relief funds that were meant to help struggling businesses – and used the cash to invest in cryptocurrency.

The scam skimmed Economic Injury Disaster Loans from the Small Business Administration, that was meant to help companies bounce back from the pandemic shutdown.

“During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the defendant shamefully lined his own pockets with government and taxpayer dollars, which he must repay as part of today’s sentence,” said Joseph Nocella, US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

Federal prosecutor Charles Kelly said in court that the case had nothing to do with Agnello’s notorious grandfather.

“This case is not about John Gotti,” he said. “It’s about Carmine Agnello. At some point, his actions must become his own.”

Agnello’s lawyers argued that a hefty prison sentence would doom his 63-year-old mom, who is battling end-stage renal disease, has no chance without the procedure..

“He is giving me the GIFT OF LIFE,” the mob princess wrote to the judge last month, pleading for her grandson to be cut loose.

On Monday, Lichtman said her condition had improved, which would allow the transplant to be delayed as long as a year.

Federal prosecutors had repeatedly countered that Agnello could give up the kidney behind bars, and said the situation didn’t warrant a break on prison time.

John Gotti, a notorious Gambino crime family boss, was convicted of racketeering in 1992 and died behind bars in 2002 after being diagnosed with throat cancer.

https://nypost.com/2026/04/20/us-news/john-gottis-grandson-learns-fate-in-covid-fraud-case-after-begging-to-stay-free-to-donate-kidney-to-mom/

Gambino Underboss Turned Rat Faces Bombshell Sexual Assault Lawsuit

2026-02-25T21:32:00.006-05:00

For the past several years, former mob enforcer-turned-Arizona celebrity Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano has been trying to get a TV show made about his life. In the process, he’s made life hell for several female employees who worked for him, according to a lawsuit filed last week in federal court.

The lawsuit was filed by 36-year-old Anna Castaneda, a Valley resident who worked as a producer and administrative assistant to Gravano for much of the past three years. She was among fewer than 10 employees of Gravano’s small Chandler production company, Debra’s Way, which he runs along with his ex-wife and current business partner, Debra Gravano.

In her lawsuit against the 80-year-old Gravano, Castaneda claims that he repeatedly behaved inappropriately, to the point of creating a hostile work environment for her and other employees, many of them women. Her complaint alleges that Gravano made racially derogatory comments toward her, stuck his tongue down her throat without her consent on multiple occasions and consistently made sexually explicit comments about sex and his penis, even once exclaiming to Castaneda, “Look how hard my dick is!”

He also allegedly often showed employees nude photos of women on his phone during working hours and had violent outbursts toward female employees, some of whom quit on the spot. Additionally, he allegedly once required Castaneda to collect a sample of his feces from a toilet for a medical test. She says he also kept a gun in his office — which she says he is prohibited from possessing as a convicted felon — and that Gravano once pointed at someone’s head in front of another employee.

Castaneda spoke at length to Phoenix New Times about her experience working for Gravano and provided screenshots of text messages that she said supported her allegations.

“I have thousands of text messages of just, ‘He did this today and he said this today and I don’t want to be alone with him in the office,’” she said.

Castaneda also provided incident reports from the Phoenix Police Department, to whom she complained about Gravano’s behavior. It’s not clear to what extent, if any, Phoenix police investigated those complaints.

Neither Gravano nor his attorney responded to requests for comment from New Times. New Times also reached out to six former employees of Gravano’s but did not hear back from them.

“I thought that I could help him and I tried to do everything I could,” Castaneda said of working for Gravano. “It’s a curse. He’s cursed. He definitely destroys and ruins everything around him.”

He rose to fame in the early 1990s, when he became the highest-ranking member of the Sicilian mafia to flip and become a government witness. In 1991, he testified for the federal government in the RICO and murder trial of Gambino crime family boss John Gotti, who’d become known as the Teflon Don for having beaten multiple criminal prosecutions. Gravano was Gotti’s second-in-command, or underboss, and was also facing federal charges.

In 1989, Gravano turned state’s witness after he heard Gotti making disparaging remarks about him on wiretaps played during a court hearing. According to “Underboss,” a 1997 biography of Gravano by Peter Mass, Gotti was heard insisting to another mobster that he sanctioned hits against several mob members at Gravano’s strong direction. The tapes portrayed Gotti as a “long-suffering boss saddled with a mad-dog killer who hounded him to obtain authorizations for hits until he finally threw up his hands and bowed to Sammy’s wishes,” according to the book.

As a government witness, Gravano confessed to participating, in “one way or another,” in 18 or 19 murders, including many he’d not previously been suspected of. After Gravano’s testimony, a jury found Gotti guilty of all racketeering and murder counts against him. Gotti was sentenced to life and died in prison in 2002.

In 1994, Gravano was sentenced to just five years for his role in the mafia operation, thanks in large part to his help prosecuting dozens of key mafia figures, bribed jurors, corrupt cops and trade union officials. Gravano entered witness protection upon his release, even going so far as to change his appearance with plastic surgery, which was arranged by the U.S. Marshals Service. Eight months later, he left witness protection to move to Arizona.

In the Valley, he led a more public life. He also dealt ecstasy. In 2000, Gravano was busted, along with his son Gerard, for running a multimillion-dollar drug ring from his Phoenix-area home. He pleaded guilty in 2001 and wound up serving 17 years in prison. Gravano and Gerard, who is a manager at Debra’s Way, were recently the subject of a 2025 HBO Max documentary about the ecstasy ring. Talos Films produced the film, according to the Internet Movie Database. Gravano’s production company does not appear to have been involved.

That production company, which was founded in 2018, has largely been Gravano’s focus since he got out of prison. Gravano has leveraged it to rebrand himself as something of a mafia influencer, podcaster and content creator.

The company produces Gravano’s podcast, “Our Thing” — a reference to Cosa Nostra, the Italian term for the five families of New York’s Sicilian mafia. On the show, Gravano sits in a big leather chair in dim lighting and tells mob stories directly to the camera. The show’s 120-plus episodes often feature high-profile gangsters. The company also has a digital, members-only content platform called OurThing.TV, which offers more interviews — including a tease of an upcoming interview with infamous Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio — as well as short films and documentaries.

Castaneda began working for Gravano in 2022. She told New Times she’d had a previous friendship with someone in Gravano’s orbit and also had a family member who’d been caught up in Gravano’s ecstasy ring. She’d also worked in TV production — she’d played a small part in the 2020 Spanish-language Netflix film “Mutiny of the Worker Bees” and is listed on IMDb as a second-unit director on another Spanish-language production — and had studied at the American Music and Dramatic Academy in Los Angeles before switching tracks to study psychology at Arizona State University.

Castaneda was still studying at ASU when Gerald Gravano called to ask her to come work for his father’s production company. Castaneda told New Times that Gerard told her that his father was “making all these mistakes in the business” and he “just really needs help.” Aside from helping produce Gravano’s podcast, most of Castaneda’s work with the company focused on trying to get a scripted TV drama about Gravano’s life off the ground.

Taking the job, she now realizes, was “a big mistake.”

Gravano’s wished-for TV show is more than just a flight of fancy. Castaneda’s complaint says she secured meetings for Gravano with “major studios, executive producers, show creators, and writers,” and several notable names have been attached to the project over the years.

In 2023, Kapital Entertainment signed on to create a scripted show about Gravano’s life. Nick Pileggi, who co-wrote “Goodfellas” and “Casino” along with Martin Scorsese, was attached to the production in 2024. Later that year, “Boardwalk Empire” creator Terence Winter joined as showrunner and “Training Day” director Antoine Fuqua agreed to direct. FX was also going to co-produce the series.

But while there was progress on producing the show, Gravano’s alleged treatment of Castaneda grew more and more brazen. She kept going, she said, for the promise of an executive producer credit and finishing the project.

“You’re walking on eggshells, but you’re trying to get those big deals done,” she told New Times. “If you could just get a big deal over the line, you’re always told, like, ‘Everything’s going to be different, things are going to get better.’”

Castaneda said her first truly alarming interaction with Gravano came in September 2023. According to her lawsuit, Castaneda and Gravano had returned to the office after a dinner meeting with an executive producer when Gravano stood over her and “forcibly kissed her and thrust his tongue into her mouth without consent.” The lawsuit says she “recoiled and pushed Mr. Gravano away.”

Six months later, Gravano allegedly did it again. After a birthday dinner for Gravano, Castaneda drove him home, where Gravano pulled her into his home office, saying he needed to discuss “business matters.” While she sat in a chair in his office, Gravano again forcibly kissed her, the lawsuit says.

“It was so disgusting and violating,” Castaneda told New Times. “He waited until I was more vulnerable and alone and it was in the office. I pushed him away while I leaned back at the same time.”

Between those two alleged assaults, Castaneda says, Gravano twice pressured her into sharing a hotel room with him during work trips to Los Angeles, insisting it would save money despite Castaneda offering to pay for her own room. On a December 2023 trip, she allegedly had to sleep in the same bed as Gravano, though her complaint says she slept above the covers. That night, apparently thinking she was asleep, Gravano allegedly began to rub Castaneda’s arm while lying in bed, which her lawsuit says made her “extremely uncomfortable.” She turned away and pretended to be asleep.

On another trip two months later, Gravano insisted that they share a room, this time with separate beds. This time, the lawsuit says, Gravano sat on Castaneda’s bed and offered her a massage, which Castaneda declined. Despite her objections, Gravano began massaging her head, shoulders and neck. Castaneda was “extremely upset and uncomfortable during this interaction,” according to the lawsuit.

After Gravano left the room, she told New Times, “I literally got up and vomited.”

