Five Families of New York City

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

Showing posts with label Bonanno Crime Family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bonanno Crime Family. Show all posts

Thursday, September 10, 2026

Mob tied pizzeria owners plead guilty to bribing NYC public official

  September 10, 2026    Dapper_Don


Two brothers who run a mob-tied Queens pizzeria have admitted to bribing former Mayor Eric Adams’ Department of Buildings commissioner thousands of dollars in exchange for favors.

Joseph and Anthony Livreri, the co-owners of Aldo’s Pizzeria and Restaurant in Ozone Park, pleaded guilty in Manhattan Supreme Court to conspiracy and bribery counts for paying $4,000 to Eric Ulrich, Adams’ former senior advisor and DOB chief, in 2022.

“In exchange for the bribes they sent to city officials, the defendants sought jobs for themselves and family members and expedited inspections at businesses with health and building code violations,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement.

The brothers will not cooperate against Ulrich, who is facing a laundry list of corruption charges, if called to testify against him, according to the plea deal.

They’re expected to be sentenced in December.

The Livreris, who are facing multiple other charges, admitted to paying off Ulrich to stop the DOB from vacating them from the Fortunato Brothers Bakery in Williamsburg, which was shut down after a fire.

They also asked Ulrich to fast-track health inspections at their pizza shop after it was forced to close due to multiple health violations, according to the brothers’ September 2023 indictment.


The pair additionally sought to cut through licensing hurdles for their codefendant, Michael Mazzio, that would allow him to tow on city highways during snowstorms.

Nadia Shihata, chief of the city’s Department of Investigations, described the brothers’ actions as “quintessential public corruption.”

These two defendants used bribery to gain an array of City benefits, including expedited inspections at commercial businesses, access to senior members of Mayor Adams’ administration, and securing a City position for the daughter of another defendant in this case,” she said.

“Bribery and corruption have no place in New York City government. I thank the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office for its partnership on this significant investigation and for working with DOI to root out corruption in City government.”

The brothers had significant ties to Adams, who himself was accused of corruption before the Department of Justice suddenly dropped the charges last year.

They donated to Adams’ campaign and hosted a pricey fundraiser at Russo’s On The Bay in Howard Beach in August 2021.

The two and Ulrich also met with Adams in person at Aldo’s just 10 days before the former mayor took office, according to charging documents obtained by the New York Daily News.

Ulrich allegedly spent the bribe money at an illegal gambling club that’s partially owned by Joseph Livreri, who was hired by then-Councilman Ulrich as an advisor.

He has pleaded not guilty to a litany of corruption charges across five indictments accusing him of abusing his power at every public service position he held, according to the Daily News.

Ulrich has said he suffers from gambling and alcohol addiction — but denies allegations that he accepted bribes.

Joseph Livreri faces up to six months in jail and five years of probation.

Anthony Livreri faces a sentence of five years of probation

https://nypost.com/2026/09/10/us-news/brothers-who-own-mob-tied-pizza-shop-admit-to-bribing-ex-mayor-eric-adams-buildings-official/

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Sunday, February 15, 2026

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

  February 15, 2026    Dapper_Don


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/

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Thursday, October 23, 2025

Who were the NYC mobsters busted in NBA poker scheme?

  October 23, 2025    Dapper_Don



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/

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Latest indictment shows NYC mafia families are still in business

  October 23, 2025    Dapper_Don



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

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NBA stars and NYC crime families indicted in poker scheme

  October 23, 2025    Dapper_Don

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/

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Wednesday, October 8, 2025

Monday, June 16, 2025

Canada takes down leadership of Rizzuto Crime Family in major operation

  June 16, 2025    Dapper_Don



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

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Wednesday, June 4, 2025

Wednesday, May 28, 2025

Monday, March 24, 2025

Bonanno Soldier gets an additional 37 months in prison for forcing loanshark victim to strip naked

  March 24, 2025    Dapper_Don


Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, John Ragano, also known as “Bazoo,” a member of the Bonanno organized crime family, was sentenced by United States District Judge Hector Gonzalez to 37 months in prison for extortionate collection of credit in connection with a $150,000 loan.  The sentence imposed today will be served following the completion of Ragano’s 57-month sentence for the conspiracy to commit extortionate collection of credit of the same victim.  Additionally, as part of the sentence, Ragano was ordered to pay the government $3,000 in forfeiture.  Ragano was convicted of the charge in October 2024 following a four-day jury trial.

