Gambino soldier says he is a harmless animal lover in plea for leniency

Gambino soldier says he is a harmless animal lover in plea for leniency

  October 07, 2013    Dapper_Don

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A creative mobster claims he’s exchanged La Cosa Nostra for kibble.

In a bid for leniency at his upcoming sentencing, veteran Gambino soldier Joseph Lombardi, 73, claims he has softened into a harmless animal lover who cares for stray cats and dogs, according to a Brooklyn federal court filing.

Lombardi pleaded guilty to extortion raps and was caught on tape profanely threatening a debtor who was running behind on payments.

But the mafioso claims that he has left loan sharking behind and has instead turned to animal care.

“After a two-year failure of a dog training school, Mr. Lombardi continued his fondness for animals by rescuing stray dogs and cats and transporting them to an animal shelter where he volunteered,” his attorney writes in the letter. “At one point, he bought a trailer to shelter the strays, but he was fined when neighbors complained.”

Lombardi is persisting with the animal lover routine despite being denied visits to the purported Old Bridge, New Jersey shelter in 2011.

Prosecutors cast doubt on the existence of the shelter after finding nothing more than a recycling center at the site with a few trailers.

The fading gangster also cited a litany of medical problems in lobbying for leniency. “I confidently can state that in my 48 years of practice in this Honorable Court, never have I encountered a client who has exhibited such a history,” his attorney claims in court papers.

http://nypost.com/2013/10/07/mob-soldier-says-hes-an-animal-lover-not-a-fighter/

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Judge again denies Gambino mobster Joseph Lombardi's request to visit his New Jersey 'shelter'

Judge again denies Gambino mobster Joseph Lombardi's request to visit his New Jersey 'shelter'

  February 10, 2011    Dapper_Don

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Gambino wiseguy Joseph Lombardi (center) leaves Federal Court in Brooklyn on Wednesday, after judge again denied request to visit 'animal shelter' in Old Bridge, N.J.

A Gambino gangster who claims he runs an animal rescue shelter has landed in a federal judge's doghouse.
Brooklyn Federal Judge Dora Irizarry is keeping reputed soldier Joseph Lombardi on a short leash, twice rejecting his requests to travel to New Jersey so he could "attend to" the shelter in Old Bridge, N.J.
The judge was clearly piqued by defense lawyer Vito Palmieri's initial letter, which was improperly filed and contained multiple misspellings of her name marked in pen, according to court papers.
Yesterday, Irizarry denied the request again after Assistant U.S. Attorney Whitman Knapp raised questions about whether the shelter even exists.
Knapp said he contacted an official with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Middlesex County, who reported that a sprawling recycling plant is located at the address Lombardi provided for the purported shelter.
The SPCA official toured the grounds and found no sign of the shelter - only trailers scattered around the sprawling grounds. The plant manager never heard of Lombardi and recalled only an occasional stray dog or cat wandering around.
A New Jersey law enforcement source told the Daily News that the only licensed animal shelter in Old Bridge is the one operated by the town.
Lombardi, charged with extorting a loanshark victim, is free on $1 million bail and not permitted to leave the state.
If Lombardi is an animal lover, he shows little compassion for people who don't pay what they owe:
"If I find out you get any more money, I'm gonna come to your house for my money, you f----d me, okay? You're a piece of s--t, and I will f--k you back, don't worry about that," Lombardi barked in a secretly recorded conversation.
Lombardi's lawyers did not return calls for comment.

 http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/the_mob/2011/02/10/2011-02-10_mobster_barking_up_the_wrong_tree_judge_again_denies_gambino_goons_request_to_vi.html

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City's five families lacking qualified candidates if charges against goodfellas is any indication

City's five families lacking qualified candidates if charges against goodfellas is any indication

