Busting Roberto Settineri

Busting Roberto Settineri

  May 16, 2010    Dapper_Don

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Last March the FBI arrested Roberto Settineri on charges of money laundering and obstruction of justice, and Jay Weaver and Amy Sherman report for the Miami Herald how convicted Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein helped in busting the Miami Beach, FL wine merchant whom U.S. and Italian authorities suspect as an intermediary between the Gambino crime family and the Santa Maria de Gesu clan from Cosa Nostra or the Sicilian Mafia:

U.S. and Italian authorities . . . point to preparations for last summer's meeting at the Pompano Beach social club, held to resolve an unspecified "dispute'' involving the Colombo crime family, court records say. According to wiretapped phone conversations last June, Settineri asked Gambino soldier Gaetano Napoli to travel from New York to represent him at the Pompano "sit-down'' because Settineri was not a "made'' man and couldn't meet one-on-one with the Colombo capo, prosecutors said in court papers. Speaking in Italian, Settineri used the phrase "come sono combinato'' to describe his affiliation with Sicilian organized crime, prosecutors said. The phrase generally translates to "how I am joined'' -- a reference to Settineri's mafia membership, they said. Authorities have said they don't know precisely what happened at the July 1 meeting, but they do know from surveillance and phone recordings that Napoli was present. They say he "protected'' Settineri and that the dispute was resolved.