John J. Durham, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York and Leslie R. Backschies, Acting Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the sentence.

“Today’s sentence punishes Ragano’s blatant disregard for the law, even while under court supervision for crimes brazenly carried out within the federal courthouse,” stated United States Attorney Durham.  “This prosecution represents my Office’s steadfast commitment to combatting the Mafia in our district.”

“Despite previous arrests and detention, John Ragano tormented his victim to make weekly exorbitant loan payments and enforced humiliating methods when faced with resistance,” stated Acting FBI Assistant Director in Charge Backschies.  “His actions reflected his apathy to the criminal justice system as he repeatedly attempted to extort his victims in the midst of active legal proceedings. Today’s verdict emphasizes the FBI’s intolerance of the mob’s historical inclination to utilize coercive and threatening tactics to fulfill their greedy demands.

In early 2021, the defendant Ragano loaned the victim $150,000 in cash and required the victim to make interest payments of approximately $1,800 a week.  These payments did not reduce the principal of the $150,000 loan.  On September 14, 2021, Ragano was arrested in connection with the extortionate loan to the victim, as well as separate schemes to traffic marijuana and commit fraud.  After Ragano was released on bond from the Metropolitan Detention Center in December 2021, he continued to try to collect the $150,000 loan from the victim while under pretrial supervision.  He did so by approaching the victim in-person at status conferences held at the federal courthouse, and by directing another individual (Individual #1) to contact the victim.  On November 28, 2022, Ragano pleaded guilty to conspiring to issue the extortionate loan to the victim.  However, in 2023, despite his previous guilty plea, ongoing court supervision, and sentence to 57 months’ imprisonment in connection with his previous guilty plea as to the 2021 loan, Ragano continued to extort the victim to collect payments on the 2021 loan, which resulted in a subsequent indictment for extortionate collection of credit and harassment of a witness.

As proven during Ragano’s October 2024 trial, on March 25, 2023, the victim recorded a meeting with Individual #1, who explained that Ragano wanted the entire amount of the loan repaid and that “nobody’s looking for anybody to get hurt.” A week later, on March 31, 2023, Individual #1 told the victim that Ragano was “a little upset” that the loan was outstanding.  On July 5, 2023, the victim went to a used auto parts yard where Ragano worked to discuss the loan.  Unbeknownst to Ragano, the victim recorded the meeting.  The victim told Ragano that he was going to stop repaying the loan. Ragano accused the victim of cooperating with the government and demanded that he remove all his clothes. Ragano stated: “Okay, well then take off your f--king s--t right now my man.  Take off your f--king pants right now, lemme see, I want to see.”  At Ragano’s insistence, the victim complied and took off all his clothing. At that point, two men at the business walked up behind Ragano, one of whom was holding metal tools.  Ragano then demanded the victim pay the money the defendant believed he was owed, telling him, “You owe me my f---king money, let’s see how you’re gonna do when I get out.”  Despite being forced to strip naked, the victim was still able to record the confrontation, including Ragano’s parting words, “I’ll see you when I get out tough guy…Don’t forget I know where you’re at now.”

The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Organized Crime and Gangs Section.  Assistant United States Attorneys Devon Lash and Andrew D. Reich are in charge of the prosecution with the assistance of Paralegal Specialist Kristina Kim.  Assistant United States Attorney Tanisha Payne of the Office’s Asset Recovery Section is handling forfeiture matters.

The Defendant:

JOHN RAGANO (also known as “Bazoo”)
Age:  62
Franklin Square, Long Island

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 24-CR-50 (HG)

https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/bonanno-crime-family-soldier-sentenced-37-months-imprisonment-extortionate-collection 

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Sunday, March 23, 2025

Wednesday, March 5, 2025

Mixed verdict in trial of Long Island cop accused of selling his badge to the Bonanno crime family

  March 05, 2025    Dapper_Don


A former Nassau County cop accused of moonlighting for the mob while still wearing a badge was found guilty Wednesday of making false statements to the FBI — but cleared of an obstruction of justice charge.

A Brooklyn federal court jury deliberated for nine hours over two days before reaching its verdict, with ex-cop Hector Rosario having no visible reaction as the verdict was read.

“We’re glad the jury acquitted on the obstruction, and it’s a relief they did,” his lawyer, Lou Freeman, said outside the courtroom.

Prosecutors said during the eight-day trial that the 51-year-old former cop “sold his badge” to the mob for a $1,500 a month payoff – and even set up phony raids to harass rival Mafiosos.

