Five Families of New York City

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

Friday, April 30, 2021

Colombo family consigliere busted in Florida in $65 million nationwide health care fraud case

  April 30, 2021    Dapper_Don

 

The developer of the Banyan Cay Resort and Golf was charged by the federal government last week with conspiracy to commit health care fraud, raising questions about whether the charge will affect construction of the long-delayed resort in West Palm Beach.

Domenic Gatto, a 46-year old Palm Beach Gardens resident, is one of five men charged in what the U.S. Department of Justice described as a $65 million "nationwide kickback and bribery scheme" to order medically unnecessary orthotic braces for Medicare beneficiaries.

Also charged was Thomas Farese, a 78-year old Delray Beach man once described as the consigliere of the Colombo crime family in a 2012 affidavit from an FBI agent filed in a New York court. 

Last week, Gatto surrendered and, via video conference at the federal courthouse in West Palm Beach, appeared before a U.S. magistrate in New Jersey, the Justice Department said.

He has not entered a plea and has not been formally indicted, though the federal government could take that step in the next few weeks.

Banyan Cay will be largest West Palm development since Rosemary Square

Gatto is the developer behind the $100 million Banyan Cay complex just east of Interstate 95, off Congress Avenue and north of Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard, near the Palm Beach Outlets shopping mall. When complete, Banyan Cay will be the largest redevelopment in West Palm Beach since Rosemary Square, formerly known as CityPlace, the popular downtown mixed-use dining and shopping center.

The 250-acre Banyan Cay property used to be the site of the President Country Club, but the club fell into financial trouble and was sold to an investor group for $11 million in 2011. That investor group then flipped the property to Banyan Cay Dev LLC, led by Gatto, for $26 million in 2015.

The hotel was expected to be completed by 2018, but construction on the the resort has suffered stops and starts, as well as a change in hotel brand. Originally a Noble House hotel property, Banyan Cay now is slated to be part of Hyatt's Destination Hotels portfolio, a boutique luxury brand making its first foray into Florida with this property. A Hyatt spokeswoman did not respond to an email seeking comment.

In the alleged health care fraud scheme, in addition to Gatto and Farese, three other men were charged.

Pat Truglia, a 53-year old Parkland resident, faces one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and three counts of health care fraud.

Truglia was convicted of money laundering in 2012 in a case where Farese, a co-defendant, was acquitted. 

Also charged were two men from Toms River, N.J. – Christopher Cirri, 63, and Nicholas DeFonte, 72, face one count each of conspiracy to commit health care fraud "in connection with paying and receiving health care kickbacks and bribes," according to the Justice Department.

Seth L. Levine, an attorney representing Gatto, said: "The allegations against my client are meritless, and we will fight them aggressively in court."

A man answering a telephone number associated with Farese hung up when a reporter for The Palm Beach Post called to ask about the charges.

In 1998, Farese was convicted of hiding his interest in and laundering money through strip clubs and sentenced to 87 months in prison. One of those clubs was Club Diamonds, which Farese sold in 2012 to a holding company managed by John Staluppi, himself once described by the FBI as a member of the Colombo crime family.

Staluppi, who later bought the site of what was briefly known as the Double D strip club on Southern Boulevard, has denied any connection to organized crime, and he was not part of the fraud charges the federal government released last week.

Feds: Men conspired to defraud Medicare, got illegal kickbacks

The federal government's complaint "alleges that between October 2017 and April 2019, Farese, Truglia, Cirri, DeFonte, and Gatto participated in a nationwide conspiracy to defraud Medicare, TRICARE, Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA), and other federal and private health care benefit programs through the payment and receipt of illegal health care fraud kickbacks in exchange for orthotic brace orders that lacked medical necessity with a total loss of approximately $65 million."

The complaint also says Gatto "connected Cirri and DeFonte to other co-conspirators and arranged for Cirri and DeFonte to sell orthotic brace orders to orthotic brace suppliers in New Jersey and Florida in exchange for illegal health care kickbacks and bribes."

"Gatto and others paid Cirri and DeFonte kickbacks and bribes for each federal health care beneficiary for whom orthotic brace orders were sold to orthotic brace suppliers to be billed to Medicare, TRICARE, CHAMPVA, and other federal and private health care benefit programs," according to the Justice Department.

