Buffalo/Ontario Mob Acitivity

[NickleCity]

Feds bust alleged gambling ring in Rochester
Sean Lahman
February 23, 2023

Federal agents have charged seven local men with running a gambling operation that took bets on sporting events and hosted illegal poker games in an office suite in the city of Rochester.

According to a criminal complaint, federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies launched an investigation in October 2020 which revealed that the defendants were conspiring to operate illegal poker games in a suite at 565 Blossom Road and to run an illegal sports betting operation through a website.

Louis P. Ferrari II and Dominic Sprague, both residents of the town of Greece, and Tommaso Sessa of Spencerport are charged with operating an illegal gambling operation.

Anthony Amato, Joseph Lomardo, Joseph Boscarino, and James Cilvetti are charged with transmission of wagering information, along with Ferrari and Sprague.

All seven of the defendants are charged with conspiracy for their participation in the operation. Ferrari is also charged with money laundering.

Also charged in a separate complaint in connection with the case is former New York State Trooper Thomas Loewke, according to a spokesperson for the United States Attorney's Office. Loewke was charged with obstruction after allegedly tipping off a target of the investigation. A criminal complaint alleges that Loewke was illegally gambling on sports through the sport700.com website.

In-person sports wagering at licensed casinos has been legal in New York since 2019, and in 2022, mobile sports wagering through certain licensed platforms became legal in the state. However, unlicensed bookmaking, whether in person or online, has been and remains illegal in the State of New York.

The criminal complaint details a seven-month investigation that involved undercover officers posing as gamblers, wiretaps of phones, and subpoenas of financial records that showed how the operation worked.

The complaint alleges that Ferrari and Sprague co-owned the illegal gambling operation at 565 Blossom Road, which hosted poker games. Sessa is accused of managing the day-to-day operations at the location.

Ferrari also operated an illegal sports betting book through a website called sport700.com. Ferrari managed individual bettors and also oversaw sub-agents who had their own books of individual bettors. Lombardo and Boscarino are accused of being sub-agents under Ferrari through the website.

Amato was allegedly the administrator of the website and assisted Ferrari and others in creating accounts, usernames, and passwords. Amato also managed individual bettors and oversaw sub-agents, authorities say.

Investigators say that Sprague would collect cash payments of gambling losses from bettors and pay gambling winnings to bettors from his business, a pawn shop located on Stone Road in Greece.

Civiletti was an employee of the pawn shop. While working at the pawn shop, he collected payments of gambling losses from people on behalf of Ferrari and Sprague, the complaint alleges.

The complaint says that Ferrari collected cash payments of gambling losses from players at his excavating business on Steel Street in the City of Rochester and then laundered the illegal proceeds through the business.

"Banking records confirm that Ferrari Excavating did not generate a lot of cash as revenue," the complaint says. "Based on Ferrari Excavating’s payroll records and the information provided by the employees, it appears that $765,908 was paid to employees in cash, off-the-books from April 2019 through January 2021. Ferrari Excavating generated cash revenue of only $97,232.36 during that same time. "

Eavesdropping warrants captured calls and text messages between Ferrari and five of his co-defendants discussing details of the gambling operation. In one call, Ferrari tells Sprague he'd just gone to the home of a gambling client to collect money and physically assaulted him. According to a transcript of the call, Ferrari said he was concerned because the man's wife had called the police.

Investigators raided the Blossom Road location in April 2021 and interrupted an ongoing illegal card game. Among the documents discovered were gambling ledgers and timestamped website printouts of online gambling player account activities.

Investigators got a warrant to access the betting website and discovered that Amato first set up the account in April 2016. According to court records, Amato had 128 sub-agent accounts operating underneath his account. Collectively, these sub-agents managed 1,789 individual bettors. Throughout the lifetime of the account, from April 2016 to January 2021, Amato’s winnings totaled $8,945,629, authorities said.

The criminal complaint was filed last week before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Pedersen.

https://www.democratandchronicle.com/st ... 936028007/

Crossposting
Here is a link to the criminal complaint on SCRIBD: https://www.scribd.com/document/6283322 ... -Complaint# ...They recorded lots of conversations.

