Colombo mobster busted in Florida for medicare fraud

Colombo mobster busted in Florida for medicare fraud

  June 12, 2025    Dapper_Don

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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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Former Colombo Consigliere facing additional healthcare fraud scheme charges in New Jersey

Former Colombo Consigliere facing additional healthcare fraud scheme charges in New Jersey

  November 22, 2021    Dapper_Don

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Two Florida men have been indicted for their roles in durable medical equipment and compound medication schemes involving kickbacks and fraud, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced.

Thomas Farese, 79, of Delray Beach, Florida, and Domenic J. Gatto Jr., 47, of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, are charged in an 11-count indictment with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit health care fraud, health care fraud, conspiracy to transact in criminal proceeds, transacting in criminal proceeds, and conspiracy to violate the federal Anti-Kickback Statute.

According to documents filed in the case and statements made in court:

Farese and Gatto played key roles in a scheme to defraud health care benefit programs by offering, paying, soliciting, and receiving kickbacks and bribes in exchange for doctors’ orders for durable medical equipment (DME) without regard to medical necessity, namely orthotic braces. Farese, Gatto, and their conspirators had financial interests in multiple DME companies that paid kickbacks to suppliers of DME orders, in exchange for DME orders. The suppliers, in turn, used telemedicine companies to obtain DME orders without regard to medical necessity. The DME companies owned by Farese and Gatto subsequently fraudulently billed Medicare, TRICARE, CHAMPVA, and other health care benefit programs for the DME orders. The defendants concealed their ownership of the DME companies by using straw owners who were falsely reported to Medicare as the owners of the companies. Gatto also brokered a kickback relationship whereby he received an illegal kickback each time specific DME suppliers provided DME orders to the DME companies controlled by him and his conspirators. Gatto and his conspirators then laundered the proceeds of the scheme through several layers of bank accounts under their control.

Gatto and his conspirators entered into a related kickback scheme involving prescriptions for compounded medications. They agreed that suppliers of compounded medications would receive kickbacks in exchange for submitting the orders to the pharmacies with whom Gatto and his conspirators had relationships. Gatto also agreed with others that he would receive kickbacks from those pharmacies for the compounded medication orders submitted by those suppliers. The compounding pharmacies then billed Medicare for the compounded medication orders.

The defendants caused losses to Medicare, TRICARE, and CHAMPVA of approximately $25 million.

The charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison. The charges of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, health care fraud, conspiracy to transact in criminal proceeds, and transacting in criminal proceeds are each punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison per count. The charge of conspiracy to violate the federal Anti-Kickback Statute is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison.  he maximum fine for each count is $250,000, or twice the gross profit or loss caused by the offense, whichever is greatest.

Acting U.S. Attorney Honig credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch Jr. in Newark; the Department of Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Scott J. Lampert; the U.S. Department of Defense, Office of the Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Patrick J. Hegarty; and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Christopher F. Algieri, with the ongoing investigations.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sean M. Sherman of the Opioid Abuse Prevention & Enforcement Unit in Newark, Ryan L. O’Neill of the Health Care Fraud Unit in Newark, Senior Trial Counsel Barbara Ward of the Asset Recovery & Money Laundering Unit in Newark, and Trial Attorney Darren Halverson of the Health Care Fraud Unit of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.

The charges and allegations contained in the indictment are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/pr/two-florida-men-indicted-multimillion-dollar-health-care-fraud-schemes

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

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

  April 30, 2021    Dapper_Don

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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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Wealthy magnate linked to the Colombo crime family bought site for future strip club

Wealthy magnate linked to the Colombo crime family bought site for future strip club

  January 27, 2015    Dapper_Don

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A company managed by car and yacht magnate John Staluppi, once described by the FBI as a member of the Colombo crime family, bought the Double D Ranch and Saloon site in 2013 and later transferred it to his son-in-law’s firm, an investigation by The Palm Beach Post has found. Staluppi’s company bought the site for $1.9 million and sold it in May to a firm owned by Scott Lizza. The purchase was at least the second time Staluppi has ventured into the world of adult entertainment in Palm Beach County in recent years.