The Justice Department said that, "to conceal the kickbacks and bribes, Cirri and DeFonte created sham invoices labeling the payments as 'marketing' and 'business processing outsourcing' expenses."

Gatto, the government alleges, "used a nominee owner on forms submitted to Medicare and used shell corporations to transfer the funds he paid in connection with the purchase of the supplier."

Health care fraud and conspiracy to commit health care fraud are punishable by a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gross profit or loss caused by the offense whichever is greater.

What the charges mean for the Banyan Cay development

It's not clear if the charge filed against Gatto will matter to Banyan Cay's lender, Calmwater Capital of Los Angeles, Calif.

The non-bank commercial real estate lender provided a $62 million loan to Banyan Cay in 2018.

Calmwater officials did not respond to emails seeking comment on the status of the loan.

A source close to the project, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about it and the federal government's charges, said: "Our lender and partners were informed of the situation, and there has been no change in funding as the project continues towards completion."

Real estate attorneys said it is unlikely a lender could, or would, halt extension of credit once a loan has been made to a project.

Loan documents often contain "bad boy" clauses that provide lenders with protection in the event of a borrower's bad act. These acts are defined and can include failure to pay taxes or the filing of a bankruptcy.

But if the borrower is an entity and not an individual, a bad boy clause might not apply, and therefore Gatto's conspiracy charge might not trigger any clause in the loan documents, two lawyers said.

The major concern for a non-bank lender such as Calmwater Capital is "having their name affiliated" with a project whose principal is facing a federal conspiracy charge, said Palm Beach attorney Guy Rabideau.

"It's public perception," he said.

Despite the charge filed against Gatto, construction of the Banyan Cay resort is moving along. The roof is even installed.

If the resort is finished as planned, that's good news for buyers at the Residences at Banyan Cay. 

Boca Raton-based SobelCo. built 94 homes next to Banyan Cay. The project sold out earlier this year when the pandemic triggered big demand for new single-family homes.

Prices range from the low $600,000s to the mid-$800,000s for the three- and four-bedroom homes.

The purchase of a Banyan Cay home entitles a buyer to a three-year social membership at Banyan Cay and use of the resort's amenities, including a golf course designed by golfing great Jack Nicklaus. 

However, with the property's construction still ongoing, owners have been able to use the Banyan Cay golf facility and clubhouse until the resort is ready, said Angela Ippolito, SobelCo's director of sales and marketing.

Once the resort is complete, homeowners will switch to a three-year social membership, she said.

John Stilley, a real estate agent with Keller Williams Realty, last year represented a buyer who was considering a home purchase at the Residences of Banyan Cay.

Although there were concerns about construction delays at the resort, the buyer went forward with the purchase and couldn't be happier. 

"My client fell in love with the golf course," Stilley said.

https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/news/local/westpb/2021/04/28/west-palm-beach-banyan-cay-owner-charged-conspiracy/7389283002/

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Ailing former Colombo family acting boss who caused civil war seeks prison release durig upcoming resentencing

  April 30, 2021    Dapper_Don

 https://www.nydailynews.com/resizer/69Sqe_VVVlPXxGFH2Akqspshqvc=/800x525/top/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tronc/JLUE43AICRDFZA2KNCSMAOYULI.JPG

A murderous former gangland boss is wheelchair-bound and suffering from serious dementia — but he has a new shot at release, his lawyer said Thursday.

Victor Orena, the 86-year-old ex-acting boss of New York’s Colombo crime family, can no longer take care of himself in the federal prison he is being held at in Massachusetts, requiring a wheelchair and a full-time aide. But a tossed lower firearms charge in a 1992 case could get him one last shot at freedom because he has to be resentenced completely.

He was convicted of ordering a hit on mobster Thomas Ocera, who was suspected of skimming money off assorted capers. Orena was also convicted of conspiring to murder rivals in a warring faction of the Colombo family.

“An overriding factor here is Mr. Orena’s age and medical conditions,” said David Schoen, Orena’s lawyer, at a Monday hearing in front of Eastern District Judge Eric Komitee.

When Orena is resentenced, his lawyers will argue for his release saying he is rehabilitated and that newly discovered evidence in the case points toward the mobster’s innocence.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, asked in court papers for the judge to simply resentence Orena to life in prison.

Schoen told the Daily News that new evidence in the case includes previously unreported government misconduct related to the Ocera murder that a top-echelon confidential informant said permeated Orena’s case.

