Current Colombo rackets

[JeremyTheJew]

What does the current Colombo family run racket wise?
Seems like at this point there almost s street gang, according to a few ppl like gene borello.

Gohn, ik this is your area of expertise...

Who's top capos that could be running things besides Teddy persico and Russo ?? Anyone else worth noting??

[Wiseguy]

What does the current Colombo family run racket wise?
Seems like at this point there almost s street gang, according to a few ppl like gene borello.

Gohn, ik this is your area of expertise...

Who's top capos that could be running things besides Teddy persico and Russo ?? Anyone else worth noting??

Over the past decade, there have been cases/reports involving...

Gambling (sports betting, video poker machines, card games)

Loansharking

Extortion of strip clubs, a construction company, a pizzeria, and the Figli di Santi Rosalia feast

Drug trafficking (marijuana, cocaine, prescription drugs, meth)

Miscellaneous stuff like robberies/burglaries, stolen goods, contraband cigarettes, firearms, etc.

Labor Racketeering - LIUNA Local 6A (no show jobs, extortion of contractors, coffee boy scam), IBT Local 282 (circumventing payments to the union), Operating Engineers Local 14 (reports of no show jobs at WTC site), Newspaper & Mail Deliverers Union Local 1901 (Colombo associates and relatives no show jobs)

Legitimate interests in construction/demo/trucking, restaurants, real estate, strip clubs, limo service, auto dealerships, vending

[gohnjotti]

Wiseguy hits the nail on the head.

Some big captains you missed are the guys out in LI like Dennis DeLucia, Michael Uvino, and the Franzese crew. Heavily involved in gambling rackets, from poker clubs across LI and elsewhere in the Northeast, sports betting rackets (both traditional and online), Joker Poker (Tommy Gioeli and Sonny Franzese have been labelled as heads in the video gambling industry alongside associates like John Azzarelli, John Dunn, and Angelo Spata), etc.
Those gambling rackets are huge and the figures around them indicate to me that these are the family’s most valuable rackets. From Brooklyn to Long Island, it seems a lot of cases revolve around gambling and lower-level associates will often make their bread-and-butter as gambling enforcers.

Drug-dealing is also a big one as Wiseguy said, although not at the captain level, as Carmine Persico apparently enforced the drug ban until his death, according to testimony from Reynold Maragni. Obviously, this is hugely controversial because even Carmine’s own family were involved in the drug trade (look no further than presumed street boss Teddy Persico Jr.), but Reynold Maragni testified that he had to ask Angelo Spata to pass a message to Carmine Persico for approval over a cross-country marijuana deal with Ralph DeLeo, due to Carmine’s “ban.”

Loansharking is also a big one. Some crews revolves around loansharking from top-to-bottom, almost like a pyramid scheme. Joey Amato’s crew was like this, according to Silvio Salome, and so was William Cutolo’s, which was probably among the largest crews in the family during the ‘90s. Cutolo would loan hundreds of thousands of dollars to crew members at 1 Point a week, and those associates would then loan it out further, and so on. I believe the Russo crew was also like this, I can’t remember if I read that from Greg Scarpa files or elsewhere. I recall that the reason most of the Russo crew defected during the war was to get out of their loansharking debts.

[richard_belding]

Angelo Spata's feast joker poker's has brought in plenty, you also have the Amato crew defrauding insurance companies. The Caruso's and their bouncing around different states extorting businessmen, Mike Uvino's sports betting.. .. Overall its already been mentioned by the above poster's but it seems the Colombo's have have still managed to get some traditional hooks into the modern era, even grabbing a concrete local as late as 2011.

[JeremyTheJew]

I forgot that Colombos had a few crews in LI.
They have mostly been a Bk Family with that being there base.

I wonder how exactly that msg was passed. Lol, did persico even really fully understand what he was asking even??

I re read the borello interview and he basically laughed at the Colombo family. But, since he has flipped there has been like 3 influential capos that have came out i believe

[Pmac2]

They were extorting a truck company up here in boston like 10yrs ago. Andy Russo had parr of long island garbage to himself I'm betting his kid still does. Think there doing just fine.

[slimshady_007]

I forgot that Colombos had a few crews in LI.
They have mostly been a Bk Family with that being there base.

I wonder how exactly that msg was passed. Lol, did persico even really fully understand what he was asking even??

I re read the borello interview and he basically laughed at the Colombo family. But, since he has flipped there has been like 3 influential capos that have came out i believe

I think the Colombos have been quietly rebuilding since 2011. Now i think the heat is back on and its only a matter of time until either andy russo or teddy jr get pinched.

[JeremyTheJew]

I forgot that Colombos had a few crews in LI.
They have mostly been a Bk Family with that being there base.

I wonder how exactly that msg was passed. Lol, did persico even really fully understand what he was asking even??

I re read the borello interview and he basically laughed at the Colombo family. But, since he has flipped there has been like 3 influential capos that have came out i believe

I think the Colombos have been quietly rebuilding since 2011. Now i think the heat is back on and its only a matter of time until either andy russo or teddy jr get pinched.

I mean the bonannos have been said to be decimated and then Massino "quietly rebuilt" the family, to completely ruin it again.... and then they are back up and as far as I could tell they are in good shape now...