In 2012, Staluppi’s S&J Property Holdings bought what was once known as Club Diamonds from a company managed by Thomas Farese of Delray Beach. Farese was described as the consigliere of the Colombo crime family in a 2012 affidavit from an FBI agent filed in a New York court. He was convicted in 1998 of hiding his interest in and laundering money through strip clubs, including Club Diamonds, and sentenced to 87 months in federal prison. Diamonds is now Monroe’s of Palm Beach at Congress Avenue and Okeechobee Boulevard, and it’s managed by Lizza. Gerald Richman, Staluppi’s attorney, said Staluppi has no interest in Monroe’s. The construction of the Double D has generated intense opposition from nearby residents, who argue that it will depress property values and serve as a magnet for crime. Some of those residents have pressed Palm Beach County commissioners to stop the project, but county staff members say it is properly permitted and that moving to block it could expose the county to legal challenges.

Seeking to serve food
Commissioners, who had no vote on whether to permit the project, are contemplating a zoning change that would allow the 20,000-square-foot Double D to serve food. Last month, they voted 5-2 to move forward with a proposed change that would allow strip clubs in industrial areas to serve food. On Thursday, they are scheduled to take up that issue again. Commissioner Melissa McKinlay, who lives near the Double D site and has been hearing from angry residents about it, said Staluppi’s connection to the project and previous descriptions of him as an organized crime figure are worrisome.
“I don’t want to tie somebody to their past, but that kind of link to a crime family is concerning,” she said. “My opinion of the (Double D) project hasn’t changed. I’m still opposed to it.” Currently, only clubs in commercial areas, such as Monroe’s, can serve food. The change could be lucrative for Double D, increasing a the club’s property value as customers stay longer and spend more money.
Before Staluppi’s company bought the Double D site, several people wanted to buy it but lost interest because the club couldn’t serve food, a county official wrote in an email last year.

No stake in Double D
Richman confirmed that Staluppi purchased the Double D site, but he said the Brooklyn, N.Y., native will have no stake in the strip club being built there. “That’s the business his son-in-law has chosen to get into,” Richman said. “(Staluppi) will have no involvement whatsoever.” Multiple efforts to reach Lizza were unsuccessful. Organized crime and strip clubs have a long history. In addition to Farese’s case, strip clubs from South Florida to Las Vegas to New England and New York have been involved in federal Mafia court cases. To reveal the people and firms connected to the Double D, which is being built on Southern Boulevard just west of Florida’s Turnpike, The Post sorted through stacks of documents detailing the corporate trail. At first blush, it wasn’t clear that either Lizza or Staluppi owned the Double D site. Records show that it is owned by 8162 Southern Blvd. LLC. That company shares a registered agent, Haile Shaw and Pfaffenberger P.A., with S&J Crazy Lizards, which lists its address as 1000 N. Congress Ave., West Palm Beach — the same address as Monroe’s of Palm Beach. Lizza is the only officer listed for Crazy Lizards.

In February 2014, three months before Staluppi’s S&J Property Holdings transferred the land to Lizza’s firm, Lizza signed a zoning document as “managing member” of S&J. He left blank a form to disclose all ownership interests of 5 percent or more in the property, prompting a county reviewer to note that the disclosure needed to be filled out. County officials say they never pressed Lizza for the names, because later on, officials determined the form was not required. Staluppi himself signed the deed transferring the Double D property to Lizza’s company three months later, land records show. Staluppi’s involvement in the Double D project had long been rumored. The Post asked Richman whether Staluppi, who in 1972 pleaded guilty to a felony charge of receiving stolen car parts, was using his son-in-law as a front because of Staluppi’s guilty plea and because of allegations that he is a member of the Colombo crime family. Richman said Staluppi “unequivocally” denies that he is using his son-in-law as a front, and he said allegations that Staluppi is in the mob are false. “He was not and is not” a member of the mob, Richman said. “He’s not involved in a crime family.”

A chance on Honda
Staluppi built his billion-dollar fortune on cars, taking a chance in the 1970s on a little-known Japanese firm called Honda, his official biography says. Soon after, he owned 20 dealerships in New York, and it grew from there, including another bet on Hyundai. His Atlantic Automotive Group grew to sit among the top 15 dealer groups in the country. In the 1980s, he added yachting to his portfolio. He founded Millenium Super Yachts, a luxury yacht builder in Riviera Beach, and he’s owned a pack of super yachts, many named after James Bond movies and most among the fastest in the world. In Palm Beach County, Staluppi has established himself as a force in philanthropy and politics. He donated $1.5 million to St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Palm Beach Gardens for a center that now bears his name. And since 2008, Staluppi, his relatives, associates and firms have donated at least $17,000 to Palm Beach County office-seekers. Sheriff Ric Bradshaw has received the most: $7,500 during his 2008 campaign, records show. Staluppi also has hosted fundraisers for Bradshaw’s “Shop with a Cop” program at the site of Staluppi’s former rare car collection in North Palm Beach. In 2009, Bradshaw spent taxpayer dollars taking Staluppi out to lunch as a “thank you” for the donations, the sheriff later told a state ethics prosecutor. The Florida Commission on Ethics dropped the case because Bradshaw followed department policy, which was subsequently changed.