Castaneda’s lawsuit claims that Gravano acted similarly toward other women in the office. He allegedly showed nude photos of women to employees and at least once “fondl(ed) his penis over his clothing and exclaim(ed) to Ms. Castaneda and another female staff member, ‘Look how hard my dick is!’”

“He always grabs himself,” Castaneda told New Times. “He always talks about how hard he is, how erect he is. He’s on testosterone. He’s got these Viagra pills. This is pervasive. It’s daily and constant.”

The lawsuit also claims that Gravano would explode in anger at women staffers who “rejected his sexual advances or objected to his sexually explicit comments.” In 2022, the suit claims, “numerous employees of Debra’s Way resigned due to the hostile work environment perpetuated by Salvatore Gravano.” Castaneda recalled one coworker quitting on the spot around that time.

“He just exploded with rage at her and leaped from behind his desk at her. He was pounding his chest, like screaming at this 22-year-old girl,” Castaneda told New Times. “She just turned on the same heel and walked out that front door.”

While Gravano dealt with bowel issues in April 2024, according to the lawsuit, he required Castaneda “to assist him with a stool test by scooping his feces and transferring it into test tubes.” That same month, Castaneda sent Gravano an email “regarding his treatment of her,” including what she said was his misclassification of her as an independent contractor.

Not long after, the lawsuit says, the production company cut her pay.

After she complained in an email to Gravano about her treatment, Castaneda claims, his behavior got more unpredictable and violent.

While in the car with Gravano during a June 2024 trip to Los Angeles, the suit claims, Gravano “became enraged over a Hollywood director who was not returning Mr. Gravano’s emails about the scripted show project.” The suit says Gravano “began making racist slurs and violent remarks about this director, who happened to be African American.” The suit does not name the director, but Castaneda told New Times that the comments were directed at Fuqua. New Times reached out to Fuqua’s representatives but has not received a response.

Last August, Castaneda says, she witnessed Gravano attempt to strangle his son, Gerard. Her complaint says she was also aware of — but didn’t necessarily witness — other violent outbursts from Gravano, including an instance of him pointing a gun at someone in the Debra’s Way offices. Castaneda also witnessed Gravano display the gun around the office, she told New Times.

About a year ago, Castaneda told Gravano that she needed to temporarily work from home due to a “medical crisis” involving her young adult son. She claims that Debra’s Way didn’t pay her after that, despite the fact that she “continued to successfully perform all required job duties.”

The lawsuit says Gravano became “increasingly agitated and unstable” due to her absence. He began sending Castaneda expletive-filled text messages and angry phone calls. (These do not appear to be among the many text messages Castaneda shared with New Times.) Then Gravano would switch to “sexually propositioning her and asking her to meet him for a candlelit dinner and let him ‘fuck’ her,” according to the complaint.

A little more than a week after Castaneda began working from home, Gravano fired her over text and said he’d “crush” her if she came forward with allegations against him, according to the lawsuit. Castaneda shared a screenshot of that text with New Times.

Soon after, per the complaint, Gravano and his son began defaming Castaneda around the office, telling at least three employees that Castaneda was a “hooker” who “extorts men for money.” The lawsuit claims that at least one employee repeated those comments to someone in the entertainment industry. In June 2024, the lawsuit says, Gravano also told another employee that he wanted to “shoot” Castaneda. A month later, he allegedly told an employee that “he became sexually aroused by the idea of strangling Ms. Castaneda to death.”

Though Castaneda’s complaint said Gravano still tried to lure her back into his employ, the former mobster allegedly continued to make threatening comments about her. In September, she claims, Gravano approached one of her family members and stated that he was surprised she was “coming after” him. He added that “he thought she would be more concerned about the safety of herself and her son, implying that Ms. Castaneda and her son could be in danger if she pursues legal action against him,” the lawsuit says.

“I was terrified because I knew he had a gun,” Castaneda told New Times. She added: “He’s definitely capable of that.”

In August, before Gravano’s alleged threatening comment to one of her relatives, Castaneda reported the forced kisses, death threats and firearm possession to the Phoenix Police Department. Around the same time, another woman who’d worked for Debra’s Way Productions reported Gravano to Phoenix police for a “pattern of sexual harassment against her,” according to an incident report that Castaneda shared with New Times. The employee accused Gravano and his son of pressuring her to have sex with them and said Gravano also exposed himself to her and tried to kiss her.

New Times contacted the second employee about her allegations, but she declined to discuss them for this story. However, text messages shared by Castaneda with New Times show them discussing their experiences with Gravano in detail.

“Hey, your sister said you wanted to text or chat about what happened at Sammy’s…” says one July 2025 text from Castaneda to the other woman. “Are you okay?”

It’s not clear how police handled those complaints. New Times requested the full reports from the department in November but has yet to receive them. Castaneda says police declined to recommend criminal charges against Gravano four months after she filed her report. Phoenix police have not responded to an inquiry about the investigation.

In April of last year, Castaneda sent a demand letter to Gravano and Debra’s Way. In the letter, which she provided to New Times, she demanded more than $1,000 in back pay, to be transferred to the employ of Kapital Entertainment and to be ensured of her $5,000-per-episode fee for the scripted series. She later sent a similar letter to Kapital Entertainment.

The letters produced no resolution. So Castaneda sued. She’s claiming assault, defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and the violation of several state and federal labor laws. She’s seeking several forms of damages, including more than $29,000 in unpaid overtime.

Meanwhile, the show about Gravano’s life appears to have stalled. In an email to New Times, Kapital Entertainment CEO Aaron Kaplan said FX passed on the project last year after receiving the script. “It is no longer an active television project,” he wrote. However, Scott Greenberg, the manager for Fuqua and Winter, told New Times earlier this month that the series is still “in development.”

https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/arizona-woman-sues-sammy-the-bull-sexual-assault-40648029/

From Made Men to Menu Change: Aldo’s Halal Reboot

2026-02-15T14:08:00.004-05:00

It was an offer he couldn’t refuse.

One of the Big Apple’s most notorious Mafia hotspots is shedding its wiseguy reputation to become a halal Italian restaurant — thanks to a former pizza-slinger who bought the business from its cash-strapped owners in December.

Sheik Ahsan Ali, 29, the new proprietor of Aldo’s Pizzaria and Restaurant in Ozone Park, Queens, celebrated his restaurant’s grand re-opening last week, although without the pork and alcohol that fueled some of the reputed backdoor gambling rings and 14-hour Mafioso lunches there over the past six decades.

“There’s a need for change because the demographic is changing,” Ali recently told The Post.

“We have a lot of immigrants, and not everybody is eating because of certain things — like some folks can’t have alcohol,” said Ali, who spent years working behind Aldo’s counter.

“We have to change with the times.”

But while everyone is welcome at Ali’s joint, he emphasized that the gangsters who once used Aldo’s as a meeting spot will not be.

Gambino crime-boss Ronald Trucchio — known as “Ronny One Arm” because one of his arms was partly paralyzed — was a regular and told prosecutors he even took a $72,000 salary from Aldo’s before his 2003 racketeering arrest, when Aldo’s was at its original 101 Street location.

Vinny Asaro, who played a role in the 1978 Lufthansa heist that inspired “Goodfellas,” was also known to frequent the joint.

“It looked like a scene out of a mob movie that went right to video and never made the big screen,” a source said at the time.

In recent years, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg investigated possible illegal gambling at the Ozone Park eatery and probed whether City Councilman Eric Ulrich gave a government job to one of Aldo’s co-owners under suspicious circumstances.

Ulrich brought Eric Adams to the restaurant, with the then-mayoral candidate then turning it into his unofficial headquarters during his 2020 run. Aldo’s even catered the ex-mayor’s primary-race watch party, according to sources.

Ali claimed the eatery’s mob connections have long been dead — as part of a larger dying Big Apple mobster culture.

“I did hear a lot of stories back in the days, but I have never encountered anything, being in this place for the past so many years, their activities or anything like that,” said Ali, whose first shift at Aldo’s was in 2016.

“There is no attachment of those people anymore. I believe the time has changed.”

While halal pizza joints can be found throughout the city, he said he believes his shop is the first full Italian restaurant to be halal.

Ali said that owning his own halal restaurant had long been a dream of his — since he learned to toss dough under the original owner, Aldo Calore.

He quickly graduated to general manager, a role he was serving when brothers Anthony and Joe Livreri, who ran the shop for a decade, were evicted in December for failing to pay their rent.

With the legendary name of “Aldo’s” — which Ali estimates to be worth $1 million — and the shop’s perfect corner spot up for grabs, Ali realized he was given an offer he couldn’t pass up.

Ali’s uncle, Arshad Hussain, who owns the building, was ecstatic at his nephew’s business idea — telling The Post, “I dreamed of this.

“I always wanted to do something like this for the community and for the legacy of Italian food. I think this is a very new concept to the people,” said Hussain.

Aldo’s still uses the same recipes that its founder, Calore, crafted when he opened his original shop in 1962, save for two key ingredients.

The two are the pork and booze that are non-permissible for Muslims, so Ali’s recipes call for alcohol-free cooking wine, and all bites feature beef or chicken instead of pork.

“The first thing — after our own food — Muslims like Italian food, and the problem is that we can’t go out to eat because most Italian food is made out of alcohol, wines and stuff like that,” Ali told The Post, noting that he and his fellow-Muslim pizza slingers were limited to eating plain slices in the previous iterations of Aldo’s.

“So I always wanted to open my own place where I could cater to all kinds of nationalities.

“But I just didn’t want it to be limited to Muslims people only. I wanted to cater to everybody,” he said. “That is why we took a lot of time to make sure all the meat to be substituted would taste the same.”

Ali has a friend who taste-tested his substituted meats to make sure the beef pepperoni or beef prosciutto tasted like their pork counterparts.