Schoen called the information “unbelievably shocking” and potentially dangerous if revealed publicly.

“It’s stuff we never knew about that happened back then,” he told The News.

Victor “Little Vic” Orena was the acting boss of the Colombo family in the 1980s and tried to take over as permanent boss in the early 1990s, leading to a bloody civil war between his faction and that of boss Carmine Persico, who was serving a life sentence at the time.

Orena’s son, Andrew Orena, pleaded for compassion for his father.

“His heart is weak. But his spirit is strong. We’re praying we can get some time with him. He has grandchildren that really don’t know him,” Orena told The News. “He’ll never be the man he was but he’s still our father and we love him.”

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/ny-colombo-acting-boss-victor-orena-release-prison-20210430-yyycaqkn5vhs7mmjkwemz6k2di-story.html

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Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Feds say recently sentenced Staten Island plumber is a violence prone Colombo family soldier

  April 27, 2021    Dapper_Don

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A plumber by trade, borough resident Thomas Scorcia also was an inducted member of the Colombo organized crime family who ran a “lucrative loansharking business,” federal prosecutors said.

In fact, to ensure he could locate his debtors and make it clear he knew where they lived, Scorcia required copies of their driver’s licenses and contact information, said prosecutors.

Scorcia, 54, also let it be known he would resort to violence, if need be, to advance his business, as well as to enhance his reputation within the mob, prosecutors allege.

In one instance in January 2019, Scorcia and another man planned to confront a fellow loanshark operator at the Woodrow Diner in Rossville over a business dispute, feds say.

However, the eatery was too crowded, and they backed off.

“I’m sick to my f------ stomach, I was just gonna walk right in there, but there’s f------ people coming out with f------ families,” Scorcia said afterward, according to an intercepted phone conversation.

As it turns out, Scorcia will be out of business for a while.

He was recently sentenced to 42 months behind bars and two years’ post-release supervision for racketeering.

In addition, the defendant was hit with a $20,000 fine and forfeited $75,000, which includes over $34,000 seized during a search.

Authorities said they also found an adjustable steel baton, a ski mask, binoculars and a book on the mob in a covered compartment of his vehicle’s trunk, said prosecutors.

Public records indicated Scorcia is from Annadale.

2019 BUST

In October 2019, Scorcia was among 20 suspects busted, including a purported Colombo crime family capo and other alleged mobsters, and indicted on wide-ranging charges of racketeering, extortion, loansharking and stalking.

Seventeen of the defendants were Staten Islanders, including one who was accused of attempting to fix a NCAA college basketball game in December 2018, authorities said.

Officials said 11 of the suspects were members or associates of the Colombos.

Besides Scorcia, they included Joseph Amato of Colts Neck, N.J., the alleged captain; and family members Daniel Capaldo and Vincent Scura, both of Staten Island, said authorities.

Many of the defendants have accepted plea agreements.

Scorcia pleaded guilty last November in Brooklyn federal court to one count of racketeering.

He admitted to extorting two individuals with “an implied threat of economic harm to (their) reputation,” if they failed to repay loans to him, said a sentencing memorandum submitted by defense lawyers Vincent J. Romano and Anthony DiPietro.

Prosecutors said Scorcia was heard on a wiretap speaking about an instance in which he and two other men, one a former mixed martial arts fighter, had confronted one of the victims over a delinquent payment.

“… I told the guy, ‘Sit in the car,’ and the kid had the tears, like between me and you, like … ‘No, please, T. [i.e., Scorcia]. No.’ Boom! But we’ll talk about that in person. I got this kid good right now,” Scorcia said, according to prosecutors’ sentencing memorandum.

The victim denied to law enforcement that Scorcia had hit him, although the defendant allegedly told another Colombo associate that he had, said prosecutors.

Prosecutors recommended Scorcia be sentenced to within the guideline range of 37 to 46 months in prison.

“In this case, specific deterrence and incapacitation are critical,” Brooklyn federal prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memorandum. “When the defendant became a member of the Colombo crime family, he took an oath, swearing to remain loyal to this violent criminal organization for the remainder of his life. … Few, if any, members of the mafia give up their connections to the mafia even after serving significant terms of imprisonment.”