Staluppi has long wrestled with allegations that he is tied to the mob. He grew up with and has acknowledged friendships with people who have been identified by law enforcement as mobsters and convicted of crimes. In 1992, a helicopter charter service owned by Staluppi and seeking to fly into Atlantic City was denied a non-gaming casino service industry license by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission. The New Jersey State Division of Gaming Enforcement wrote a letter opposing the application. “A check with law enforcement authorities by the Division revealed that the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have identified John Staluppi, 100 percent owner of the applicant, as a member of the Colombo family, a career offender cartel,” a November 1991 memo from the division states. The division also sought to have Staluppi excluded from casinos for life, dubbing him a “career offender” because of alleged ties to the Colombo family. An FBI supervisor and a criminal investigator for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New York testified that Staluppi was a member of the Colombo crime family. The investigator said Staluppi’s personal phone directory contained the names and phone numbers of “several members” including the acting head of the Colombo family.

The FBI supervisor said his information came from an FBI agent who worked for him. That agent in turn got the information from a confidential informant. He said he could not reveal any more to corroborate his testimony because of FBI policy to protect the identity of confidential informants. As a result, a hearing examiner, in an initial decision, wrote that the law enforcement allegations against Staluppi were largely unsupported. “I conclude that the division has failed to establish by a preponderance of the credible evidence that (Staluppi) is a career offender,” the examiner wrote. The commission agreed.

http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/news/crime-law/man-once-accused-of-mob-ties-bought-site-for-doubl/njwW4/?icmp=pbp_internallink_invitationbox_apr2013_pbpstubtomypbp_launch#5d0ac401.2602168.735623

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Feds dealt another blow as Colombo mobster found not guilty

Feds dealt another blow as Colombo mobster found not guilty

  December 01, 2012    Dapper_Don

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Reputed Colombo consigliere Thomas Farese, seen here leaving Brooklyn Federal Court Nov. 19, was acquitted of money laundering on Friday.

It was a black day for the feds, with two high-ranking gangsters acquitted in separate Brooklyn trials.
Reputed Colombo consigliere Thomas Farese, charged with money laundering, and Genovese capo Anthony Romanello, charged with extortion, walked out of the courthouse free and clear in stunning verdicts.

 

Alleged Genovese captain Anthony Romanello leaves the courthouse on Nov. 26th. He was cleared of extortion charges. 

 

Farese’s co-defendant, Pat Truglia, was convicted of money laundering and faces 21 to 27 months in prison.
The verdict in Romanello’s trial is one for the law books — after the jury forewoman had pronounced him not guilty, panelist No. 6 told the judge that was not her verdict.
The jury was sent back to deliberate two more hours until Federal Judge Carol Amon received a note from 11 members contending the holdout seemed to have a mental disability.
After questioning the juror and the forewoman, Amon concluded there appeared to be a competency issue. She dismissed No. 6 and took the verdict from the 11 remaining jurors. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Dennehy did not object.
Both cases were severely hobbled by the absence of two mob rats who secretly recorded the key evidence, but were kept off the witness stand because they had been engaging in misconduct while working as informants.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/mob-men-walk-free-stunning-verdicts-article-1.1211428#ixzz2DowRyliV

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Feds fire Colombo captain as a government rat for passing secret notes

Feds fire Colombo captain as a government rat for passing secret notes

  November 21, 2012    Dapper_Don

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A former Colombo captain couldn't cut it as a mob rat.

Reynold Maragni was supposed to be the star witness against two fellow mobsters charged with money laundering.

But after two previous appearances on the witness stand ended in disastrous verdicts for the government, prosecutors apparently decided to cut their losses and call an end to Maragni's singing career.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Nadia Shihata repeatedly referred to Maragni only as "the mobster" in her opening statement, while spelling out his key role in a sting operation against reputed Colombo consigliore Thomas Farese and associate Pat Truglia.