  January 30, 2011    Dapper_Don

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In the words of Colombo boss Andrew (Mush) Russo, a goodfella must have brains, be willing to do jail time and be capable of violence.
If the charges against dozens of gangsters arrested by the feds in last week's mob sweep are any indication, the city's five families are sorely lacking qualified candidates.
Russo's crime family is infested with deeply connected rats who are poised to testify against the Colombos' last three acting bosses and a gaggle of other gangsters in order to avoid long jail terms.
Scott Fappiano, meanwhile, falls short in the brains department.
A reputed Colombo associate, Fappiano was a free man until last week, thanks to the Innocence Project, which won his release after 21 years for his wrongful conviction on raping a cop's wife.
Fappiano had already collected $2 million from a state settlement and could pocket at least another $10 million if he wins a pending federal lawsuit.
But court papers show Fappiano was willing to risk it all and use his lawsuit as cover while he seeks help in collecting money from a deadbeat.
"If I do it, I might go to jail. ... It gets to the point where he may have to get his f------ leg broken. ... I'll make sure I'm in court somewhere or doing a deposition," Fappiano was secretly taped saying.
Genovese associate Peter Pace, Jr. showed he was willing to use violence - only it was against his defenseless mother-in-law, not another hardened criminal.
"I tried to throw her off the roof back in 1988," he told an informant, according to court papers. "She was a f------ junkie. So I brought her up to the f------ roof, it was six stories, I hung her off the side of the f------ roof."
Gambino soldier Joseph (Joe Dogs) Lombardi seemed leery about turning to violence.
Lombardi, who walks with a cane, was so desperate to collect a $30,000 debt, he posed as a house-hunter to stalk the extortion victim.
Lombardi made an appointment with the Realtor showing the victim's home, gave a fake name and telephone number and asked the seller to call him, court papers state.
Despite all the evidence to the contrary, Gambino associate Anthony Scibelli remains astounded that anyone would doubt the crime family's ability to turn violent.
Speaking to an informant wearing a wire, Scibelli sputtered: "Are you kidding me? You don't see the newspapers every day? What do they think, that this is make-believe?"

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/the_mob/2011/01/30/2011-01-30_mob_roundup_netted_comic_cast_of_losers.html

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Gambino soldier shook down midtown real estate firm: Feds

Gambino soldier shook down midtown real estate firm: Feds

  January 26, 2011    Dapper_Don

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Deceased Gambino Underboss Neil DellacroceA Gambino crime family soldier charged with shaking down a Manhattan real estate investment firm was released Wednesday on $2 million bail.
Anthony Scibelli was indicted last week on racketeering and extortion charges for allegedly using force or fear to extort money from the owners of Sitt Asset Management, according to a court document, referring to the firm headquartered in Midtown at One Penn Plaza.
Sitt has developed multi-million dollar commercial properties at tony addresses in Times Square, the Fashion District, and the Meatpacking District, and sold an office building at 180 Madison Ave. in 2008 for $146 million.

The indictment, which grew out of a probe by the US Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn, did not refer by name to the victim of the extortion.
The firm’s Web site says it is run collectively by Eddie, Ralph, David, and Jack Sitt - grandsons of the company’s founder.
A phone call requesting comment from the firm was not immediately returned.
In addition to Scibelli, Gambino associate Anthony "Tony O" O’Donnell, was charged with shaking down the real estate investment firm.
The shakedown occurred between March and May 2007, the indictment says.
Scibelli is also charged with extorting a company that was providing cement for the construction of the Liberty View Harbor development in Jersey City, NJ in 2006 and 2007.
He was arrested last week by FBI agents in the largest single-day operation against organized crime in US history, with a total of 127 reputed wiseguys charged.
Scibelli, who has prior arrests on extortion charges, reportedly owns a construction firm.
His attorney, Gerald Shargel, said Scibelli had committed no wrongdoing and will fight the charges.
Magistrate Judge Roanne Mann in Brooklyn federal court ordered that Scibelli be released on the $2 million bond pending trial.
Also today, the FBI announced the surrender of the final fugitive from the record round-up, reputed Gambino crime-family soldier Joseph "Joe Dogs" Lombardi, who was allegedly caught on tape shaking down a construction worker for $30,000.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/gambino_soldier_shook_down_midtown_tHTKP68rsfof8tH532MCDI#ixzz1CCRklpUD

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Tales from the 2011 Mob Busts

Tales from the 2011 Mob Busts

  January 23, 2011    Dapper_Don

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Mob Tale #1
He’s an octogenarian Genovese soldier who never got a promotion in 64 years, but Daniel “Uncle Danny” Cilenti (left) still strikes fear in the heart of the feds.
Prosecutors filed a motion to keep the 83-year-old mobster behind bars after last week’s sweep because he’s a “danger to the community and a risk of flight.”
Cilenti has been a member of the Genovese crime family since 1947. He’s a regular offender — convicted of possession of bookmaking records in 1961, 1963 and 1965.
After a 2007 guilty plea in an obstruction of justice case, he was sentenced to home confinement with an ankle monitor. But the wiseguy whined that the device was painful and the court allowed it be removed. The same day he took off the monitor, Cilenti allegedly met the government witness at this home to discuss a construction project kickback scheme.