Romano and DiPietro, the defense lawyers, contended a sentence of 27 months behind bars, together with three years of supervised release and a forfeiture of $75,000, would be “sufficient” to accomplish sentencing goals.

Scorcia, who has been incarcerated since his arrest, has been a model inmate, they said.

“He has utilized this time while imprisoned to strive towards self-betterment,” wrote the lawyers.

Scorcia has completed “numerous” programs while incarcerated and “performed numerous acts of goodwill to the benefit of both staff and inmates,” the attorneys said.

The defendant has no prior criminal record and “is prepared to return to his community as a positive contributor,” wrote the attorneys.

“It cannot be overstated that the public will be best served by allowing Mr. Scorcia the opportunity to rebuild his life with his family at this time, not by requiring his further imprisonment and the corresponding diminution in his ability to find lawful work and to productively reenter his community at a significantly later date,” the defense lawyers maintained.

https://www.silive.com/crime-safety/2021/04/si-plumber-is-member-of-mob-feds-say-hes-going-to-prison-in-scary-loanshark-case.html

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Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Philly mob associate refuses to cooperate with feds and is sentenced to over 4 years in prison for real estate fraud scheme

  April 13, 2021    Dapper_Don

https://i1.wp.com/mobtalksitdown.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/IMG_9284-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1920&ssl=1

Acting United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams announced that Stephen Sharkey, 51, of Swedesboro, NJ, was sentenced to four years and one month in prison, three years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay $296,000 restitution, and to forfeit the same amount of money by United States District Court Judge John R. Padova for wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering.

In September 2020, the defendant pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, eight counts of wire fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft and, one count of money laundering in connection with three brazen and predatory frauds which greatly harmed innocent victims and netted the defendant more than $385,000. Sharkey engaged in two mortgage-closing schemes to defraud potential home buyers – stealing money that the victims had intended to use to purchase residences for themselves and their families. In the third scheme, the defendant stole all of the proceeds of the sale of a house by secretly going to closing without telling the seller.

Sharkey and his associate, Antonio Ambrosio, convinced their victims to provide Sharkey with the down payment funds in advance of the dates set for the real estate closings, with the promise that Sharkey would provide full financing for the purchases. Rather than finance the deals, Sharkey and Ambrosio simply stole the down payment money supplied by the victims and made excuses when the deals did not close. As part of the scam, Sharkey and Ambrosio even defrauded Ambrosio’s own brother-in-law out of $208,000. After receiving this money, Sharkey immediately cut checks to ARMM Investments, LLC, a company owned by George Borgesi. Borgesi and Sharkey were both convicted in United States v. Merlino, et al., 99 CR 363, an early 2000s RICO case in which the Philadelphia La Cosa Nostra was named as the enterprise. Borgesi was named as a capo of the Philadelphia LCN in that Indictment, and Sharkey was identified as a bookmaker for the mob. 

After Sharkey and Ambrosio stole the down payment from Ambrosio’s brother-in-law, they proceeded to lure a second victim to use Sharkey to finance his mortgage, and the victim wired Sharkey $100,000, which Sharkey promptly converted to his own use. The deal for this property fell through, but Sharkey and Ambrosio induced the victim to send the seller an extra $25,000 to hold the deal open, claiming Sharkey would get the deal done. The victim sent the seller the $25,000, but Sharkey had already disposed of the earlier $100,000 and the deal never closed.

Finally, in the real estate fraud perpetrated on the seller victim, Sharkey promised the victim that Sharkey would sell the house belonging to the estate of the victim’s deceased parents and, after going to a closing the victim knew nothing about, Sharkey deposited all of the proceeds of the sale into his own bank account, stealing over $52,000 from the victim in the process.

“Sharkey’s greed impacted the lives and security of multiple families, and his shameful actions had severe consequences for these innocent people,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Williams. “Not only did he and his associate steal mortgage down payments, but he also sold a different family’s house right out from underneath them and pocketed all of the cash. For his actions, he will now spend years in prison.”

“Real estate fraud was just the latest racket for Stephen Sharkey,” said Michael J. Driscoll, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division. “He blatantly preyed on innocent victims here, destroying two families’ plans of buying homes and stealing a third person’s inherited property. A chunk of these fraudulent proceeds was diverted to a longtime Philadelphia mob figure, underscoring Sharkey’s continued association with organized crime. The FBI and our partners are going to keep investigating and locking up those committed to making money through illicit means.”     

