PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced the sentencing of nine members and associates of the Gambino organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra (the “Gambino Family”) who were charged, along with five others, in Manhattan federal court in April 2010 with crimes including racketeering, murder, sex trafficking, extortion, and wire fraud. THOMAS OREFICE, DAVID EISLER, SALVATORE BORGIA, ANTHONY MANZELLA, ONOFRIO MODICA, DOMINICK DIFIORE, MICHAEL SCOTTO, MICHAEL SCARPACI, and KEITH DELLITALIA were sentenced yesterday and today by JUDGE LEWIS A. KAPLAN based on their convictions on various federal charges. The other five defendants were sentenced over the past several months. They are: DANIEL MARINO, THOMAS SCARPACI, STEVE MAIURRO, SUZANNE PORCELLI, and ANTHONY VECCHIONE.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney PREET BHARARA said: “The successful prosecutions of Daniel Marino and his cronies dealt a significant blow to the Gambino Family—a “family” that will stop at nothing to wield power, extract illegal profits, and exact revenge against its enemies. But we are far from finished, and our goal of disrupting and dismantling organized crime throughout the City of New York and beyond its borders will continue unabated.”
According to the indictment, the guilty plea proceedings, and the record of the case:
DANIEL MARINO, a longtime member of the Gambino crime family, was a boss who presided over at least 200 fully inducted, or “made,” mafia members, as well as hundreds of associates who committed crimes on behalf of the family. THOMAS OREFICE and ONOFRIO MODICA were soldiers of the Gambino Family, acting under MARINO’s supervision. OREFICE and MODICA each supervised crews that included DOMINICK DIFIORE, ANTHONY MANZELLA, MICHAEL SCOTTO, MICHAEL SCARPACI, THOMAS SCARPACI, DAVID EISLER, and SALVATORE BORGIA. The indictment also charges other individuals who committed crimes with and for the Gambino Family, including STEVE MAIURRO, KEITH DELLITALIA, SUZANNE PORCELLI, and ANTHONY VECCHIONE.
In addition to racketeering charges, the defendants were charged and have pled guilty to the following crimes:
Murder of Frank Hydell
In 1997, suspicion arose within the Gambino Family that FRANK HYDELL, MARINO’s nephew, was cooperating with law enforcement, which he was. Based on these suspicions, various Gambino Family members and associates plotted to kill HYDELL and sought MARINO’s approval for the hit. In his guilty plea, MARINO admitted that he gave his co-conspirators the “green light” for the murder to proceed. Upon MARINO’s authorization to kill HYDELL, various Gambino Family members and associates lured him to a strip club in Staten Island where he was shot three times in the face and back. HYDELL, 31, died in the strip club’s parking lot.
Accessory to Murder of James DiGuglielmo and Richard Sbarra
On August 22, 1987, MODICA’s motorcycle was used in connection with the drive-by shooting of two individuals in Staten Island, JAMES DIGUGLIELMO and RICHARD SBARRA. After the murders occurred, MODICA made false statements to the police and helped to hide and destroy evidence in an effort to protect the individuals who killed DIGUGLIELMO and SBARRA from being arrested and convicted.
Sex Trafficking and Sex Trafficking of a Minor
From 2008 to 2009, numerous defendants, including OREFICE, DIFIORE, MANZELLA, SCOTTO, EISLER, MAIURRO, and PORCELLI, operated a prostitution business where young women and girls were exploited and sold for sex. The defendants first recruited various young women and girls to work as prostitutes. They then advertised the prostitution business on Craigslist and other websites. The defendants drove the women to appointments in Manhattan, Brooklyn, New Jersey, and Staten Island to have sex with clients. They then took approximately 50 percent of the money paid to the young women. They also made the women available for sex to gamblers at a weekly, high-stakes poker game.
Jury Tampering
In 1992, then-boss JOHN J. GOTTI was on trial for federal racketeering and murder charges in the Eastern District of New York. MODICA, along with various other Gambino Family members, took part in a plot to locate the anonymous, sequestered jurors sitting on that trial. MODICA and the others eventually penetrated various security measures, and located the jury at the hotel where it was sequestered. The plan to tamper with the jury was called off, however, when GOTTI came to believe that the jury would not convict him, even without outside interference.
Extortions and Assaults
Between 2005 and 2009, OREFICE, DIFIORE, MANZELLA, SCOTTO, THOMAS SCARPACI, DELLITALIA, EISLER, and VECCHIONE extorted payments from various businesses and individuals through the use of violence and threats. The defendants targeted businesses in the construction, home heating oil, and financial services industries, as well as various individuals in and around New York City.
Several of the extortions resulted in serious beatings. For example:
■In December 2005, after an extortion victim failed to make a payment, OREFICE, DIFIORE, and DELLITALIA used a baseball bat to beat the victim, causing the victim’s hospitalization.
■In 2008, OREFICE and DIFIORE tracked down another extortion victim who failed to make a payment, beat him viciously, and left him on the street. The victim was hospitalized and received emergency surgery.
■In the summer of 2009, OREFICE, DIFIORE, MANZELLA, THOMAS SCARPACI, and VECCHIONE plotted to extort the owner of a financial services business in Staten Island. Members of OREFICE’s crew went to the victim’s office in an attempt to shake him down, demanded to see the victim, and, ultimately, threatened the victim’s office staff.
■In the summer of 2009, SCOTTO assaulted an individual to collect an extortion payment for DIFIORE, leaving the individual unconscious.
Wire Fraud
OREFICE and MANZELLA defrauded various high-end restaurants in New York City by inflating invoices for meat orders placed with MANZELLA’s company and paying kickbacks to the chefs responsible for ordering the meat. The invoices were sometimes inflated by as much as 40 percent of actual costs. To ensure that the chefs at the restaurants would continue ordering meat from MANZELLA’s company, and to encourage them to turn a blind eye to the scam, MANZELLA kicked back about five percent of the proceeds to them.
Narcotics Trafficking
OREFICE, DIFIORE and BORGIA trafficked in narcotics—including cocaine, marijuana, and oxycodone—for and on behalf of the Gambino Family.
Gambling
OREFICE, MODICA, DIFIORE, MANZELLA, MICHAEL SCARPACI, THOMAS SCARPACI, EISLER, BORGIA, and DELLITALIA ran various illegal gambling operations for the Gambino Family. These operations included an Internet-based sports betting, or “bookmaking,” operation and a regular, high-stakes card game.
The charges contained in the indictment against each defendant, and the corresponding sentences, are contained in charts attached to this press release.
Mr. BHARARA praised the investigative work of the FBI.
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