“A lot of people say it tastes better than before!” Ali said.

https://nypost.com/2026/02/15/us-news/aldos-in-ozone-park-sheds-mob-past-to-be-halal-italian-joint/

Powerhouse New Jersey Genovese gangster and his very violent reputation

2026-02-07T08:23:00.005-05:00

Gambino Soldier pleads guilty to racketeering conspiracy

2026-02-06T12:46:00.007-05:00

Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, James Laforte, also known as “Jimmy,” an inducted member of the Gambino organized crime family, pleaded guilty before United States Magistrate Judge Joseph A. Marutollo to racketeering conspiracy, Hobbs Act extortion and Hobbs Act extortion conspiracy, witness retaliation, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

LaForte is the last of 10 defendants charged in a 2023 indictment in connection with various offenses committed by members and associates of the Gambino crime family— including extortion, money laundering conspiracy and witness retaliation—to plead guilty or be convicted at trial. On October 17, 2025, seven members and associates of the Gambino crime family pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy in proceedings held before United States District Judge Frederic Block. Those defendants are Gambino crime family captain Joseph Lanni, also known as “Joe Brooklyn” and “Mommino;” Gambino soldiers Diego “Danny” Tantillo and Angelo Gradilone, also known as “Fifi;” U.S.-based Sicilian Mafia member and Gambino associate Vito Rappa, also known as “Vi;” U.S.-based Sicilian Mafia associate and Gambino associate Francesco Vicari, also known as “Frank” and “Uncle Ciccio;” and Gambino associates Kyle Johnson, also known as “Twin,” and Vincent Minsquero, also known as “Vinny Slick.” In August 2025, Salvatore DiLorenzo pleaded guilty to theft from employee benefits plans. In December 2025, a federal jury convicted defendant Robert Brooke of one count of Hobbs Act extortion.

Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, James C. Barnacle, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), Anthony P. D’Esposito, Inspector General of the United States Department of Labor (DOL-OIG), and Jessica S. Tisch, Commissioner, New York City Police Department (NYPD) announced the guilty pleas and trial conviction.

“The prosecution of these members and associates of the Gambino organized crime family has dealt a significant blow to that violent criminal enterprise,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “Their efforts to take over and infiltrate legitimate businesses by means of intimidation threatened hardworking New Yorkers and terrorized their victims. Our Office will continue to hold accountable those who seek to use violence and fear to enrich themselves.”

Mr. Nocella expressed his appreciation to the New York City Business Integrity Commission, the New York Waterfront Commission, and the Office’s law enforcement partners in Italy, including the Prosecutor of Palermo, the Polizia di Stato, the Servizio Centrale Operativo, and the Squadra Mobile of Palermo.

“These ten Gambino members and associates orchestrated a campaign of violent assaults and property destruction to collect debts and intimidate those employed by competing companies,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Barnacle. “Their collective actions terrorized New York residents and businesses to generate an illegal revenue stream. The FBI maintains its commitment to coordinating with our local and international law enforcement partners in the fight against organized crime.”

“These defendants used fraud, intimidation, and violence in an attempt to seize control of New York City’s demolition industry, including schemes targeting labor unions and their employee benefit plans,” stated DOL Inspector General D’Esposito. “DOL-OIG will continue working shoulder to shoulder with our law-enforcement partners to root out labor racketeering and eliminate the influence of organized crime from the labor industry. Accountability is non-negotiable.”

As set forth in court filings, members and associates of the Gambino crime family used violent extortion, fraud, theft and embezzlement schemes to infiltrate the carting and demolition industries to enrich themselves and the Gambino crime family, including by laundering criminal proceeds. For example, during a financial dispute between Tantillo and the owners of a demolition company (Demolition Company 1), Tantillo and Johnson coordinated a violent hammer assault on an employee of Demolition Company 1, which left the employee bleeding and seriously injured.

Extortions Related to the Carting and Demolition Industries

Tantillo, Rappa, Vicari and Johnson engaged in a violent extortion conspiracy relating to the demand and receipt of money from an individual (John Doe 1) who operated a carting business in the New York City area. The extortion scheme involved threatening John Doe 1 with a bat, setting fire to the steps to John Doe 1’s residence, attempting to damage John Doe 1’s carting trucks, and violently assaulting an associate of John Doe 1. After John Doe 1 ultimately made a payment of $4,000 to Vicari, Vicari and Rappa met and sent Tantillo a photo of Vicari raising a small champagne bottle, as in a toast.

As proven at Brooke’s trial, in the fall of 2019, Brooke engaged in a violent extortion scheme against the owners of a demolition company (John Does 2 through 4) over purported debts owed to Tantillo and a company that was co-operated by Tantillo and Brooke. On December 18, 2019, one of the victims was walking to work when he was ambushed and attacked by Brooke at 50th Street and Eighth Avenue in midtown Manhattan. The victim suffered a fractured cheek bone, black eye and contusions to his face. In the weeks after the beating, Tantillo reached out to the victims who are brothers and told them to pay Brooke and to drop the criminal charges against Brooke. Fearing for the safety of themselves and their employees, the owners of the demolition company paid $50,000 to Tantillo and $40,000 to the company co-operated by Tantillo and Brooke.

Extortion and Assault of a Borrower

In 2020 and 2021, LaForte extorted a person who owed money to an associate of LaForte (John Doe 5). After failing to pay LaForte’s associate on time, John Doe 5 was introduced to LaForte, who asked John Doe 5 to run an illegal poker game and a craps game for LaForte. When John Doe 5 asked LaForte after the craps game for John Doe 5’s share of the earnings from running the game, LaForte hit John Doe 5 in the face, knocking John Doe 5 backward and giving him a black eye. LaForte later contacted John Doe 5’s father to force John Doe 5 to pay what LaForte said was John Doe 5’s debt. In text messages exchanged in November 2020, shortly after John Doe 5’s loan, the person who had lent John Doe 5 the money wrote that “[t]his other punk [John Doe 5] is playing games,” and “Might ride up to his house Saturday with one of my guys from down here.” Another party to the conversation responded, “I took him up to c jimmy made it clear” and later added, “We’ll get it. He’s scared to death of jimmy.”

Witness Retaliation and Assault

On February 17, 2021, LaForte and Minsquero assaulted a person who they believed had previously provided information to law enforcement about members and associates of organized crime (John Doe 6), while Lanni sat nearby. That evening LaForte and Minsquero approached John Doe 6 inside a restaurant. LaForte called John Doe 6 a “rat” and hit John Doe 6 in the face with a bottle. LaForte and Minsquero also flipped John Doe 6’s table, sending drinks and shattered glass everywhere.

Frauds and Union-Related Crimes in the Carting and Demolition Industries

Various defendants also committed a series of crimes to steal and embezzle from unions and employee benefit plans and rigged bids in the demolition and carting industries. As part of one such scheme, DiLorenzo provided Rappa with a “no-show” job at DiLorenzo’s demolition company so that Rappa could receive paychecks and union health benefits, among other benefits. Similarly, Tantillo arranged for Gradilone to receive a “no-show” job at a construction company with which Tantillo was associated, which enabled Gradilone to receive paychecks and union health benefits to which he was not entitled. Tantillo and Johnson also conspired to secure a “no-show” job for Johnson, so that Johnson could similarly receive union health benefits.

* * * * *

The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Organized Crime and Gangs Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Anna L. Karamigios, Andrew M. Roddin, Elias Laris, and Brooke E. Theodora are in charge of the prosecution.

Defendant Who Pleaded Guilty Today:

JAMES LAFORTE (also known as “Jimmy”)

Age: 49

New York, New York

Defendants Who Previously Pleaded Guilty:

JOSEPH LANNI (also known as “Joe Brooklyn” and “Mommino”)
Age: 54
Staten Island, New York

DIEGO TANTILLO (also known as “Danny” and “Daniel”)
Age: 50
Freehold, New Jersey

ROBERT BROOKE
Age: 58
New York, New York

SALVATORE DILORENZO
Age: 69
Oceanside, New York

ANGELO GRADILONE (also known as “Fifi”)
Age: 59
Staten Island, New York

KYLE JOHNSON (also known as “Twin”)
Age: 48
Bronx, New York

VINCENT MINSQUERO (also known as “Vinny Slick” )
Age: 39
Staten Island, New York

VITO RAPPA (also known as “Vi”)
Age: 58
East Brunswick, New Jersey

FRANCESCO VICARI (also known as “Frank” and “Uncle Ciccio”)
Age: 65
Elmont, New York

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 23-CR-443 (FB)

https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/gambino-crime-family-soldier-pleads-guilty-racketeering-conspiracy-and-related-charges

Former Philadelphia Mafia Hitman surfaces in new interview

2026-01-27T07:20:00.004-05:00

New Official Boss of the Colombo Family busted for parole violation again

2026-01-23T08:17:00.007-05:00

He’s now the boss of the Colombo crime family, the feds say — and his decision to hold court at a family Christmas party in Brooklyn could land him back in the can.

Theodore “Skinny Teddy” Persico Jr., the nephew of notorious Colombo boss Carmine “The Snake” Persico,” has officially taken the title once held by his late uncle, according to federal prosecutors.

And, he admitted in court Thursday, he violated the terms of his supervised release when he met and chatted with three Colombo members at Ponte Vecchio restaurant in Bay Ridge on Dec. 1.

Persico, 62, was the heir apparent to the crime family in 2023 when he was sentenced to five years behind bars for a labor union extortion plot. The same scheme had helped the feds bust the clan’s leadership two years earlier.