Only thing is the Colombo had repeatedly been said to be nothing more than a street gang. I believe even salwyn raab has made that comment

[queensnyer]

the colombo family is not as strong as it once was, but neither are the other families including the Genovese family who is touted as the strongest. i wouldnt believe a word gene Borello ever spoke. hes a dolt and a legend in his own mind. he didnt even know his own crew (jack boneventre} had business dealings with charlie fish micelli. please..the colombo family is weak?? mess with their rackets and find out

[gohnjotti]

Angelo Spata's feast joker poker's has brought in plenty,

Spata controlled more than just the Joker Poker at feasts, he controlled feasts themselves and handpicked who had rights to vend there. Pretty serious racket, all things considered.

you also have the Amato crew defrauding insurance companies.

I read about that in the indictment, I think it was just Capaldo and Marra doing it on their own, could be wrong though. I'm not even sure what the details of the scam were.

The Caruso's and their bouncing around different states extorting businessmen,

I am completely blanking on who you're referring to here. The Carusos?

Mike Uvino's sports betting.. .. Overall its already been mentioned by the above poster's but it seems the Colombo's have have still managed to get some traditional hooks into the modern era, even grabbing a concrete local as late as 2011.

The control of Local 6A ended in 2011, after Ralph Scopo Jr. and Ralph Scopo III were booted out, although there's still links to the Gambino & Lucchese families

[gohnjotti]

please..the colombo family is weak?? mess with their rackets and find out

Good point, it's easy to call them weak but you have to remember that they're historically the most violent of the Five Families, and regularly hold their own against the Gambinos in Brooklyn. In 2010, Anthony Russo and his men pushed out a rival Gambino gambling parlor with force, and loaded themselves up with guns the following week, as they expected retribution (which never came). That whole debacle was tape-recorded by Tommy McLaughlin.

[Uncle Pete]

the colombo family is not as strong as it once was, but neither are the other families including the Genovese family who is touted as the strongest. i wouldnt believe a word gene Borello ever spoke. hes a dolt and a legend in his own mind. he didnt even know his own crew (jack boneventre} had business dealings with charlie fish micelli. please..the colombo family is weak?? mess with their rackets and find out

I agree. That Colombo regime busted in 2011 didn’t seem like a regime to laugh about. It consisted of a well respected old school administration who was building the family back up at the time.

I doubt many were laughing at them going back even further to the Tommy Shots regime who had one of the most dangerous and violent crews on the street before they were all arrested.

[richard_belding]

Angelo Spata's feast joker poker's has brought in plenty,

Spata controlled more than just the Joker Poker at feasts, he controlled feasts themselves and handpicked who had rights to vend there. Pretty serious racket, all things considered.

you also have the Amato crew defrauding insurance companies.

I read about that in the indictment, I think it was just Capaldo and Marra doing it on their own, could be wrong though. I'm not even sure what the details of the scam were.

The Caruso's and their bouncing around different states extorting businessmen,

I am completely blanking on who you're referring to here. The Carusos?

Mike Uvino's sports betting.. .. Overall its already been mentioned by the above poster's but it seems the Colombo's have have still managed to get some traditional hooks into the modern era, even grabbing a concrete local as late as 2011.

The control of Local 6A ended in 2011, after Ralph Scopo Jr. and Ralph Scopo III were booted out, although there's still links to the Gambino & Lucchese families

Father John Caruso was identified by a "Phoenix New Times" as a high ranking Colombo member although i havent found info on him anywhere else. The article doesnt mention much on son Michael's OC allegiance, but does say this: The 29 year old Caruso consorted with Mexican cartels and traded information about the Hells Angels and the Aryan Brotherhood." It also mentions he got into a cryptocurrency scheme as late as 2014.


On the bouncing around and extortions i mentioned:


"In 2005, the Carusos fled Florida for California after Caruso Sr. was indicted for a fraud case. Arrested by U.S. Marshals six months later, Caruso Sr. served seven months in Florida, posted bond, and again fled the state, taking the family this time to Newport Beach, California. In Florida, in 2009, Caruso attempted to assist his father in carrying out an extortion scheme. Having learned sensitive financial information about a Naples man named John Swanson, Caruso Sr. began calling Swanson on the phone, demanding $200,000 from him and “threatening that if he did not pay him the money, he will have his hands and penis cut off,” court documents state. Seventeen years old at the time, Caruso flew down to Florida and, with an accomplice, planned to meet with Swanson and collect the extorted money."

[queensnyer]

please..the colombo family is weak?? mess with their rackets and find out

Good point, it's easy to call them weak but you have to remember that they're historically the most violent of the Five Families, and regularly hold their own against the Gambinos in Brooklyn. In 2010, Anthony Russo and his men pushed out a rival Gambino gambling parlor with force, and loaded themselves up with guns the following week, as they expected retribution (which never came). That whole debacle was tape-recorded by Tommy McLaughlin.

yes sir if the colombos are anything, its ready to handle their business...

[JeremyTheJew]

the colombo family is not as strong as it once was, but neither are the other families including the Genovese family who is touted as the strongest. i wouldnt believe a word gene Borello ever spoke. hes a dolt and a legend in his own mind. he didnt even know his own crew (jack boneventre} had business dealings with charlie fish micelli. please..the colombo family is weak?? mess with their rackets and find out

I agree. That Colombo regime busted in 2011 didn’t seem like a regime to laugh about. It consisted of a well respected old school administration who was building the family back up at the time.

I doubt many were laughing at them going back even further to the Tommy Shots regime who had one of the most dangerous and violent crews on the street before they were all arrested.

Who was said to be the admin jn 2011?? Thst was Russo as AB??

also, since Borello has gotten out, how many capos have gotten out? Bc ik there was at least three?