[antimafia]

Cross-posting.
-----------------
Six new charges against Steve Sardinha, the Hamilton man behind Havana Group Supplies Inc.

https://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/news- ... pplies-inc

$75M lawsuit claims city conspired to dump contaminated soil on land with mob ties

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton ... -1.5919000

Steve Sardinha jailed over fraud linked to Havana soil-dumping firm
https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilton-r ... -scam.html

You’ll hit a paywall unless you’re a subscriber; so here’s the link to my Evernote clip of the article:

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s229/sh/ ... 297a123b2d

A City of Hamilton manager who lunched with Mob boss Pat Musitano says the business meeting was appropriate
https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilton-r ... riate.html

[NickleCity]

Covid fraudster's potential prison time shortened, but sentence delayed
Lou Michel
Mar 1, 2023

…
Bella, Eoannou said, is ill and would not get proper medical care in prison. His ailments include a cyst on his brain that causes “suicidal headaches,” a precancerous throat condition, hypertension and nonalcohol related liver disease.

Bella also wants to be freed so that he can care for his ailing parents in Florida, the lawyer said.

Eoannou asked Arcara to not only consider Bella’s two years in jail to date, but, as well, the previous year in which he spent in pre-trial home confinement.
…

See: https://buffalonews.com/news/local/crim ... 7ce46.html

[NickleCity]

Bella sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison for Covid-19 frauds
Lou Michel
Mar 8, 2023

A federal judge sentenced Joseph C. Bella III to 3 1/2 years in prison Wednesday for fraudulently obtaining and selling Covid-19 test kits and illegally obtaining $253,000 in pandemic relief loans.

Bella, who served more than 24 months in jail while the charges were pending, could be a released from prison to a halfway house in less than a year, according to his attorney…

See: https://buffalonews.com/news/local/crim ... 4f1ed.html

[NickleCity]

I have a very close friend who is/was friends with Frank when all these articles about 91 came out. Said he played both sides of the fence when it suited him and would name drop and then say he was just joking. Renaissance man of sorts.

His former editor at The Niagara Falls Reporter, Nick D’Angelo, is a piece of work too! He is an attorney in Lockport and I believe worked in the city or NF county prosecutor’s office (I’ll have to check that).He was accused of raping a 14 year old while a student at NF High School and is fighting several rape/sexual misconduct charges right now.

Here is one of the newest articles about the current case:

https://www.cnhi.com/featured_stories_u ... 0b339.html

Of course Frank wrote three articles in The Frank Report interviewing him to get Nick’s story out, which (in my opinion) amounted to biased support and trying to change or at least supply an alternative narrative to protect Nick. Here is on e of Frank’s columns where he interviews Nicholas about the charges: https://frankreport.com/2020/09/04/did- ... g-females/

I can’t access other stories about Nick in Parlato’s Niagara Falls Reporter because the website indicates the account has been suspend.

Anyway, because Frank has used his paper to defend himself and his colleagues-just makes me wonder how many other stories he could have manipulated about the Buffalo Mafia.

^^^New Charges for Nick D'Angelo

Troopers: Niagara Falls attorney charged following campaign fraud investigation
Aaron Besecker Mar 14, 2023

Attorney Nicholas D. D'Angelo was arrested Tuesday and charged with election law violations, state police said in a news release.

D'Angelo, of Niagara Falls, faces three felony and two misdemeanor charges involving the reported forging of records and using someone else's identity "to make a false campaign contribution," troopers said.

D'Angelo was charged with first-degree attempted tampering with public records, second-degree forgery, first-degree identity theft and two misdemeanor election law violations.

See: https://buffalonews.com/news/local/crim ... f4467.html

[NickleCity]

^^article has been updated to include previous rape charges and more detail on the alleged fraud. From the article:

A Niagara Falls attorney accused of raping three women faces four new charges following an unusual campaign fraud investigation, state police said Tuesday.

Nicholas D. D'Angelo, 30, has been accused of using another person's identity to make a campaign contribution in a Falls judicial race in 2021, according to court documents.

The person whose identity he reportedly used: the husband of the prosecutor handling his rape case.

The donation in question was made around March 19, 2021, to the judicial campaign of Jenelle L. Faso. An envelope containing $200 in cash was mailed to Faso's campaign's post office box, according to court documents filed in Niagara Falls City Court.

The name on the contribution was Sam Reda, an area chef and husband of Lynette M. Reda, chief of the Erie County District Attorney's Office's Special Victims/Domestic Violence Bureau.

——-

[antimafia]

I learned via one of Anna Sergi's tweets from earlier today that the Italian fugitive Domenico Cugliari has been extradited from Canada, which is where he was hiding. Cugliari is alleged to be an 'ndrangheta member who reported directly to Domenico Bonavota, and for those who have been following CabriniGreen's and calabrianwatch's posts, you know that the Bonavota 'ndrina in Sant'Onofrio in Vibo Valentia has some sort of presence in the Greater Toronto Area.