Mob Tale #2
It’s mob shakedown 101.
Gambino family solider Joseph Lombardi was caught on tape offering a tutorial on what to say to those who don’t pay up. “I’m gonna shut you out and shut you down everywhere I can and I will,” Lombardi is heard on tape telling an unnamed construction worker he is trying to extort. “You says, you’re a piece of s- - t, and I will f - - k you back, don’t worry about that.”
Lombardi was trying to collect $30,000 from the hardhat, according to government documents. Lombardi, in another taped conservation, asks the worker who said he didn’t have to meet with him in person. “You’re gonna have to tell me who, ’cause I’m gonna have to, maybe . . . physically go see him,” Lombardi threatens.
Mob Tale #3
Joseph “Jo Jo” Corozzo (right), who was arrested this week as alleged consigliere for the Gambinos, once sent two wiseguys to visit a wounded man in the hospital with an offer the patient couldn’t refuse.
The man was shot in the groin during a road rage incident in 1983 involving Corozzo’s Mercedes-Benz. The victim tried to argue with Corozzo’s son, who was driving the car that night in Brooklyn, and was shot by Corozzo’s passenger, Andrew DiDonato. Corozzo told his goons to offer the victim $10,000. He could take the cash and live. If he cooperated with cops, “he wouldn’t leave the hospital alive.”
He took the money, DiDonato recounts in his new book, with biographer Dennis Griffin: “Surviving the Mob: A Street Soldier’s Life inside the Gambino Crime Family.”
Mob Tale #4
It’s not uncommon to hate your mother-in-law, but Peter Pace Jr. took that fury to a whole new level.
The Genovese family associate boasted to a government witness during a January 2008 recorded conversation that he tried to throw the woman — whom he described as a junkie — off a roof two decades earlier.
“So I brought her up to the f- - -ing roof about six stories . . . I hung her off the f- - - ing side of the roof,” he said, according to government documents.
Apparently she decided not to nag him anymore. Or at least Pace, 49, of suburban Patterson, NY, had a change of heart — letting her live.
But Pace did claim to informants to have shot someone and to have taken several bullets himself. A witness said he had seen Pace grab a baseball bat from his car after it was vandalized on Arthur Avenue in The Bronx and storm off in search of the vandals, according to a government memo seeking to keep Pace in jail after last week’s arrest. He was charged with racketeering conspiracy, including extortion, and faces up to 20 years in prison on each of the five counts.
Mob Tale #5
Richard “Dickie” Dehmer always gets the upper hand on his debtors.
While discussing with a deadbeat who owed gambling money, the Genovese enforcer from Springfield, NJ, was taped saying, “I guarantee you, he needs his hands to work. He ain’t working no more for a while.”
Dehmer, 75, is respected because of his ties to Genovese solider and waterfront boss Stephen “Beach” Depiro, according to prosecutors. “People paid Dehmer because they feared Depiro,” according to a government memo.
Nick CorozzoDehmer, who is also accused of running an illegal gambling den in Kenilworth, NJ, employed bread-and-butter intimidation tactics, telling one debtor he would use a bat and “break every bone” to collect his cash.
Dehmer faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted on the charges against him.
Mob Tale #6
Being married to the mob had its perks and downsides. Vinnie “Marbles” Dragonetti’s wedding to Bernadette Corozzo, the daughter of acting Gambino boss Nicholas “Little Nick” Corozzo, was a boon for business and got him great gifts — but he ended up shackled to the life with a pair of golden handcuffs.
Dragonetti, who took over his father’s landscaping business, “got the boost he needed” from his mob family, including a lawn-care route in John Gotti’s Howard Beach neighborhood. As a birthday gift, Nick Corozzo transferred a loan-shark customer who owed him $60,000 to Dragonetti.
But it also brought the attention of the authorities. Dragonetti’s bust last week could send him to the slammer for the third time.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/tales_from_the_mob_busts_yNxDbft2Sf0gcSBx0hRoPM#ixzz1Bst9Mdzh

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