They said Rosario waged war on the Genovese mob on behalf of his alleged Bonanno family handlers after a deal for the two crime syndicates to split the proceeds from an illegal gambling den called the Gran Caffe fell apart – and then allegedly lied to the feds about his illicit moonlighting gig.

A 15-year veteran of the Nassau County department when he was busted in 2022, Rosario allegedly also tipped off the mob about law enforcement activity.

Federal prosecutors said the former cop lied to the FBI at least 30 times when he was interviewed about his link to the mob in January 2020.

“He chose the crime family over the public he swore to protect,” Assistant US Attorney Anna Karamigios told jurors during opening arguments in US District Court in Brooklyn.

Prosecutors said Rosario pulled off “at least one” phony raid on rival gambling operations run by a Genovese associate, according to federal court documents.

The ex-cop allegedly targeted Salvatore “Sal the Shoemaker” Rubino’s backroom casino inside his Long Island store, Sal’s Shoe Repair.

The Merrick business served as a front for poker games three times a week and computerized gambling machines.

Rubino, who testified at Rosario’s trial, pleaded guilty to charges in April along with his associates.

But Rosario’s lawyer maintained that prosecutors didn’t prove their case – and relied largely on three mob turncoats who cut cooperation deals with the feds.

“We are asking you not to be swayed by the inflammatory evidence of the Mafia,” defense attorney Kestine Thiele said during closing arguments Monday.

“You cannot convict our client on the word of three convicted members of the Mafia who all have lied in the past, who have lied to hundreds of people over the course of their criminal behaviors and in their personal lives,” Thiele said.

Jurors in the case declined to comment on the split verdict as they left court on Wednesday.

Brooklyn prosecutors asked the judge to revoke Rosario’s $500,000 bail, but the request was denied and he remains free until his sentencing, when he will face up to five years in prison. 

“This corrupt detective chose to prove his loyalty to an organized crime family over the public he was sworn to protect,” US Attorney John Durham said in a statement after the verdict. “When police officers exploit their positions for personal gain, it erodes public trust in law enforcement.”

https://nypost.com/2025/03/05/us-news/verdict-reached-in-case-of-alleged-long-island-mob-cop-accused-of-selling-his-badge-to-bonanno-crime-family/

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Wednesday, February 26, 2025

Genovese gangsters werent fooled by fake raid conducted by corrupt Long Island cop working for Bonanno family

  February 26, 2025    Dapper_Don

This is what happens when you hire bargain-basement wiseguys.

The Nassau County cop who allegedly worked for the Bonanno crime family bungled a raid on a rival family’s gambling den so badly that it totally failed to fool the victimized gangsters — including a gambler named “Mario the Landscaper,” who quickly said, “These are not real police,” a court heard Wednesday.

“It wasn’t professionally done — you could see it was fake,” mobster Sal Russo testified Wednesday at ex-officer Hector Rosario’s trial for obstruction and serving as a soldier for the Bonannos in their struggles against the rival Genovese crime family.

“I just heard yelling and screaming, ‘This is the police! This is the police!’” Russo testified about the shocking raid. “They broke the screens on one of the machines, and they kept screaming, ‘This police! This police!’ before they left the store.”

But the fake sortie — which targeted Salvatore “Sal the Shoemaker” Rubino’s illegal casino inside his Merrick store, Sal’s Shoe Repair — was so shoddily done that none of the illicit gamblers thought Rosario and his small crew actually cops.

“These are not real police,” Mario the Landscaper, who Russo described as a “steady player at Sal’s,” allegedly told the others after the initial shock wore off.

“They don’t just come in breaking [things],” Russo said, quoting Mario.

Russo testified that the low budget raid by Rosario — who was only being paid $1,500-a-month by the Mafia — looked so fake he feared he might get clipped by the Genovese bosses in retaliation.

When asked what he thought might happen to him, Russo answered, “Hospital, cemetery … anything.”

The b-grade raid on the gambling den wasn’t the only bungling by the alleged dumb-fella.

At a later point, Rosario tried to play like a movie Mafioso and talk to Russo about a pot growing operation in a code that involved a movie he saw in Netflix.

“When I get the name of the movie, try to watch it. It’s good,” Rosario said in a recording of the phone call played in court.

Russo, however, said he had no idea what the cop was talking about and thought he was really just calling to talk about film.