“This investigation once again reveals how members and associates of the Philadelphia La Cosa Nostra Organized Crime Family are constantly looking to make illicit financial gains by infiltrating legitimate business or exploiting regulatory rules as well as federal and state laws,” said Brandon Corby, Eastern Organized Crime Task Force Commander, Pennsylvania State Police. “The Pennsylvania State Police with our FBI partners are committed to eradicating this type of criminal behavior and hold those engaged in such activities accountable. “          

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Organized Crime Task Force and the Pennsylvania State Police, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael T. Donovan.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-edpa/pr/mob-associate-sentenced-4-years-real-estate-fraud-scheme

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Monday, April 12, 2021

Tuesday, April 6, 2021

Wealthy Colombo soldier made political donations to Brooklyn Democrats

  April 06, 2021    Dapper_Don

http://thesmokinggun.com/sites/default/files/assets/johnrosatti6.jpg

He really is “connected.”

The reputed wiseguy behind Brooklyn’s Plaza Auto Mall has been handing out campaign cash to local Democrats — including the borough’s district attorney and its party boss, The Post has learned.

John Rosatti’s Plaza Motors of Brooklyn donated $2,020 to DA Eric Gonzalez for his winning 2017 campaign and the next year gave $2,000 to Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte, who in January 2020 succeeded longtime leader Frank Seddio as head of the Brooklyn Democratic Party.

The following month, Plaza donated another $10,000 to the party, records show.

John Kaehny of the good-government group “Reinvent Albany” said pols “should be vetting contributions in order to make sure that there’s no attempt to influence them.”

“What did this guy expect for his contribution — that’s the question the campaigns should ask themselves,” he added.

Before amassing a reported $400 million fortune, Rosatti, 77, was identified by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement as an alleged soldier in the Colombo crime family, according to a 1993 decision by the state’s Casino Control Commission.

The ruling, which rejected a bid to bar Rosatti pal and reputed Colombo family member John Staluppi from the state’s casinos, cited testimony that confidential informants claimed Rosatti became a Colombo associate in 1980 and was sworn in as a “made member” in 1994.

Rosatti was convicted in the mid-1970s for attempted auto theft and again in 1994 on a federal charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm, for which he got probation and a $5,000 fine, the Village Voice reported in 1998.

FBI memos asserted that he pledged $50,000 to the insurgent mob faction led by Victor “Little Vic” Orena during the long, bloody war for control of the Colombo family but refused to provide vehicles so hit teams could search for supporters of the late boss Carmine “The Snake” Persico, the Voice said.

Rosatti also allegedly gave a no-show job to Orena’s son, also named Victor, with a gangster reportedly telling the younger Orena, “You’re the only salesman that never sells any cars and makes money.”

In recent years, Rosatti has made headlines by founding the BurgerFi fast-food franchise operation and for owning a series of superyachts.

One — a 162-foot, four-deck behemoth — is named the “Remember When,” which is also the title of a 2007 episode of The Sopranos and several cast members attended a party on board when Rosatti docked it at Battery Park City’s North Cove Marina for the 2011 Fourth of July celebration.

Rosatti now lives in Florida, where records show he owns a sprawling, six-bedroom waterfront mansion with a swimming pool and a private dock in West Palm Beach that’s on the market for $9.5 million.

His local New York political contributions are among more than $250,000 in total that Rosatti has doled out since 1985 at both the national and state levels, with most of the money given to Republicans last year, records show.

Plaza Auto Mall lawyer David Grandeau said, “Mr. Rosatti states that he is not now nor has he ever been a soldier of the Colombo crime family.”

“He made a political donation because he has business interests in Brooklyn, specifically Plaza Auto Mall, and he has donated to candidates of both the Republican and Democratic Parties, in and outside of Brooklyn,” added Grandeau, the former executive director of the Temporary State Commission on Lobbying.

The Gonzalez campaign said, “DA Gonzalez does not know Mr. Rosatti and has never received a personal contribution from him. However, four years ago there was a contribution from a car dealership affiliated with him.”

A spokesman for Bichotte and the Brooklyn Democratic Party said she was grieving the death of her mother and couldn’t be reached.

https://nypost.com/2021/04/05/bk-da-dem-party-leader-took-campaign-cash-from-reputed-mobster/

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Monday, April 5, 2021

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