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

Friday, January 23, 2026

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

  January 23, 2026    Dapper_Don


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/

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Thursday, October 23, 2025

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

Thursday, June 12, 2025

Colombo mobster busted in Florida for medicare fraud

  June 12, 2025    Dapper_Don


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

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Killer Colombo hitman serving life for 4 murders denied compassionate release

  June 12, 2025    Dapper_Don


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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Wednesday, May 28, 2025

Wednesday, May 21, 2025

Former Colombo Street Boss plotted to kill federal officials who sent him to prison

  May 21, 2025    Dapper_Don



FBI agents allege Ralph DeLeo, a former reputed street boss of the Colombo crime family, was arrested this month for plotting to kill at least three people who helped put him behind bars in 2012, according to newly filed court documents.

The Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office revealed in the court documents that federal agents “received a tip from a confidential source reporting that DeLeo is actively planning to kill two current and one former federal official.” The federal officials were all involved in DeLeo’s conviction more than a decade ago, according to court documents.

As Target 12 first reported, DeLeo, 82, was arrested on May 15, but federal officials didn’t publicly release details about his arrest until filing the new court documents on Tuesday night. DeLeo’s criminal history dates back decades and the FBI alleged he served in the 1970s as an associate of the Patriarca crime family, which operated out of Providence.

In 2012, DeLeo was sentenced to more than 16 years in prison for racketeering, among other crimes. He got out of prison under supervised release in May 2024, and federal agents alleged he’s recently been planning to kill the people who put him away. (The people were not publicly identified.)
The confidential source told agents DeLeo shared with him that an associate of La Cosa Nostra, or the Mafia, had obtained “tools” on his behalf, which federal officials took to mean firearms. DeLeo was also seeking a silencer, according to court documents.

DeLeo was allegedly asking around for personal information about the people he was targeting, “including the home addresses and names of immediate family members,” according to court documents.

Federal agents conducted search warrants on him and his home earlier this month and found “hard copy packets of personal information for multiple people,” including two of the federal officials. The source told agents he asked DeLeo about the information, and the aging mafioso told him “they were his ‘retribution.'”

FBI agent Molly Driscoll wrote in a sworn affidavit that DeLeo initially claimed he collected the officials’ personal information himself, but agents later determined he was lying.

“Specifically, law enforcement obtained text messages between DeLeo and a third party demonstrating that DeLeo asked the third party for information related to the targeted individuals,” Driscoll wrote. Court documents show he was communicating with convicted felons, including people he was indicted with on sweeping racketeering charges in 2009.

Agents also recovered from his home a burglary kit, marijuana, vials of steroids, “and a handwritten note regarding silicone masks,” according to court documents.

The burglary kit contained “tools including a pry-bar, mini crowbar, bolt cutters, and a lock-picking kit,” according to Driscoll.

Federal officials alleged DeLeo has shown a history of resentment toward the people who convicted him. While in prison, DeLeo told a confidential informant in 2014 he was going to “chop off” the head of one of the federal officials who became the target of his most recent kill plot, according to court documents.

Prosecutors also detailed DeLeo’s extensive criminal history over the past six decades, which they said started when he was convicted of multiple armed robberies and other crimes at 16 years old.

“DeLeo’s entire life has been devoted to crime,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Adam Deitch and Lauren Maynard wrote in a motion for detention filed Tuesday evening.


“His criminal record is riddled with violence spanning the course of decades,” they added. “And just as aging had no impact on his activity in the past, DeLeo’s current advanced age has no bearing on his willingness or ability to continue engaging in criminal activity.”

DeLeo committed crimes in the 1970s, including armed robbery and attempted kidnapping, earning him a sentence of 25 to 40 years. But he ended up escaping custody and went on the run in Ohio, where he committed armed bank robbery and kidnapped a bank manager, according to court documents.

“While still in Ohio, DeLeo committed his most gruesome offense: kidnapping for hire a prominent physician with the intent to castrate him, but instead shooting and killing the victim when he resisted DeLeo’s attempted abduction,” wrote the prosecutors.

DeLeo was released early on a commuted sentence in 1997, and he eventually rose to prominence in the Colombo crime syndicate, one of the five families of New York, according to FBI agents. He ran his own violent gang in the Boston area known as the “DeLeo Crew,” according to prosecutors.

DeLeo eventually became the reputed street boss of the Colombo family before he was indicted in 2009, according to federal agents. The prosecutors are now asking a federal judge to detain DeLeo for violating the terms of his supervised release. No new criminal case had been filed against DeLeo in federal court as of Tuesday.

“DeLeo has spent his life committing violent crimes,” they wrote. “It appears that he intends to spend his sunset years doing the same. The seriousness of the most recent threats, DeLeo’s long and violent criminal record, and his history of attempting to flee from custody all lead to one conclusion: DeLeo must be detained.”

Defense attorneys for DeLeo have asked that he be released from detention because he’s suffering from multiple health problems, including issues they said will require oral surgery.

The attorneys also argued in court documents that he isn’t receiving the medical attention he needs at the Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls and should be transferred to a federal prison.