Here's one such article about the arrest of Cugliari:

https://catanzaro.gazzettadelsud.it/vid ... c605065f4/

Edited: I previously wrote that Cugliari was arrested in Canada -- which might be true -- but more important, authorities already knew in February 2020 that he was hiding here. So I was wrong to imply that he was discovered in Canada just today.

[antimafia]

To make it even MORE complicated.... this says RANIERI ordered the hits HIMSELF....


Police added that Daniele Ranieri, from Bolton, who fled to Mexico following a 2014 York Regional Police investigation into his activities, was recently found dead in a Mexican ditch. Ranieri is alleged to have ordered the hits.

Story continues below

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"Ranieri fancied himself a top guy and this might have been an effort to clean house," said York police Det. Sgt. Jim Kilby. "People didn't like way he operated and in return they sent a message to him."

Although police believe Tomassetti might

Jeremy Grimaldi is the only journalist who has written that Ranieri is alleged to have ordered the hits on Angelo Musitano and Saverio Serrano. However, the police never said this at the news conference last November, which I watched, when they made an announcement about charges being laid against Tomasetti, Cudmore, and Abdalla. The police have said only that Ranieri was a "person of interest" in both the Musitano and Barberi murders.

If Ranieri did order those murders, then the murder of Al Iavarone may not be revenge for Musitano's murder -- this is the main theory that has been floated -- unless Tony Iavarone had hired Ranieri and the hit team to kill Musitano.

Ranieri and other Italian figures in organized crime ran in the same circles. The paid police informant Carmine Guido mentioned Ranieri during the trial of Giuseppe Ursino and Cosmin Dracea in Toronto last year. From Peter Edwards's April 9, 2018 article:

Court heard from secret recordings made on December 23, 2014 of a conversation between Guido and Dracea, including conversations about Ranieri. Police say Ranieri was connected to the criminal organization of the late Vito Rizzuto of Montreal, who died in December 2013.

Ranieri has been a fugitive since 2015, wanted by York Regional Police on charges of extortion and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence

“He’s psychopath, man,” Guido told Dracea on December 23, 2014. “He’s crazy, man.”

Guido said he tried to provide work for Ranieri a decade earlier, after Ranieri was freed from prison.

“After a week I says, ‘I can’t keep this guy with me,’ ” Guido said. “He’s (expletive) crazy.”

Guido earlier testified that Ranieri was with him when they went to see a Russian immigrant who ran a cheque-cashing business on Steeles Ave.

There was some problem cashing a cheque and Ranieri seemed ready to kill over it, Guido said.

“This (Ranieri) kid shows up Vaseline all over his face, ready to murder, to kill the guy, right?” Guido said. “I says, ‘What are you doing? We’re here to talk, dude.’ ”

He was able to restrain Ranieri that night, Guido said.

I'd still like to see evidence that Ranieri was made, but even if he were, whose permission did he obtain to arrange for the killing of Musitano, whom I imagine many of us believe to be made? for trying to kill Saverio Serrano?

Search for Wanted Person Daniel Tomasetti Continues
https://hamiltonpolice.on.ca/news/searc ... continues/

-----

This release coincides with the sixth anniversary of the murder of Mila Barberi in Woodbridge, Ontario, where she was shot and killed instead of the intended target, Saverio Serrano.

Here's the link to the York Regional Police release:

https://www.yrp.ca/en/Modules/News/inde ... 63a54202a3

[antimafia]

I learned via one of Anna Sergi's tweets from earlier today that the Italian fugitive Domenico Cugliari has been extradited from Canada, which is where he was hiding. Cugliari is alleged to be an 'ndrangheta member who reported directly to Domenico Bonavota, and for those who have been following CabriniGreen's and calabrianwatch's posts, you know that the Bonavota 'ndrina in Sant'Onofrio in Vibo Valentia has some sort of presence in the Greater Toronto Area.

Here's one such article about the arrest of Cugliari:

https://catanzaro.gazzettadelsud.it/vid ... c605065f4/

Edited: I previously wrote that Cugliari was arrested in Canada -- which might be true -- but more important, authorities already knew in February 2020 that he was hiding here. So I was wrong to imply that he was discovered in Canada just today.

Link to the CanLii document dated February 23, 2023 re: Cugliari's matter:

https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/fct/doc/20 ... ultIndex=1

If you want a PDF of the CanLii decision, please visit my Evernote link here:

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s229/sh/ ... 8pxWX3bVDg

[antimafia]

Search for Wanted Person Daniel Tomasetti Continues
https://hamiltonpolice.on.ca/news/searc ... continues/

-----

This release coincides with the sixth anniversary of the murder of Mila Barberi in Woodbridge, Ontario, where she was shot and killed instead of the intended target, Saverio Serrano.