Part of his sentence was steering clear of family associations. At the time, his lawyer told Judge Hector Gonzalez he had “no desire to be boss,” The Messenger reported.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Devon Lash said at a hearing Thursday in Brooklyn Federal Court that Persico has not only failed to move to New Jersey and leave the Colombos behind, but he’s actually running the show.

“Not only has he not done that, he has taken on the mantle of leadership that he claims to have distanced himself from,” Lash told Gonzalez Thursday.

Persico appeared before the judge Thursday after the feds charged him with violating his supervised release shortly after his July 2025 release from federal custody by associating with organized crime figures.

The reputed boss pleaded guilty to two violations, admitting he met one Colombo member outside NYU Langone Hospital on Aug. 29, and speaking to three more at Porto Vecchio on Dec. 1. Both meet-ups were caught on video.

He told the judge that his wife, Nicole, was getting surgery at the hospital when “my friend came to support me, and I shouldn’t have been there with him.”

That “friend” was on a prohibited list from a past case of his, and Persico said that even though he hadn’t gotten the latest list of people to avoid, he “stupidly assumed that maybe he wouldn’t be on it.”

For the second meeting, Persico explained that he was having dinner with his cousin when he saw “two gentlemen that knew for a long time.”

“I went out of my way to talk to them and wish them a Merry Christmas,” he said.

Persico faces a maximum two years behind bars when he’s sentenced Feb. 11, though if the judge sticks to federal guidelines he can expect five to 11 months.

“He does expect some incarceration in this matter as a learning experience,” his lawyer, Joseph Corozzo Jr. said. ‘It is a learning experience, as every one of Mr. Persico’s cases has been a learning experience.”

Lash cast both meetings in a more nefarious light, describing how he left his phone behind while he used his wife’s medical appointment as cover to meet with a fellow gangster.

He understood he was on camera at the restaurant and pretended to ignore the three Colombo members, Lash said, but later, when he headed to the rear of the eatery, “he’s seen hugging and kissing the men that he pretended to ignore,” Lash said.

Unbeknownst to him, that part of the restaurant was also caught on camera, she said.

She also said that the way the men approached him made it clear they were showing deference to the boss of the family.

“He’s had countless learning experiences,” Lash said, pointing out that he’s never successfully finished a term of supervised release, and that he committed technical violations right before committing each new crime in his past cases. “He knows the lessons of associating with prohibited people.”

Persico has a storied career in crime dating back to 1981, when he was 17 years old and was busted for attempted grand larceny on Staten Island. He later spent 17 years behind bars for drug dealing until his release in 2004, and while on a brief furlough for his grandmother’s wake in 1993, he ordered members of his crew to kill Joseph Scopo, a member of a rival Colombo faction.

That earned him another 12 years, and he told his sentencing judge in 2014, “I assure you I’ll do my best not to be here again.”

He was freed on supervised release in May 2020, but quickly broke that pledge, chowing down with his fellow Colombo gangsters at the legendary Brennan and Carr restaurant that November to discuss the crime family’s future, and their labor union shakedown scheme.

Gonzalez ordered him released on home confinement and a $1 million bond, secured by his mother’s nearly $1 million home in Bensonhurst, and he and his wife’s $1.25 million home in the swanky Todt Hill neighborhood of Staten Island.

Lash said the government will move to take both homes if he violates the terms of his release again.

The judge alluded to his past remarks at Persico’s last sentencing, saying, “It’s a waste of breath on my part if he doesn’t do what he’s supposed to do.”

Persico and his wife declined comment as they walked out of the courtroom Thursday.

https://www.nydailynews.com/2026/01/22/colombo-crime-family-heir-apparent-promised-to-steer-clear-but-feds-say-hes-running-the-family/

Lucchese family moms lived an extravagant lifestyle

2025-11-16T08:58:00.000-05:00

They were doting sports moms who appeared to be living the suburban dream in some of New Jersey’s richest counties — showing off lives of apparent luxury on social media.

But beneath the surface, prosecutors said the wife and ex-wife of purported Lucchese crime family soldier Joseph “Little Joe” Perna were taking cash from a $2 million Mafia-linked illegal online sports betting ring managed by their sons, authorities said.

Perna’s wife, Kim Zito, acted like an open book on Facebook and Instagram, showing off her two small dogs, the homes and apartments she flips, and her frequent nights out on the town with her glammed up, Gucci-bag wielding gal squad.

On X, the 53-year-old follows “Real Housewives of New Jersey” veteran Dina Manzo and President Trump, supports the Second Amendment, and shares both her love for Lifetime movies as well as motivational quotes from the likes of Joel Osteen.

Her socials are also replete with pictures of her now 23-year-old son, Frank, playing football and baseball, or the two hugging inside their granite-countertopped kitchen.

Frank Zito oversaw the sportsbook operation along with Joseph Magno, 25, a former Ramapo High School wrestling standout, and his brother, Anthony Magno, 23, who played football for Bergen Catholic High School, authorities said.

The two are the sons of Joseph Perna’s ex-wife, 52-year-old insurance agent Rosanna Magno.

Kim Zito and Rosanna Magno were both charged with racketeering by federal authorities who claim they played a role in an online sportsbook racket Perna, 55, allegedly financed, according to court papers.

Ex-Rutgers wrestler Michael Cetta, 23 — Rosanna Magno’s nephew — also participated in the operation, prosecutors alleged in court documents, as did cousin Dominic Perna, 23.

Kim Zito and Rosanna both live in large, two-story homes in Fairfield and Oakland, NJ, respectively. Zito’s home’s value is estimated to be approximately, $800,000 and Magno’s has a market value of $700,000.

Unlike Zito, Magno apparently kept a low profile online.

Her sole social media presence can be found on LinkedIn, which lists her as a client services manager at Essex Retirement Services with eight years experience.

“My expertise lies in designing tailored retirement solutions that meet client needs, enhance employee engagement, and ensure regulatory adherence,” her profile proclaims.

Kim Zito allegedly accepted an unspecified amount of illegal gambling cash in November and December of 2023, prosecutors said, while Magno allegedly tried to “conceal what were later determined to be gambling ledgers from police during an investigative stop” in April 2025.

All told, 14 people — including suspects in Florida and Rhode Island — face charges stemming from their involvement with the gambling ring, which operated between 2022 and 2024, authorities said.

The illegal enterprise allegedly included a national network of bookmakers, all operating under Little Joe’s orders, to lure bettors into making illegal bets, which were used to fund the scheme and enrich the defendants. according to court documents.

This isn’t the first time a Lucchese crime family ring was taken down in New Jersey this year. In April, 39 people, including members of the Lucchese crime family, were charged for their alleged roles in a large-scale illegal gambling operation. A sitting Prospect Park councilman was also among the 39.

The Luccheses were also accused of being part of the recent game-fixing and poker-rigging ring that allegedly involved NBA Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat player Terry Rozier.

Zito and Magno could not be reached for comment, and their attorneys did not return calls from The Post.

https://nypost.com/2025/11/16/us-news/inside-the-extravagant-lives-of-the-nj-bookie-moms-caught-up-in-mafia-linked-betting-ring/

Lucchese Soldier recruited son and his friends for gambling ring in latest NJ bust

2025-11-13T21:29:00.003-05:00

A mafia member ran a multimillion sports betting ring by recruiting a network of Gen Z bookmakers through his son’s circle of friends, which included college athletes, New Jersey law enforcement officials said on Thursday.

Authorities said that Joseph M. "Little Joe" Perna of Fairfield, N.J., who they said was part of the Lucchese crime family, financed the operation with his son, Joseph R. Perna, 25, who handled day-to-day business.

In all, law enforcement authorities arrested and charged 14 people, including Mr. Perna’s wife, ex-wife, another son and a stepson. The names of two people charged match those of former Rutgers wrestlers.

The defendants are charged with racketeering, conspiracy, gambling offenses and money laundering.

It was unclear who was representing Joseph M. Perna, 55. Anthony Iacullo, a lawyer for the younger Mr. Perna, who pleaded not guilty in a virtual court appearance Thursday, said that his client would fight the charges.

“Joseph looks forward to confronting the false allegations against him in a court of law,” Mr. Iacullo said in an email.

The charges came after recent indictments by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn brought new scrutiny to the ways gambling has affected sports in the United States. Two of those cases involved insiders who placed bets using nonpublic information about N.B.A. and M.L.B. games, according to federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York.

It remains unclear to what degree, if any, college sports are involved in the charges announced on Thursday.

The New Jersey attorney general, Matthew J. Platkin, said the operation included a “number of” college athletes, without saying how many or which schools. Some of the defendants appeared to have loose connections to one another from high school, and were not college athletes.

Gambling is a chief concern of many involved in collegiate athletics, which in recent years has been supercharged by payments to players. Last week, the N.C.A.A. announced that six former men’s basketball players, at Mississippi Valley State, the University of New Orleans and Arizona State, had engaged in “betting-related game manipulation.”

The N.C.A.A. recently approved a rule that would allow student athletes to bet on professional sports, but has delayed its implementation in the face of criticism. Three members of Congress wrote a letter to the N.C.A.A. last month asking the body why it was permitting student athletes to gamble on sports. In their letter, the lawmakers cited the federal indictments in Brooklyn. The rule could now be rescinded.

On Thursday, Mr. Platkin said at a news conference that the betting operation had taken place even though sports gambling is legal in the state.

“Organized crime families seem to have a hard time breaking this old habit, so we’re going to break it for them,” he said.

He said that the operation used offshore websites, enticing people to place bets that represented about $2 million in illegal transactions over two years. It relied, he said, on younger gamblers recruited from among the junior Mr. Perna’s high school and college friends.

The biographies of two of those charged, Michael Cetta, who is a cousin of the younger Mr. Perna, and Nicholas Raimo, match those of former wrestlers for Rutgers University. Mr. Cetta, 23, and Mr. Raimo, 25, are accused of being “agents” of the enterprise.