The defendants were secretly recorded by Maragni agreeing to launder $40,000 of his illicit cash.

But Maragni's habit of turning his wristwatch recorder on and off without permission landed him in hot water. Maragni admitted that he was secretly passing messages to mob associates when the FBI handlers couldn't listen.

Farese's lawyer Sarita Kedia spent much of her opening statement filling in the jury on Maragni's misconduct.

"I don't think the prosecutor even mentioned the central person's name," Kedia pointed out.

But in a victory for the government, Brooklyn Federal Judge Frederic Block ruled that Maragni's tapes could be played for the jury without him taking the witness stand.

At the end of the day, out of the presence of the jury, Block said, "Obviously he is a key witness and the jury is going to wonder why he isn't being called."

Maragni provided key testimony earlier this year at the trials of former boss Thomas “Tommy Shots” Gioeli and Colombo associate Francis “BF” Guerra, in which both gangsters were acquitted of murder charges.

Maragni's lawyer did not return a message seeking comment.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/mob-captain-fired-government-rat-article-1.1205341#ixzz2CrsveI2t

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Colombo family consigliere busted for parole violation

Colombo family consigliere busted for parole violation

  June 28, 2012    Dapper_Don

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Book ’em, Danno.
Two days after the Colombo crime family’s consigliere won permission from a Brooklyn federal judge to take a Hawaiian vacation, the ranking wiseguy was arrested and it looks like he won’t be hanging 10 at Waikiki Beach any time soon.
Thomas Farese, the New York mob family’s third highest-ranking member, was busted yesterday in South Florida for violating terms of his federal parole, sources told The Post.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/thug_aloha_to_freedom_ESHqSUy8QItDB9OM3pW7CJ#ixzz1z7sWgaeM

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Mob families still feeling the feds sting from one year ago

Mob families still feeling the feds sting from one year ago

  January 20, 2012    Dapper_Don

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Here’s the mob’s new motto: Trust no one.
A year after the federal government executed the largest-ever mob crackdown, the remaining members of La Cosa Nostra are still fearful of turncoats amid their ranks.
The anniversary of the FBI’s roundup of 120-plus “made” men and associates is tomorrow — dozens have already pleaded guilty.
And like rats fleeing a sinking ship, a number of family members — including two high-ranking “capos” — have since decided to abandon “the life” for the witness-protection program.
Some of the turncoats have been identified, including ex-captain Reynold Maragni.

His secret recordings for the feds helped lead to money-laundering charges this month against Thomas Farese, recently installed as the Colombos’ “consigliere,” or third in charge.
But not every informant has yet been unmasked, leading to stress and suspicion among those left in the ranks.
One law-enforcement official said last year’s raid — which nabbed the Colombos’ street boss, acting underboss, consigliere and four captains — left the family’s upper echelon “in complete disarray.”
A defense source agreed.
“People are under house arrest. This has to have a ripple effect,” the source said.
Of the 60 reputed mobsters arrested in the raid by the New York FBI's Colombo/Bonanno squad headed by Seamus McElearney, 41 already have pleaded guilty - including wiseguys from the Colombo, Genovese, Gambino, Bonanno, and DeCavalcante crime families.
Most of the jailed Colombos awaiting trial are housed in Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center, where some have continued to talk about business and pass messages to mobsters on the outside, court documents show.
"They're still trying to run things from jail," a law enforcement source said.
Others among the some 120 mobsters arrested in the Jan. 2011 raid are gearing up to fight the charges at trial.
Reputed Gambino family consigliere Joseph Corozzo is among five gangsters -- including reputed capo Alphonse Trucchio, son of notorious mobster Ronnie "One-Arm" Trucchio -- scheduled for trial in Manhattan federal court in March.
Corozzo, however, claims the drug-trafficking, extortion, loansharking and gambling charges against him are barred by "double jeopardy" rules due to his 2008 guilty plea for racketeering in Brooklyn.
Trucchio, meanwhile, was busted again in November in a scheme to smuggle women from Eastern Europe to work at mob-controlled strip clubs.
Thirteen other defendants set for trial in Manhattan include Bartolomeo Vernace, who the feds say sat on the Gambino family's three-member "ruling panel," and reputed Gambino associate Todd LaBarca, who's charged with taking part in the 2002 murder of a mobbed-up drug dealer in Queens.
Vernace, a Gambino capo, is also facing a separate trial in Brooklyn federal court for a 1981 double-murder in a Queens bar.
Nine other reputed Gambino associates have already pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court, with two of them -- Frank Roccaforte and Michael "Mush" Russo -- getting sentences of 46 months and 21 months in the slammer, respectively. The other seven are awaiting sentencing.
Some observers view last year's raid with considerable skepticism, arguing that most arrests were for relatively minor crimes while only a few were charged with murder.
Ephraim Savitt, a prominent defense attorney, said he believes the raid was intended to telegraph that the feds are still fighting the Mafia - despite have shifted significant resources after 9-11 to combat terrorism.
"I think the principal aim here was to make a large media splash. Perhaps they felt there's a public perception that they're still not devoting sufficient resources to combat traditional organized crime," Savitt said.
But both law enforcement officials and defense attorney agree on one thing: The New York mob hasn't hoisted a white flag.
"You can be sure that organized crime will resurrect like a phoenix wherever an opportunity to make money presents itself. Organized crime will find a way to take advantage of it," said Walter Mack, the former chief anti-Mafia prosecutor of the Manhattan US Attorney's Office.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/fed_rats_plaguing_mobsters_JCLkShbjAO1fNDuYX5RtcK#ixzz1jz1iT2SL