Here's the link to the York Regional Police release:

https://www.yrp.ca/en/Modules/News/inde ... 63a54202a3

Man wanted in murder of mobster Angelo Musitano still on the run
https://www.thespec.com/news/crime/2023 ... e-run.html

Hamilton man accused in mob murders still on the run 6 years later
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton ... -1.6778124

Police restate $50K reward in search for Tomassetti on anniversary of Barberi murder in Vaughan
https://globalnews.ca/news/9549834/poli ... y-vaughan/

[Newyorkempire]

^^article has been updated to include previous rape charges and more detail on the alleged fraud. From the article:

A Niagara Falls attorney accused of raping three women faces four new charges following an unusual campaign fraud investigation, state police said Tuesday.

Nicholas D. D'Angelo, 30, has been accused of using another person's identity to make a campaign contribution in a Falls judicial race in 2021, according to court documents.

The person whose identity he reportedly used: the husband of the prosecutor handling his rape case.

The donation in question was made around March 19, 2021, to the judicial campaign of Jenelle L. Faso. An envelope containing $200 in cash was mailed to Faso's campaign's post office box, according to court documents filed in Niagara Falls City Court.

The name on the contribution was Sam Reda, an area chef and husband of Lynette M. Reda, chief of the Erie County District Attorney's Office's Special Victims/Domestic Violence Bureau.

——-

Kids a dirtbag. Got caught trying to sway a Judge.

Faso just handled my recent case. Fair Judge

[NickleCity]

Found an interesting article today that makes me wonder if the DEA and other federal agencies have a history of protecting IOC in Buffalo.

We are well aware of the former DEA agent Joe Bongiovanni is accused of shielding friends he thought to be involved in Italian Organized Crime, but this is not the first time accusations have been bade against the DEA in Buffalo.

For example in 1983 a source told the Buffalo News that he/she "felt federal agencies — particularly the DEA — had dragged their feet after obtaining the information about Aiello’s part in the Sicilian Connection..."

Apparently this source gave the Buffalo News a 1979 document described as a "The three-page internal memo from the US Customs Service ...printed on Treasury Department stationary and is headed: 'Possible currency violations relative to alleged smuggling of heroin in ceramic articles from Italy.' The memo states [that] the Italian version of the DEA had provided the Rome office of the DEA with information linking Aiello and his business..." See Below:



As far as other agencies I have written about this before, but the Forest Avenue Boys (NYS's precursor to the state organized crime task force) had considerable misgivings about the FBI in the mid to late 1960's.

After the FBI began making regular visits to the facility, a sound-proof room was built into a corner of the second-floor operation with a desk in the middle of that room for the twenty-four hour, seven day a week monitoring of mob phone calls. Each conversation had to be written down by hand on the yellow legal pads the team shared in the sound-proof room. That inner sound-proof room was the farthest from the stairs to the second floor and behind the office the Boys had set up to keep the operational records of the unit under lock and key. The Boys much-justified suspicions about the FBI and their mistrust of FBI agents played a major role in the design of the Boys home-away-from-home. They set it up to protect the unit from interlopers—including the FBI!

See: Karalus, George ; Gryta, Matt. The Real Teflon Don: How An Elite Team of New York State Troopers Helped Take Down America's Most Powerful Mafia Family . Cazenovia Books. Kindle Edition. (Chapter 2)

Also, there is some other interesting information in this Buffalo News article that links Aiello to Scaduto family in Bagheria. I believe posters in another thread had postulated that could have had a early connection to that area.

[NickleCity]

^^^
The above clipping from The Buffalo News says:

The document sheds some doubt on the depiction of Aiello as a relative unknown by federal agents after the arrest of 52-year-old businessman in his Hartwell Road home. IT also sheds doubt on the reports form federal agents that a “routine search” of a shipment of marble Tiel, destine for the Suspect’s North Buffalo shop, led to the recovery of 40 pounds of heroin in Newark on Sept. 13.

Here is the article where FBI agents indicate Aiello was a "unknown."

[Newyorkempire]

^^^
The above clipping from The Buffalo News says:

The document sheds some doubt on the depiction of Aiello as a relative unknown by federal agents after the arrest of 52-year-old businessman in his Hartwell Road home. IT also sheds doubt on the reports form federal agents that a “routine search” of a shipment of marble Tiel, destine for the Suspect’s North Buffalo shop, led to the recovery of 40 pounds of heroin in Newark on Sept. 13.

Here is the article where FBI agents indicate Aiello was a "unknown."

Members were followed around "almost daily" but they never knew anything about someone involved in the Connection. Good investigative work.

What year was that article again?

[NickleCity]

^^^
1983