A lawyer for Mr. Cetta declined to comment, and it was not clear who was representing Mr. Raimo. Kevin Lorincz, a spokesman for Rutgers, said the school “does not comment on law enforcement matters.”

In New Jersey, the charges are particularly resonant. A state law led to a landmark Supreme Court decision in 2018 that paved the way for the widespread legalization of sports betting across America.

Gambling companies have argued that legalization brought betting out of the underworld and allowed for its regulation. But critics have countered that legal wagers often lead to illegal ones, and that a surfeit of opportunities for betting has expanded the possibilities for corruption.

Younger men like those charged Thursday remain particularly at risk for becoming problem gamblers, experts say. Sports bettors tend to be men under 35, according to studies, and the risk of gambling addiction is disproportionately high for young adults.

Four years after the Supreme Court’s decision, the American Gambling Association wrote to the Justice Department saying that illegal gambling was still pervasive throughout America.

“A vast illegal sports betting market continues to exist through offshore websites, which have established well-known brands,” the letter said, adding that they “enjoy many competitive advantages that allow them to offer better odds and promotions and ignore any commitment to responsible gaming.”

Mr. Platkin asked that any college student listening take note of the fact that, while they could gamble on their phones if they were of age, “You should not be gambling in a mob-backed operation. That’s free parental advice.”

Brian J. Neary, a lawyer for Tyler Schnorrbusch, a recent college graduate charged in the scheme, described his client as a “promising young man.” Mr. Schnorrbusch, 23, has pleaded not guilty.

Mr. Neary said he was skeptical of the government’s claims. “College kids,” he said, “can’t compete with FanDuel.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/nyregion/new-jersey-sports-gambling-mob.html

Judge denies $5M bail package for Gambino Soldier over witness tampering fears

2025-11-03T12:02:00.004-05:00

The accused mobster son of a legendary Mafioso named “Quack Quack” was denied bail Tuesday in the sensational case involving NBA-tied rigged card games — over concerns he’d return to his witness-tampering ways.

Lawyers for Angelo Ruggiero Jr., 53, had pushed for a $5 million bond insured by his family and friends during the reputed Gambino mobster’s bail hearing in Brooklyn federal court.

But Judge Joseph Marutollo agreed with prosecutors that Ruggiero’s history foreshadows what he’d do if released: tamper with a witness.

Marutollo noted that Ruggiero, when incarcerated in a past case, had threatened to kill a witness.
“He made his hand in the shape of a gun and said, ‘You know how we take care of rats up close and personal,” the judge said of the son of notorious late mobster Angelo Ruggiero Sr., whose motor-mouthed honking earned him the nickname “Quack Quack.”

Ruggiero sat glum in a tan prison outfit as Marutollo denied the bail package.

Soon afterward, co-defendant Curtis Meeks, 41, pleaded not guilty to wire fraud and money-laundering charges.

Meeks, a former boxer who allegedly supplied cheating technology used in rigged card games, received a $250,000 bond.

The feds pushed for Meeks to be barred from gambling – a potential problem for the professional gambler.

“I play in the World Series of Poker. If [the government] doesn’t want me to play, that’s fine,” Meeks said in court.

The judge ultimately said Meeks will need to notify pre-trial services about any gambling and travel.

The back-to-back hearings stemmed from explosive federal indictments last week that exposed alleged Mafia sports gambling and poker-rigging schemes intertwined with NBA players.

Ruggiero played on cheating poker teams inside 80 Washington Ave., a luxe Greenwich Village pad, the feds alleged.

The townhouse was one of two Manhattan locations where high-stakes poker games were held by four of the city’s most powerful crime families, including the Gambinos, the feds alleged.

The crooks allegedly used NBA Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups, 49, the head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, and former NBA player Damon Jones, 49, to act as “face cards” to attract high rollers to the rigged big-money games.

One purported victim who, along with his poker buddies, was allegedly scammed out of $1 million claimed a former NFL player also had acted as the front man during his losing game.

The feds have said the son of “Quack Quack” not only took his dad’s full Ruggiero name but also his Mafia mantle.

The elder Ruggiero was a close friend famed Gambino boss John Gotti and ended up an unwitting stool pigeon in the feds’ 1980s probe into the mob family when he was caught on wiretaps characteristically blabbing incriminating dirt.

Angelo Ruggiero Jr. is a made man in the Gambino family, with a mobbed-up rap sheet that includes a conviction for threatening to kill a witness while still in prison, the feds detailed in a court filing last week.

“Ultimately, while together with the witness in their cell, the defendant made his hand into the shape of a gun, pointed it at the witness’s head, and stated, in sum and substance: ‘you know how we take care of rats, we get up-close and personal,’” court papers state.

Ruggiero’s lawyer, James Frocarro, argued that his client should be out on bail because all of the other alleged mobsters accused in the NBA scheme were allowed out and that they, too, have been accused of having committed serious offenses.

“Did I offer too much to secure his release?” Frocarro said. “He has five million reasons to comply.”

When pressed by the judge about Ruggiero’s gun-finger move, Frocarro accused the government of purposely putting the cooperating witness in his cell to make Ruggiero mad.

“Did they expect him to give him a kiss? He didn’t lay a hand on him!” Frocarro said.

https://nypost.com/2025/10/28/us-news/gambino-mobster-in-nba-gambling-scandal-denied-bail-over-fears-hed-resort-to-his-witness-tampering-methods/

Gambino Captain busted in NBA poker scheme just pled guilty in NYC trash hauling probe

2025-10-24T16:29:00.003-04:00

A reputed mobster arrested in Thursday’s explosive NBA gambling scandal pleaded guilty just last week to unrelated charges that he violently tried to take over the Big Apple’s garbage business.

Alleged Gambino capo Joseph Lanni, aka “Mommino,” was accused Thursday of taking part in a multimillion-dollar ring of rigged poker games run by mobsters who enlisted NBA notables — Portland Trail Blazers coach and former player Chancey Billups and ex-Cavalier Damon Jones — to attract victims to play.

The arrest occurred less than a week after he pleaded guilty Oct. 17 alongside six other reputed wiseguys to heading a sprawling racket that used extortion, witness retaliation and other crimes to try to bring the city’s trash and demolition business under his control, prosecutors said at the time.

Lanni, 54, was hit with a new unrelated indictment Thursday charging him with one count of operation of an illegal gambling business for allegedly getting paid proceeds from the ill-gotten gains taken off victims in the poker games.

The new case, which charged 31 people in all, including the two NBA greats, accuses Lanni and two other alleged Gambino crime family members of collecting payments from a group of people who staged underground poker games run out of 80 Washington Place in Greenwich Village.

The mobsters allegedly arranged for payments to Billups and Jones to act as “face cards” to attract victims who wanted the opportunity to play against a former pro athlete. The victims allegedly lost millions of dollars in the con, prosecutors claimed.

The feds asked that Lanni be held without bail pending trial in his new case on the grounds he has a history of criminal convictions and violence.

They noted that he also allegedly kept in touch with other made men while he was out free in the city trash business scheme, violating the conditions of his release.

Lanni — who lives on Staten Island and is also known as “Joe Brooklyn” — was first convicted in 1999 on securities fraud and sentenced to 2.5 years behind bars. He was convicted again in 2014 for promoting gambling and was hit with one year in jail, prosecutors said in court papers.

The suspected mobster was also involved in allegedly intimidating a witness in 2021 who he and two others mobsters believed snitched on them, prosecutors alleged.

In addition, Lanni and alleged goon Vincent “Vinny Slick” Minsquero got into a wild confrontation with the married owners of a restaurant in Toms River, NJ, in September 2023 after the couple asked them to leave for getting into an argument with patrons.

Things reached a fever pitch when Lanni and his crony threatened to burn down the establishment “with you in it” and allegedly beat the couple up later that night, court papers alleged.

The mobbed-up duo allegedly went so far as to buy a gas container at a station across the street from the restaurant to make good on the threat. But they returned the container afterward, the feds claimed. They were not charged in that incident.

Lanni faces up to five years in prison if convicted on the new charge in the rigged gambling case. He’s yet to be sentenced for the racketeering conspiracy guilty plea, for which he could receive somewhere in the range of 6.5 to 8 years, a judge in that case said last week.

The rigged poker games were run from 2019 out of Miami, Las Vegas, the Hamptons and two locations in Manhattan, including the Washington Place townhouse where Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott lived in 2021 when the influencer was pregnant with their second child, authorities said.

The famous couple was not mentioned in the indictment, and there wasn’t any indication they knew what was going on.

Four of the five New York City La Cosa Nostra families were alleged to be involved in the fixed poker games: the Gambinos, Genoveses, Luccheses and Bonannos, according to prosecutors.

Meanwhile, a separate indictment, also unsealed Thursday, accused Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, aka “Scary Terry,” and ex-Cleveland Cavaliers player Jones of doling out insider info on teams and players for bets on games.

While Billups was not charged in the second case, he is believed to be “Co-Conspirator 8” in its court papers, which allege he tipped off bettors that the Blazers were going to tank their March 24, 2023, game against the Chicago Bulls — a tip that netted the gamblers big winnings, court papers allege.

Billups and Rozier were placed on leave from their teams, according to the NBA, which said it was cooperating with the feds.

“We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority,” the NBA said in a statement Thursday.

Lanni’s lawyers in the racketeering case did not immediately return a Post request for comment Friday morning. It was not immediately clear who is representing him in the new case.