“I thought he was talking about a movie,” he said.

Rosario, a 51-year-old former detective, conspired to target rival Genovese mafiosos in a feud that erupted after the Cosa Nostra families struck a rare agreement to split the profits of a gelato shop’s backroom gambling den, federal prosecutors said.

But the shaky peace deal didn’t last — and Rosario “sold himself” to the Bonnanos before staging the faux raid, Brooklyn prosecutors have said.

Rosario, who was first busted in 2022 and released on a $500,000 bond, was allegedly put on the payroll by two Bonanno family members and told to target Rubino’s betting parlor in 2013 or 2014.

Rosario has been charged with obstructing a grand jury probe into racketeering and lying to the FBI.

On the trial’s opening day, prosecutors introduced the jurors to a laundry list of alleged mobsters and mapped out a constellation of illegal gambling operations — which led to a sweeping 2022 bust that rounded up eight alleged mobsters and Rosario.

“He chose the crime family over the public he swore to protect,”  Anna Karamigios, assistant US attorney for the Eastern District, told jurors in Brooklyn federal court.

Yet despite his criminal allegiance, Rosario doesn’t appear to have been a cunning ally.

Still, Rosario took home $2,500 after the second-rate raid, and launched three others aimed at different backroom casinos run by Genovese and Gambinos gangsters — including one at the Gran Caffe Gelateria in Lynbrook, Russo said.

But they didn’t work out.

Rosario would flash his badge at the camera, the mobster said from the stand. But they would never buzz him in to let him raid the joints.

Still, the Bonannos paid him about $8,000 in total for his escapades, which Russo hoped would prompt the closure of Gran Caffe and push the Bonannos to set up a gambling spot at his Soccer Club in Valley Stream.

“If Gran Caffe closed, I would put [Rosario] on the payroll at soccer club,” Russo said, adding Russo would have made about $1,500 weekly.

The plan never came to fruition, however.

The jury also heard a series of seven wiretapped conversations between Russo and Rosario — including one in which Russo told the crooked cop he wanted him to stage another fake raid to “rob Mexicans” who were dealing heroin.

Rosario agreed — and would have taken home $50,000 in payment.

But the raid never happened.

In another recording, Russo tried to get Rosario to move his weed stash to a buyer.

Rosario pushed back, however, and claimed the feds were watching him.

“They got you by the balls, bro,” Rosario said. “They’re watching you, they’re watching you. They’re just waiting for you to f–k up again.”

“You scratch your ass? They’re watching you,” he said. “They’re waiting for you to s–t.”

The two never ended up selling the marijuana.

https://nypost.com/2025/02/26/us-news/ex-nassau-county-cop-on-mob-payroll-staged-fake-raid-that-didnt-fool-illicit-gamblers-these-are-not-real-police/

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Corrupt Long Island cop worked for the Bonanno family to bust rival Genovese gambling operations

  February 26, 2025    Dapper_Don


Mob justice is best served cold.

A crooked Nassau County police detective moonlighting as a Bonanno soldier helped fuel a mini-mob war on Long Island — choosing “the crime family over the public he swore to protect,” a court heard Tuesday.

Ex-Det. Hector Rosario conspired to target rival Genovese mafiosos in the feud that spilled out after the organized crime clans struck an unusual agreement to split the proceeds of a gelato shop’s backroom gambling den, according to the feds.

But peace didn’t last and Rosario “sold himself” to the Bonnanos — even staging a fake police raid at a covert casino run by the Genoveses, Brooklyn federal prosecutors said in opening remarks at the alleged dirty cop’s trial.

“He and other men barged in acting like actual police officers, broke a gambling machine and sent a message,” Anna Karamigios, assistant US attorney for the Eastern District, told jurors.

The Bonannos and Genovese – two of the Five Families in the American mafia – generally kept to their separate spheres during the 1980s and into the early 2000s, said a long-time mob investigator.

“There were no beefs and no sit-downs,” the investigator said. “As far as business, there were no major schemes that they worked on together.

“Back then, ‘The Chin’ (Vincent Gigante), the head of the Genovese family, did not respect (Bonanno boss) Joe Messina, so he would have nothing to do with him.”

Now, the expected two-week trial against Rosario — who is charged with obstructing a grand jury probe into racketeering and lying to the FBI — promises to expose secrets of New York’s alive-and-well mob underworld.

Jurors spent the trial’s first day of testimony Tuesday being introduced to a Who’s-Who of wiseguys, from Sal Russo to “Sal the Shoemaker.”