DeLeo’s detention hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Thursday.

https://www.wpri.com/target-12/mobster-ralph-deleo-plotted-to-kill-federal-officials-who-put-him-away-court-docs-show/

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Thursday, May 15, 2025

Parole violation sends former Colombo Street Boss back to jail

  May 15, 2025    Dapper_Don




A convicted murderer and reputed former street boss of the Colombo crime family has been arrested in Massachusetts, Target 12 has learned.

Ralph F. DeLeo, 82, was arrested on Thursday, according to new court documents filed in Massachusetts U.S. District Court. DeLeo, who’d been in federal prison for about a decade, was released on parole in 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons website.

Details of his arrest haven’t yet been announced, but DeLeo appeared Thursday afternoon for a revocation hearing before Massachusetts U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Levenson. He was advised of his rights and the charges against him before being sent back into the custody of federal officials, according to minutes of the hearing.

DeLeo has been scheduled for a detention hearing at 2:30 p.m. Friday.

FBI Boston spokesperson Kristen Setera said DeLeo was taken into custody “without incident.” She referred all further questions to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

A spokesperson for Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Leah Foley declined to comment on the arrest, pending the outcome of the hearing.

DeLeo, who grew up and launched his criminal career in the Boston area, rose to the highest levels of the New York-based Colombo crime family, becoming a reputed “street boss” for about a year around 2008, according to the FBI.

He pleaded guilty in 2012 to sweeping racketeering charges, along with illegal possession of firearms and ammunition. As part of the racketeering charge, federal agents accused him of trafficking illegal narcotics, extortion and loan sharking among other things.

The so-called “DeLeo Crew” operated primarily in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, Florida and Arkansas, according to the FBI.

The Colombo family is considered one of the five most powerful crime families in New York under the umbrella of La Cosa Nostra.

DeLeo was convicted of murder in Ohio for the 1977 slaying of Dr. Walter Bond, according to The Columbus Dispatch. DeLeo’s sentence was commuted by Ohio Gov. Richard Celeste after serving 12 years.

Celeste told The Dispatch at the time he agreed to commute DeLeo’s sentence because he was assured DeLeo “wasn’t going to be out on the street,” according to the newspaper.

https://www.wpri.com/target-12/mobster-ralph-deleo-arrested-in-massachusetts/

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Sunday, March 23, 2025

Monday, February 17, 2025

Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Son and grandson of former Colombo Acting Boss busted with ghost guns on Staten Island

  February 05, 2025    Dapper_Don


The son and grandson of a Colombo crime family capo were busted Wednesday after an NYPD joint task uncovered a staggering cache of weapons and illegal firearm-making equipment, including ghost guns.
Members of the NYPD Financial Crimes Task Force executed a warrant at the Staten Island home of 57-year-old Joseph Orapallo and his son, Frank Orapallo, 22, at their home on Locust Ave. near Edison St. in New Dorp around 6 a.m. after an investigation led the division to believe the men had ghost guns, police sources said.
The alleged father-and-son crime duo are descendants of Joseph T. Tomasello, a notorious organized crime boss arrested in 1998. Joseph Orapallo, opting to distance himself from his late father, uses his mother’s maiden name.
The NYPD and federal agents raided the home the Orapallos share with Joseph Orapallo’s wife, as well as Frank Orapallo’s baby and the mother of his child.
During the raid, authorities seized five ghost guns and 3D printing equipment used to assemble them. Police also found a stash of handguns, silencers, 14 unregistered rifles and hunting guns, as well as large amounts of ammunition and clips, according to police sources.
Both Orapallos now face multiple federal weapons charges, including possession of ghost guns. It is still being investigated if the men are involved in organized crime, police sources said.
Tomasello’s capture in the ’90s came after his son, Joseph Orapallo, and his sister-in-law unknowingly led FBI agents to his hideout in the Catskills on the night of Orapallo’s wedding, the Daily News reported at the time.
For six years, Tomasello, a street boss with the Colombo crime family, had dodged federal agents after a notorious mob war in 1991 and 1992 that left 10 people dead. Tomasello was accused of participating in five of those slayings.
But in 1998, federal agents staked out Joseph Orapallo’s Staten Island wedding, where they followed his aunt to Tomasello’s hideaway in Catskill, N.Y., about 25 miles south of Albany, The News previously reported.
After days of surveillance, agents spotted Orapallo and his new wife drive up to the house with Tomasello; the then-66-year-old man was taken into custody and was hit with racketeering and murder charges.
Tomasello was in federal prison until 2005, records show. He died in 2016.
https://www.nydailynews.com/2025/02/05/son-grandson-of-colombo-family-mob-boss-collared-in-staten-island-ghost-gun-bust/

  

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Thursday, December 12, 2024

Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Bonanno Soldier forced loan sharking victim to strip naked

  October 09, 2024    Dapper_Don

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Wednesday, June 5, 2024

Staten Island Gambino crew busted in over 80 count indictment

  June 05, 2024    Dapper_Don


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Those charged in today’s indictment include: 

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

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

Those charged in this indictment include: 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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