No one answered the door at Lanni’s house during a Post visit there Friday, nor did anyone pick up the phone when The Post called numbers listed for him.

https://nypost.com/2025/10/24/sports/reputed-nba-mobster-joseph-lanni-pleaded-guilty-last-week-in-separate-case/

Who were the NYC mobsters busted in NBA poker scheme?

2025-10-23T20:40:00.003-04:00

The son of a legendary mafia capo, a newbie made man and a mobster who did time for an infamous Queens racial attack were among the 13 reputed mobsters busted alongside NBA stars in a sweeping historic gambling bust, according to a new federal indictment.

Among the most prominent of the gangsters who were dealt into the high-stakes scams is Angelo Ruggiero Jr, the son of the late Gambino captain Angelo “Quack Quack” Ruggiero Sr.

Ruggiero Jr’s father was close friends with notorious Gambino boss John Gotti, who helped plan the murder of Gambino leader Paul Castellano in 1985.

When Gotti became head of the crime family, he promoted Ruggiero, who later acted as a liaison for the family while Gotti stood trial for murder in 1992.

The gangster — who earned his ducky nickname because of his penchant for talking a lot and who did things like threaten to feed people to sharks — became infamous because the feds picked him up on wiretaps complaining about his mob bosses and used his comments in case against Castellano.

The younger Ruggiero, who is also a made man, now stands accused of receiving “proceeds” of the rigged poker games “on behalf of the Gambino crime family.”

A second wiseguy arrested for his alleged role in the FBI’s gambling and poker probe is Ernest “Ernie” Aiello — who made headlines for inquiring in court about how he can avoid mob ties and still eat at his favorite Italian bakery back in 2018.

The 43-year-old Bonanno crime family mobster was busted for loansharking, gambling and drug dealing in July 2013, but ultimately walked free after a mistrial in May 2017.

During a court hearing the next year, a judge warned him not to commiserate with fellow mobsters —which Aiello said may spoil his breakfast, since he frequents a beloved Italian bakery in Brooklyn.

The judge, in turn, warned him to simply keep his visits to Fortunato Brothers Cafe in Williamsburg short and sweet, according to the Daily News.

He’s now accused of receiving a portion of the criminal proceeds from the rigged poker games on behalf of the Bonanno crime family.

Busted Gambino wiseguy Lee Fama, meanwhile, has a history of cleaning up at the poker table.

In 2012, as the Drug Enforcement Administration probed him for drug charges he won big playing poker at casinos in Vegas and Atlantic City, The Post reported at the time.

Fama raked in more than $22,000 at poker tournaments at the Borgata in Atlantic City and $666 at a Las Vegas’s Rio hotel as Drug Enforcement Administration officials probed him for conspiring to distribute marijuana in 2012.

He was later arrested for allegedly buying and selling several pounds of marijuana.

He’s now accused of getting proceeds from the rigged card games on behalf of the Gambino crime family.

Nicholas “Fat Nick” Minucci — a Gambino associate who was convicted of beating a black kid with a baseball bat while shouting the N-word in 2005 — was also busted in the NBA gambling case.

Minucci, 39, of East Northport, was convicted of the hate crime after chasing down battery victim Glenn Moore.

At the time, Fat Nick claimed he was not a bigot and said he only chased down Moore because he thought he’d come to Howard Beach to steal cars. He was ultimately sentenced to 15 years in prison.

He’s now accused of participating on “cheating teams” during the rigged card games.

Matthew “The Wrestler” Daddino — a hulking newbie Genovese made man and former star high school wrestler from Long Island— was also indicted during the historic gambling bust.

Daddino is “a recently inducted member” and “rising star” of the crime family.

He’s accused of receiving cash from the rigged card games on behalf of the Genovese family.

In total, 13 alleged members and associates of the Bonanno, Gambino, Lucchese, and Genovese crime families were arrested in the gambling and sports betting bust. Among other reputed gangsters charged was Thomas “Tommy Juice” Gelardo, who received proceeds on behalf of the Bonanno family.

Other suspects with suspicious names were also busted, including Ammar “Flapper Poker” Awawdeh, Zhen “Scruli” Hu and Robert “Black Rob” Stroud who helped organize the games and Tony “Black Tony” Goodson and Shane “Sugar” Hennen who helped supply the marks.

https://nypost.com/2025/10/23/us-news/from-the-son-of-a-legendary-mafia-capo-to-a-wiseguy-poker-pro-these-are-the-mobsters-charged-in-the-nba-gambling-scandal/

Latest indictment shows NYC mafia families are still in business

2025-10-23T20:34:00.006-04:00

In New York City, it seems, the mob’s five families still have a few cards to play.

That was on full display Thursday when federal and local officials announced charges against a grab bag of gangsters from four of the families, including leaders, made men and associates, saying they oversaw a complex scheme to rig illegal poker games that raked in millions of dollars. The victims were lured to the high-stakes tables by the presence of current and former N.B.A. luminaries, officials said.

While the mob’s outright stranglehold on a host of industries, from construction and trucking to control of the waterfront and garment center, is a thing of the past, organized crime remains alive and well, if less visible, according to current and former investigators. Its presence is perhaps most vibrant in the New York City metropolitan area.

This stubborn resilience continues, they said, despite more than four decades of aggressive investigations and prosecutions that have decimated the leadership of the five families and secured thousands of convictions — and the recruitment of an army of chatty informants.

Over the years, the mob’s savvier operators have learned that violence — not to mention the antics of strutting crime family peacocks like the Gambino boss John Gotti — attracts law enforcement attention, which can land them in prison, where moneymaking opportunities are decidedly fewer and farther between.

The Italian Mafia, known as La Cosa Nostra, “is still alive and well in the New York City area, they just changed some of their methods in the way they operate,” said F.B.I. supervisor Mike Mullahy, a veteran mob investigator who oversaw the agents who made the poker case.

“Being brazen and up front in how they operate has not always worked out well for them,” he added, “so they have changed their methods and modes of operation, and we have changed our method of investigating them.”

The poker indictment was unsealed on Thursday along with an unrelated case with no mob involvement that accused three current and former N.B.A. players and coaches and three other men of defrauding gamblers and online betting firms out of millions of dollars.

In the poker case, prosecutors charged 32 men, accusing 11 of them of being leaders, members or associates of the Genovese, Gambino, Bonanno and Lucchese families, including one Bonanno figure, Ernest Aiello, who was reputed to be the family’s acting street boss. The charges include wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, operating an illegal gambling enterprise and conspiracies to commit extortion and robbery.

Both indictments were brought by prosecutors from the office of the Brooklyn U.S. attorney, Joseph Nocella Jr., after separate investigations by his office and several other agencies. In the poker inquiry, they included the F.B.I., the Police Department and the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, which, like the U.S. attorney’s office, has long been among the agencies at the forefront of investigating the mob.

The two cases were not directly related. But three men — none of them accused mob figures — were charged in both indictments, so the inquiries were coordinated and conducted in parallel and the cases were announced together.

Illegal gambling has long been a lucrative mob staple, with its attendant crimes of loan-sharking and extortion, and it continues to be a big moneymaker for all five families, investigators said. But the scheme outlined in the poker indictment took it to another level, leaving nothing to chance.

High rollers were lured to the tables at the mob-sanctioned games in Manhattan, the Hamptons and elsewhere, where, unbeknown to them, the players were interspersed with members of what the indictment said defendants referred to as “cheating teams.” Shuffling machines were altered with chips that could read all the cards in the deck so each player’s hand could be determined in real time and communicated to one of the scheme’s participants at the table, referred to as the “quarterback” or “driver.”

While the indictment said the victims thought they were playing in a “straight” illegal card game “gambling against other participants on equal footing,” in reality, they were facing the cheating team, a lineup of the defendants and their co-conspirators.

At the end of the day, the sophistication of the scheme, and the involvement of four of New York’s five families, strongly indicate that the mob is still thriving. It has hummed along in the background as law enforcement’s priorities have shifted elsewhere — to terrorism after the Sept. 11 attacks and, more recently, immigration enforcement under the Trump administration.

“Having worked these families firsthand for 15 years, I can tell you they never really disappear,” said Seamus McElearney, a retired F.B.I. agent who supervised cases against three crime families and has written a book about his time investigating the mob. “They adjust and find ways to cash in.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/23/nyregion/nba-gambling-mafia-gambino-genovese-bonanno-luchese.html

NBA stars and NYC crime families indicted in poker scheme

2025-10-23T10:46:00.010-04:00

Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups has been charged in a sweeping federal probe into an alleged illegal poker scheme tied to organized crime, sources told The Post.

The 49-year-old former NBA champion with the Detroit Pistons was arrested in Oregon Thursday morning, the night after coaching his team in their season opener.

Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier aka “Scary Terry” was charged as well, in a separate but related illegal gambling case, ABC reported.

Billups, an NBA Hall of Famer, has been charged with partaking in an alleged illegal poker ring tied to the Gambino, Bonanno and Genovese crime families, sources told the Post.

A total of 31 people across the country are charged with running rigged games, which took place in Manhattan, the Hamptons and Las Vegas, sources said.

The players involved were being paid by mobsters to play in card games fixed with technology and card shuffling machines to give the house the advantage, sources familiar with the case said.

The athletes were told to take a dive when they had to and win when they were told. It didn’t appear as if they were attempting to pay off any debts, sources said.

Former NBA player Damon Jones, 49, who spent 11 years in the league with multiple teams, is also charged in the FBI’s investigation, according to sources.

Rozier previously had been under investigation for unusual betting activity during his time with the Hornets, specifically a March 2023 contest. However, the NBA did not find any violation.

Rozier’s attorney Jim Trusty, said that his client met with NBA and FBI officials during 2023 regarding the case and slammed the manner in which he was taken into custody Thursday morning.