They also learned about a constellation of illegal gambling operations — leading to a sweeping bust in 2022 that rounded up eight alleged mobsters and Rosario, who’s accused of being on the take for $1,500 a month.

“He chose the crime family over the public he swore to protect,” Karamigios said.

The then-detective’s nefarious side gig as Bonanno stooge came in handy for the family sometime around 2012, according to trial testimony.

A former Bonanno soldier — Damiano Zummo, 51 — testified that the family had entered into an arrangement with their Genovese brethren to share profits from Gran Caffe, a gelato shop in Lynbrook that doubled as a covert casino.

The shop had two card tables in the back, along with poker machines in a small room, Zummo, the first witness to testify, said.

The owner originally split profits 50-50 with a Genovese family member, but that arrangement ended when the mobster got sent to prison, Zummo testified.

The Bonannos got involved after the owner sought protection after being beaten up, Zummo said. They reached an uneasy agreement for a 25% each share of profits, effectively making it a joint Bonanno-Genovese mob venture, he said.

The understanding between mob families was that they could not operate competing gambling parlors within a 5-mile radius, Zummo said.

But tensions boiled over when a down-on-his-luck gambler opted to stop patronizing the gelato shop in favor of gambling at Sal’s Shoe Repairs, which was run by Salvatore “Sal the Shoemaker” Rubino, a Genovese mobster, Zummo testified.

The move resulted in the Bonanno family — which was pulling in $10,000 — “losing money,” Zummo said.

He said Sal Russo, a Bonanno, wanted to “intimidate” the Genovese by using Rosario.

“Russo came up with the idea of a fake raid and I was all for it,” Zummo testified.

“For Hector to go in there, to Sal’s Shoe Repairs, and intimidate them in hopes they close down.”

Sal’s Shoe Repair had a card table in the back room with three or four gambling machines, Zummo said.

The fake raid of the shoe repair gambling den didn’t result in any arrests or citations, prosecutors said.

Zummo said that Rosario carried out an aborted raid at a coffee shop with a gambling den in Valley Stream owned by the Gambino family, because it was less than a mile from “Soccer Club,” a Bonanno-operated parlor owned by Sal Russo.

But the would-be raid went south when Rosario and a crew of a few guys weren’t able to get inside the gambling den, Zummo said.

The reason: it had a buzzer and they weren’t allowed inside, Zummo testified.

Rosario liked “again, and again” when pressed by the FBI during interviews in 2020, claiming he didn’t know anything about gambling dens, prosecutors said.

He also pulled information of a rival mob member from a law enforcement database and gave it to the Bonanno family, according to prosecutors.

The Bonanno family paid Rosario $1,500 per month during the time of the raids, which went on for a “few months,” according to Zummo.

Zummo testified that Rosario also tipped him that he was under investigation and to “stay off the phone” because “the feds are listening.”

He testified that he considered Rosario to be a “street guy.”

“Street guy means he’d break the law if he had to,” he said.

Zummo was arrested in 2017 alongside Russo in a drug-trafficking scheme that involved a $40,000 sale of cocaine in a Manhattan gelato shop.

Both are cooperating with the feds in the case.

Rosario’s defense attorney Lou Freeman told jurors that the former cop had made a false statement to authorities, but it was about a marijuana grow house in Queens that wasn’t material to the case.

He also argued that witnesses who are convicted of racketeering, distribution of cocaine and other serious crimes would be testifying against Rosario, who has pleaded not guilty and is out on bail.

“Each of these witnesses were in organized crime,” he said.

Sal Russo, who was once a “close friend” of Rosario’s, had put the former Nassau cop on the feds’ radar in hopes for a more lenient sentence, Freeman said.

“You will hear Sal Russo made up information about Hector Rosario to get one more notch on his belt because more notches on a cooperating witness’s belt mean less jail time,” Freeman said.

The feds confirmed they will be calling three cooperating witnesses during the trial, which resumes Wednesday.

https://nypost.com/2025/02/25/us-news/crooked-ex-li-cop-who-moonlighted-as-a-bonanno-solider-helped-fuel-mini-mob-war-with-rival-genovese/

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Monday, February 24, 2025

Saturday, December 7, 2024

Thursday, November 14, 2024

Long Island gambling operation linked to Bonanno family busted

  November 14, 2024    Dapper_Don


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Thursday, October 17, 2024

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