Pair of Gambino family associates arrested for extortion
The FBI arrested a pair of Brooklyn-based Gambino crime family associates who are wanted for extortion in Italy, authorities said.
Francesco Palmeri was nabbed Thursday and Michele Amabile earlier this week and they will be handed over to Italian police.
The mobsters allegedly traveled to Italy last year to shake down Lorenzo Marsilio, the director of a major electric company for one million Euros, according to court papers. They were acting on behalf of another mob associate who had loaned money to Marsilio more than 30 years ago and was allegedly using the Gambino muscle to pressure the victim.
Palmeri allegedly visited Marsilio’s office and left an ominous message, “I must talk directly to him, tell him only that I have to leave a message from America, he will understand.”
Since Sicilian-born Domenico "Dom the Greaseball" Cefalu became the reputed boss of the Gambinos, the feds have been paying close attention to ties between the New York crime family with its power base centered in Bensonhurst, and mafia organizations in Italy.
Palmeri traveled to twice Italy in 2013 to bully the businessman about paying up on a 1980s loan. The mob also allegedly sent letters, which were signed by "friends in Brooklyn" asking him for money.
Palmeri faces a maximum sentence of 20 years if convicted of criminal conspiracy to commit international extortion aggravated by mafia membership.
He worked with the other alleged extortionist throughout the blackmail plot, police said.
Italian police nabbed another suspect, John Grillo, in Milan during the Thursday sting. Police called Grillo the "main architect" of the extortion campaign, and cuffed him just before he got on a plane to New York.
American gangs traditionally work closely with their Italian mafia counterparts, such as the Sicilian Cosa Nostra and the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta, allowing for the trans-Atlantic crime.
www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/gambino-mob-underboss-arrested-ny-extortion-italy-article-1.2041477
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