“A long time ago we reached out to these prosecutors to tell them we should have an open line of communication. They characterized Terry as a subject, not a target, but at 6 a.m. this morning they called to tell me FBI agents were trying to arrest him in a hotel,” Trusty told the Post.

“It is unfortunate that instead of allowing him to self surrender they opted for a photo op. They wanted the misplaced glory of embarrassing a professional athlete with a perp walk. That tells you a lot about the motivations in this case,” he continued.

“Terry was cleared by the NBA and these prosecutors revived that non-case. Terry is not a gambler, but he is not afraid of a fight, and he looks forward to winning this fight,” the attorney said.

Former NBA player Damon Jones, 49, who spent 11 years in the league with multiple teams, is also charged in the FBI’s investigation, according to sources.

The charges come less than a year after former Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter pleaded guilty to tipping off gamblers to games he purposely was going to rig — and earning them $1 million — in an effort to clear his own gambling debt.

Billups is scheduled to make his initial appearance in Oregon federal court on Thursday, but will eventually appear in Brooklyn federal court in the Eastern District of New York, which handled the case against Porter.

Billups, a five-time All-Star, was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame last year.

Prosecutors and FBI Director Kash Patel are expected to announce further details about the alleged schemes at a press conference in Brooklyn on Thursday morning. Also named in the sweeping case is reputed gangster Tommy Gelardo.

https://nypost.com/2025/10/23/sports/portland-trail-blazers-coach-chauncey-billups-arrested-in-alleged-poker-scheme/

The rise of young mafia members in NYC

2025-10-23T10:29:00.003-04:00

Three NYC crime families allegedly shuffle leadership

2025-10-08T21:18:00.005-04:00

Former Boss of the Patriarca Crime Family dies at 68

2025-09-22T22:21:00.003-04:00

Carmen “The Cheeseman” DiNunzio, the reputed boss of the Patriarca crime family, has died. He was 68 years old.

The longtime Boston mobster was born on Aug. 17, 1957, and “passed away peacefully” on Sunday, according to an obituary posted online.

DiNunzio rose through the ranks of the Patriarca crime family, running illegal gambling and loan operations for the Mafia. By the mid-2000s, he had been named underboss and was considered the top Boston member of the crime family named after the late Raymond L.S. Patriarca of Providence, according to FBI documents filed in court.

DiNunzio helped in various leadership roles after reputed former boss Luigi “Baby Shacks” Manocchio stepped down amid a federal investigation into him shaking down Providence strip clubs for protection payments. Mannochio, who died last year, was charged in 2011 and sentenced to federal prison.

DiNunzio’s nickname, “The Cheeseman,” stems from his longtime ownership of a cheese shop in Boston’s North End. He took over leadership of the shattered and dysfunctional crime family roughly eight years ago.

DiNunzio faced his own legal problems over the years, including corruption charges for allegedly trying to bribe officials to secure a multimillion-dollar contract tied to the “Big Dig” project in Boston. He ultimately served five years in federal prison.

DiNunzio’s death signals a broader leadership vacuum within the crime family, which has lost much of its power and influence over the past two decades. Edward “Eddie” Lato, who served as underboss out of Providence, died last year.

The FBI Boston office quietly disbanded its organized crime unit last December, according to a report in The Boston Globe.

DiNunzio is survived by several family members, including his brother Anthony DiNunzio, who is also a reputed member of the New England Crime Family.

https://www.wpri.com/target-12/carmen-the-cheeseman-dinunzio-reputed-mob-boss-dead-at-68/

Philly man arrested for murder of mob associate in 1999

2025-08-29T15:38:00.003-04:00

Richard Leidy, 60, has been arrested and charged with murder, attempted murder and other related offenses, court documents say.

Law enforcement sources tell FOX 29’s Steve Keeley the arrest and charges are in connection to the 1999 murder of Gino Marconi.

On April 10, 1999, Marconi, 42, and his 31-year-old girlfriend were shot on the 2400 block of South 20th Street.

One day later, Marconi succumbed to his injuries.

Despite being shot three times, the 31-year-old survived.

Now, 26 years later, Philadelphia police arrested Leidy at his home in South Philly on Monday, August 25.

According to court documents, Leidy has been charged with murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm, possession of an instrument of crime, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle/other vehicles.

https://www.fox29.com/news/richard-leidy-charged-1999-philly-murder-gino-marconi-court-documents-police-sources

Judge denies early release for feared Chicago mobster The Large Guy

2025-08-29T15:33:00.005-04:00

Convicted mobster Michael “The Large Guy” Sarno has lost his latest bid for early release from prison after a judge ruled the onetime leader of the Outfit’s Cicero faction was still a danger to continue with mob activities despite his declining health.

Sarno, 67, a once-feared boss known for his impressive girth, was convicted of racketeering and sentenced in 2012 to 25 years in prison. He’s filed several motions seeking early release over the years, attacking his sentence as overly harsh, and citing exposure to COVID-19 and other health concerns.

The latest effort included a typed letter from Sarno himself, who told U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis that even though he walked into prison at 6 foot 3 inches and 400 pounds, he was working out “and was in good health.”

“However, while incarcerated, I experienced health issue after health issue,” Sarno wrote, describing his “2 frozen shoulders,” a long-delayed knee replacement, and being wheelchair-bound for the past six years and dependent on others to help bring him to the bathroom.

“When not in a wheelchair, I have laid in bed for weeks and months at a time,” Sarno wrote. “…This is very humiliating and this has humbled me as well. I walked into prison a healthy man and I am now a pathetic shadow of the man I once was.”

In her ruling Wednesday, however, Ellis noted Sarno “was the leader of a criminal enterprise that engaged in multiple ventures, escalating to the point of bombing a competitor,” and that there “remains a need to protect the public from Sarno committing further crimes.”

“Sarno remains a risk to the community because he remains capable of continuing his role in the criminal enterprise, despite his diminished physical health,” Ellis wrote in the four-page order.

Sarno, who is currently housed at a federal medical prison in Springfield, Missouri, is not due to be released from custody until May 2031, when he’d be 73, prison records show.

Sarno and four co-defendants were found guilty by a jury in 2010 on a total of 15 counts. During the five-week trial, prosecutors outlined how the Sarno crew ran a lucrative — and illegal — video poker racket, pulled off a string of armed robberies that spanned three years and four states, and protected their gambling franchise by planting a bomb in front of a Berwyn business that encroached on their turf.

Sarno’s crew also engaged in smash-and-grab robberies in which hundreds of thousands of dollars in gems were stolen from jewelry stores and then fenced at a Cicero pawnshop operated by the Outlaws motorcycle gang, according to prosecutors.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/judge-denies-early-release-convicted-154600250.html

Lucchese mobster sentenced to 21 months for $25 million illegal gambling racket

2025-07-11T23:02:00.005-04:00

That’s a La Cosa No-No-stra.

A mobster was sentenced Wednesday for running an illegal online betting operation that netted nearly $25 million over the past 25 years, according to federal prosecutors.

US District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto gave Anthony Villani, a reputed Lucchese crime family soldier, 21 months in the slammer for his involvement in the racket, officials said.

Villani, a 60-year-old resident of Elmsford, pleaded guilty earlier in the year to racketeering, money laundering and illegal gambling.

The captain owned Rhino Sports, an online business employing Mafia figures as local bookmakers.

The operation, which was based in the Bronx and Westchester county, took in at least $1 million annually from thousands of gamblers, federal prosecutors said.

Villani recruited and employed “trusted associates” to help him manage the illegal gambling outfit, officials said.

He also extorted someone between October 2019 and October 2020, threatening them over $300,000 they stole from Rhino Sports, according to prosecutors.

“I’m not going to repeat myself. I’m not going to ever say this again. We’re just going to have a problem if I find out. Alright? And I don’t want to threaten you with my friends or anything, I’m not gonna, you put me in a f—–g hole with this guy,” Villani reportedly warned on April 27, 2020.

“Listen, get the f—–g money. I’m telling you right now, you don’t get this money – f—–g run away,” he said, according to prosecutors. “Go get this f—–g money,” Villani demanded months later, prosecutors said.

The man on the receiving end of the threats believed Villani or other members of the Lucchese crime family would physically hurt or kill him if he did not repay the debt.

The case was investigated by the Eastern District of New York’s Organized Crime and Gangs Section.

https://nypost.com/2025/07/09/us-news/lucchese-captain-anthony-villani-sentenced-for-illegal-gambling-racket/

Canada takes down leadership of Rizzuto Crime Family in major operation

2025-06-16T09:03:00.003-04:00

The alleged leaders of the Rizzuto crime family have been arrested in a sweeping police operation that one expert says has “effectively decapitated” what remains of Montreal’s most notorious Mafia clan. Leonardo Rizzuto, 56, and Stefano Sollecito, 57, were among 11 suspects taken into custody on Thursday with another five sought as part of Project Alliance, a three-year investigation into organized crime in Quebec. Rizzuto — the son of the late mob boss Vito Rizzuto — appeared in court by video, where his lawyer entered a not guilty plea. Sollecito, who appeared frail and in a wheelchair, remains in custody. The charges against the men relate to a series of killings between 2011 and 2021. The arrests followed co-ordinated raids by nearly 150 officers across Montreal, Laval, Quebec City and nearby regions. Also detained were Nicola Spagnolo, Davide Barberio and Jean-Richard Larivière, a longtime member of the Hells Angels. Antonio Nicaso, an expert on organized crime and a professor at Queen’s University, called the arrests a serious setback for the Rizzuto network. “It is a devastating blow that effectively decapitates the leadership of the Rizzuto crime family, an organization that for some years now has lost the power it once held in Montreal,” Nicaso told The Gazette. Criminologist Maria Mourani said the operation reflects the importance of the targets. “We see several very important members of the Italian Mafia in Montreal who are being targeted,” she said. “This is good news.” She said it remains to be seen what happens, but the arrests may bring about a possible “slight destabilization” of Montreal’s criminal landscape. “Every time there are police operations, there are individuals who will replace other individuals,” Mourani said. “You can expect that some groups will try to take the dishes.”