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Feds arrest newly installed Colombo consigliere for money laundering

Feds arrest newly installed Colombo consigliere for money laundering

  January 07, 2012    Dapper_Don

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In another blow to New York's embattled Colombo crime family, FBI agents today arrested its reputed consigliere and charged him with money laundering offenses.
Thomas Farese - who sources said was recently installed as the mob family's consigliere and is its third highest-ranking made-member - was arrested around 6 a.m. this morning by FBI agents in south Florida where he lives, officials said.
Farese, who is also known as "Tom Mix" and "Mr. T," was ensnared by agents from the FBI's New York office in a probe that relied heavily on information secretly collected by one of the mobster's former Colombo crime family colleagues, sources said.

Reynold Maragni, who served as a Colombo captain until he switched sides to become a federal informant late last year, delivered substantial evidence that suggests Farese was involved in illicit money laundering activities, the sources said.
Maragni, who owns a vacation home in south Florida, wore a hidden "wire" - a recording device to tape conversations with Farese and collect information about the wiseguy's activities, sources said.
Farese was previously convicted of money laundering in a Florida federal court, official records show.
In a related action, FBI agents in Florida also arrested Pat Truglia this morning.
Truglia, a reputed Colombo crime family associate also based in south Florida, was charged with money laundering offenses, officials said.
Today's developments mark the second time known publicly that Brooklyn federal prosecutors have deployed Maragni to help the FBI assemble a case against his former Colombo colleagues since the former mob captain "flipped."
In December, Maragni delivered information that helped strengthen a murder case against former acting Colombo boss Thomas "Tommy Shots" Gioeli, according to sources and court papers filed by Brooklyn federal prosecutors.
In this earlier episode, Maragni surreptitiously recorded conversations with Colombo mobsters in New York City about the murder of William "Wild Bill" Cutolo, who was the family's underboss when he was killed in a Brooklyn basement during the crime family's internecine war in 1999.
To help ply his former Colombo colleague, Maragni played the role of a ranking mobster concerned about one of his subordinates, who had been contacted recently by FBI agents.
He then recorded conversations with Colombo soldier Vincent Manzo that elicited details about how Cutolo's body was "popped" into the trunk of a car and driven to Long Island, according to transcripts of the recordings.
Manzo, who has not been charged, described how Gioeli had directed him to take the body to a wooded section of Farmingdale, LI, which the Colombo family used as one of its "killing fields," official records show.
Assistant US Attorney Liz Geddes argued in court papers that the taped conversations with Manzo strengthened the feds' case against Gioeli, who is already charged in the Cutolo murder and is due to be tried in the spring.
Farese's arrest wreaks more havoc amid the leadership of the Colombos, which has seen its top ranks depleted over the past five years by a series of federal prosecutions.
In January 2011, FBI agents in New York conducted the largest single-day raid in the history of the American Mafia, arresting dozens of mobsters - the majority of them Colombos.
Most of those Colombo wiseguys have pleaded guilty over the past year, with only a few now left awaiting trial.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/feds_bust_colombo_big_for_money_blqHdKNBdAaSlJpB7GVqEO#ixzz1iotwd05c

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