This is the third major operation targeting the Rizzuto network in less than two decades, following Project Colisée in 2006 and Project Magot-Mastiff in 2015. The latter collapsed after allegations of police misconduct, and charges were dropped. Authorities say the latest probe is notable for its murder charges. Though police did not confirm it on Thursday, the probe was largely built on information from Frédérick Silva, a convicted hit man now serving multiple life sentences. Several search warrants related to the current investigation were carried out during December 2023. Back then, the Sûreté du Québec said in a statement the search warrants were “part of a major criminal investigation, which aims to elucidate several murders linked to organized crime that occurred in Montreal and (north of Montreal) from the middle of the 1990s until today. Certain individuals associated with notorious groups such as the Italian Mafia, the Hells Angels and criminalized street gangs are targeted by the investigation.” On Thursday, Mourani said there is no sole leader in Quebec’s organized crime but instead there are just “different groups and families.” The Sicilian-rooted Rizzuto family once dominated Montreal’s underworld, but its influence has since waned. “Will these individuals be convicted? Will they stay off the streets?” Mourani said. “We’ll have to watch closely.”

https://www.montrealgazette.com/news/local-crime/article986717.html

Colombo mobster busted in Florida for medicare fraud

2025-06-12T19:41:00.003-04:00

Thomas “Tom Mix” Farese, the reputed Colombo crime family’s consigliere, has gotten into trouble again with the feds in Florida, authorities say. This week, Farese and three associates in the durable medical equipment business were charged with swindling millions of dollars out of the Medicare program for senior citizens. They’re accused of submitting false bills to the taxpayer-funded program for unnecessary braces and paying kickbacks to telemedicine companies in exchange for supplying a pipeline of patients and physicians. Farese, 82, and the other defendants made their first appearances in federal court in Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday. Farese, who authorities say has been a notorious fixture in the mob rackets in New York and South Florida for decades, pleaded guilty last month to a money-laundering charge in a similar federal case in New Jersey that alleged a $93 million healthcare fraud scheme against Medicare and other government programs. He faces sentencing in July. Broward conspirators: feds Farese, who formerly owned a luxury townhome in Delray Beach and now lives in Florida, is accused of conspiring with Parkland couple Ed and Robbyn Cannatelli and Virgina Lockett, of Margate, to use a handful of medical equipment “fronts” to submit false Medicare bills for knee, back and wrist braces, according to an indictment. The indictment, filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay G. Trezevant, says the Florida fronts — Embrace All, Progressive Medical and Advance Medical — were owned by Ed Cannatelli, Farese and his longtime Colombo family associate, Patsy Truglia, who was charged in a related case in 2021. Truglia, formerly of Parkland, pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud federal healthcare programs, including Medicare, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison and ordered to repay $18 million to the U.S. government. The latest indictment does not mention that Farese is connected to the Colombo crime family in New York, though his role as its consigliere has been widely reported by news media. The Miami Herald was unable to locate defense lawyers for the Cannatellis, Farese and Lockett because their case, returned by a grand jury in the Middle District of Florida based in Tampa, had not been filed in the federal court system. The Herald obtained the indictment from that office. Life and times of Tommy Farese Starting in the 1970s, Farese has been involved in an array of South Florida rackets — such as using his shipping company to smuggle marijuana and his strip clubs to launder drug money — years before expanding into the hotbed of healthcare fraud. Farese first made headlines in Fort Lauderdale following his 1978 indictment for being the “mastermind” of a large marijuana smuggling and distribution operation under the cover of his Olympic Shipping Lines operation, according to a story in the Florida Bulldog. The case was sensational because it included allegations of bribery against a pair of former state representatives that arose out of conversations tape-recorded by police who bugged Farese’s office. Organized crime strike force prosecutors convicted Farese in 1980. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison, but was released in 1994. Soon after, undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agents posing as dealers began targeting him with a plan to wash more than $1 million through his strip clubs. Farese had hidden interests in Hialeah’s Club Pink Pussycat, Goldfinger in Sunrise, and Club Diamonds in West Palm Beach. Agents said that for a fee Farese laundered the purported drug money for them. Farese was charged with racketeering in January 1996, and later pleaded guilty and got 10 years. He was released from prison in 2005. Farese was arrested again in January 2012, this time on money-laundering charges. Truglia was charged with him. After a December 2012 trial in federal court in Brooklyn, Farese was acquitted but Truglia was convicted. The New York Daily News reported the case was “severely hobbled by the absence of two mob rats who secretly recorded the evidence, but were kept off the witness stand because they had been engaging in misconduct while working as informants.”

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article308464880.html#storylink=cpy

Killer Colombo hitman serving life for 4 murders denied compassionate release

2025-06-12T19:38:00.001-04:00

A Mafia killer who whacked other members of his own Colombo crime family hit crew— and shoved the severed penis of one murder victim into the dead man’s mouth — will not get compassionate release, a federal judge in Brooklyn ruled.

John Pappa, 50, won’t get a break on his two life sentences plus 65 years for four gangland murders in the 1990s, Brooklyn Federal Court Judge Pamela Chen ruled, describing his crimes as “brutal and senseless” and suggesting the remorse he showed at a hearing last year was a cynical act.

“The court cannot shake the impression, after observing and listening to defendant over the course of the two-hour April proceeding, that he feels no remorse about committing the four murders nor empathy for the victims or their families,” Chen wrote. “Defendant’s statements … felt hollow and performative.”

Pappa, who has the creed “Morte prima di disonore” — meaning “death before dishonor” — tattooed across his back, committed the 12th and final murder of the bloody Colombo civil war of the early 1990s, then killed a fellow button man because he wanted credit for the slay.

The whole sordid affair was laid out in Chen’s ruling, filed May 30.

Pappa and another mobster, John Sparacino, were part of a three-man “hit team” assembled by Eric Curcio, and on Oct. 20, 1993, they rubbed out Colombo underboss Joseph Scopo, ambushing him as he pulled up to his Queens home in Ozone Park.

Sparacino sprayed Scopo’s car with bullets, but Scopo managed to get out of his car and run off.

Pappa ran after him, shot him three times and killed him.

Sparacino began taking credit for the killing, which angered Pappa and Curcio, so the two started plotting to kill him. But first, they went after one of Sparacino’s friends, Rolando Rivera. because he told his girlfriend that Curcio warned him to stay away from Sparacino.

Rivera’s loose lips doomed him. On June 7, 1994, Curcio and Pappa drove with Rivera in a stolen van to Staten Island, and when they crossed into the Forgotten Borough, they shot him four times and shoved him out of the van while it was moving.

An off-duty cop found Rivera alive, but he died shortly after.

Their attention turned back to Sparacino after learning he’d dissed Curcio and Pappa at a nightclub. So they enlisted a pal in the drug trade, Calvin Hennigar, to lure Sparacino to his Staten Island home. There, Hennigar shot him in the back of the head.

Pappa and Hennigar drove Sparacino’s body to another spot on Staten Island in a stolen car, and lit the vehicle on fire, their victim still inside.

An autopsy revealed Sparacinio’s gruesome fate — he had been hog–tied and mutilated, with a flap of skin cut from his face and his severed penis shoved in his mouth.

Finally, Pappa turned on Curcio, who he thought wasn’t giving him credit for the Scopo kill, and who may have killed one of his close friends.

“I killed Joe Scopo, I did all the work,” Pappa complained to Joseph Iborti, who testified at Pappa’s 1999 trial.

No one would help Pappa with the hit, so he went solo, ambushing Curcio outside his place of business on Oct. 4, 1994 — shooting him more than 10 times.

Pappa was convicted of all four killings in 1999, while Hennigar was found guilty of the Sparacino slay.

Pappa put in for compassionate release in 2022, arguing that his history growing up led him into the arms of La Cosa Nostra. His father was a Genovese gangster murdered by the Colombo crime family in retaliation for committing two slayings — a story people told Pappa as a child — and his stepfather was locked up for drug and tax evasion charges.

“Pappa was raised in a life of organized crime and drug dealing, and after his father was killed and his stepfather was incarcerated, he
began to look up to organized crime members to fill the fatherhood gap,” wrote his lawyer, Shon Hopwood.

At a tense hearing last year, the loved ones of Pappa’s victims spoke out, asking Chen to keep him locked away forever.

“You’re a phony, you’re a fake, you’re a loser, and you’re a killer, and that’s all you’ll ever be. Remember that. You’ve taken lives. You’ve
gotten that taste. Don’t act like you deserve anything from anybody. You deserve nothing but suffering like we’ve suffered,” said Michelle Gedz, who was five months pregnant with Rivera’s daughter when he died. “You are pure evil and you are the spawn of evil, and there is nothing else you will ever be.”

At the April 2024 hearing, Pappa told Chen he found his humanity in prison.

“It’s been productive. It’s been transformative. I’ve completely changed my way of thinking, my belief system. I’ve learned that working as hard as you possibly can, being honest and helping others, that those are the three keys to a meaningful life,” he said. “I now see things clearly, act correctly, and my actions are positive, effective, and completely unselfish.”

Sparacino’s brother, Salvadore, interrupted Pappa as he spoke, declaring: “And the Oscar goes to you.”

https://www.nydailynews.com/2025/06/08/colombo-killer-john-pappa-jailed-for-life-in-4-nyc-rubouts-denied-compassionate-release/

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