Gangland 1-19-2023

[Dr031718]

As We've Been Reporting For Years, The Death Of The Mob Is Greatly Exaggerated

Further proof of the Mafia's continued ability to make money arrived yesterday as a trio of mobsters with the Gambino and Genovese crime families were arrested and charged with being part of an extensive and lucrative corruption scheme involving major New York City construction projects.

According to the indictment brought by the Manhattan District Attorney's office, the wiseguys were in league with a corrupt executive of a major general contractor. They and 20 other mob associates allegedly lined their pockets with more than $5 million they stole from real estate developers who built dozens of high-rise apartment houses and hotels in Manhattan.

The top of the mob food chain was Gambino capo Frank Camuso, in partnership with his alleged right-hand man in crime, soldier Louis Astuto. Also named is Genovese wiseguy Christopher (Jerry) Chierchio. The trio are charged with being part of a massive kickback scheme along with mob associate Robert (Rusty) Baselice, the alleged ringleader of an eight-year-long scheme between April of 2013 and July of 2021.

Baselice is a former vice president of the Rinaldi Group, a Secaucus based firm with offices in Manhattan who allegedly received $4.2 million in kickbacks from contractors in return for work orders from him during the scheme, according to Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg. Baselice allegedly steered $100 million in subcontracts and change orders to dozens of favored subcontracors in return for kickbacks. Firm owner Anthony Rinaldi was not implicated in any wrongdoing.

Back in March of 2020, Gang Land identified Camuso, 59, a powerful mobster who has largely avoided trouble with the law, Astuto, 58, and Baselice, 51, as major targets of the DA's long-running investigation into bid-rigging, commercial bribery and money laundering by the Gambino crime family.

The probe was brought to a conclusion last month by Rackets Bureau ADAs Meredith McGowan, Guy Tardanico, and Jaime Hickey-Mendoza. They obtained, and placed under seal, an 83-count grand larceny and money laundering indictment accusing 24 individuals and 26 companies following a joint probe with the NYPD and Department of Investigation.

The indictment was unsealed yesterday. All of the defendants in the case surrendered early yesterday morning. They were released without bail following their arraignment before Supreme Court Justice Felicia Mennin. Their next scheduled court date isn't until April.

According to a 10-page Statement of Facts that prosecutors released yesterday, Baselice oversaw eight major high-rise construction projects in the Big Apple. He is alleged to have used a Staten-Island based company he owned, the DVA Group LLC, to funnel kickbacks that he received from contractors who performed work for the Rinaldi Group to himself and his co-defendants.

Camuso, and his family members own three companies, one based in Staten Island where he lives, and two more in Brooklyn. Those firms were alleged vehicles used by the Gambino capo to receive more than $750,000 in kickbacks funneled to him by Baselice, Astuto and mob associate Paul Noto, a close associate of Camuso, Astuto and Baselice.

Noto, 43, who like Camuso, Astuto and Baselice, resides in Staten Island, owned two Staten Island based companies that allegedly received kickbacks and distributed payoffs to Camuso's companies.

Astuto, who is said to have followed his late father Louis (Louie Fats) Astuto into the Gambino crime family, owns three Staten Island based companies that he allegedly used to funnel kickbacks to himself and other cohorts charged in the indictment.

Chierchio is already in deep trouble with the law from a separate case: He is slated to be sentenced to five years in prison next month for his role in the $80 million rip-off of three lottery winners. In the construction racket, Chierchio is alleged to have been a "high-ranking executive" of a Staten Island based plumbing and sprinkler company that was used by Baselice to obtain $13 million in "subcontracts and change orders" for numerous Manhattan construction jobs managed by the Rinaldi firm.

According to the Statement of Facts, Chierchio, along with Baselice and Astuto, stole $300,000 from an unidentified developer and then funneled $81,000 of that money to Camuso through companies owned by the Gambino capo and Astuto.

Keeping Camuso happy was something that Astuto worked at diligently, according to a snippet of a tape recorded conversation that took place on May 11 when Baselice and Astuto discussed Camuso's "salary" in a discussion that is recounted in the indictment.

Astuto instructed Baselice "in sum and substance," the indictment stated, to tell Camuso "that the job 'starts next week' and that he was 'gonna make it . . . 110 plus the 25 . . . What's 2,000 times 52 weeks?"

A month later, on June 16, 2019, Camuso wanted to find out whether Chierchio, whom they referred to as "Jerry" in their discussion, was fulfilling his obligations in the kickback scheme, according to the indictment. In his response to Camuso, Baselice's opinion about the cooperation by the Genovese mobster was lukewarm, according to the indictment.

"Baselice stated in sum and substance to Frank Camuso that 'Jerry came through with the scope of work on Thursday,' but that he was 'two, three weeks behind'" in his payments, the indictment stated.

Sources say the prosecutors used documents and other materials that the NYPD seized during a court authorized search of Camuso's $1.5 million home in the Huguenot section of Staten Island as well as information that New Jersey cops seized during searches of a car and an apartment in Jersey City that was owned by Astuto.

If convicted at trial, Baselice, charged with first degree grand larceny, faces up to 25 years in prison. Camuso faces up to 15 years if found guilty of the top count against him, money laundering. Chierchio, Astuto and Noto face up to 15 years if convicted of the second degree grand larceny charges against them.

Gene Borrello Braves 'Strep Throat' & Tampa Bay Fans To Root For Cowboys In Their Monday Night Football Win Over The Buccaneers; Feds Tell Judge To Lock Him Up For Three Years

Gene Borrello, the hot-headed ex-gangster turned-informer-turned-podcaster from Howard Beach, seems to have zero credibility left with the feds.

The former cooperating witness was seen and heard on Instagram proudly cheering on the Dallas Cowboys during their Monday Night Football 31-14 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, even though a claimed bad case of strep throat got him a postponement of his sentencing date yesterday.

The feds suspect he lied about getting strep throat. Worse, they now describe him as a certified danger to the community who should be put back behind bars for three years.

Federal prosecutors had previously sought just eight-months for Borrello's second violation of supervised release (VOSR) in 2021. But in a fairly stunning move, the feds yesterday asked Brooklyn Federal Judge Frederic Block to give Borrello three years for that VOSR. They also asked Block to conduct a hearing and impose more time behind bars on yet another VOSR for a slew of lies and crimes that Borrello has committed in the past year.

"He is a danger to the community," wrote federal prosecutor Matthew Galeotti, noting that Borrello obtained permission to move to Florida by making "false statements" to the court. Since then, Borrello's "conduct has only become increasingly aggressive and dangerous," wrote Galeotti. "The defendant has breached this Court's trust over and over and over again."

Borrello has had a tough time in the Sunshine State since his arrival. He has been arrested twice for domestic abuse involving his then-girlfriend who was given an order of protection after Borrello allegedly "manhandled" her and took her cell phone and "smashed it on the ground and stomped on it," the prosecutor wrote.

Borrello also threatened to kill a second victim, a bartender, Galeotti added. In his memo, the prosecutor stated that Borrello had gotten an unidentified cohort to visit the lounge where the bartender worked and "lift up his shirt and reveal something black in his waistband," and tell him, "you're fucking dead."

That's not all: Borrello was also arrested last month on burglary charges, the prosecutor stated. And he "was again arrested by the Pinellas County Police Department for stalking" last week, on January 11. That was just one day before his lawyer Nancy Ennis emailed the Court and obtained an adjournment of his sentencing, stating her client had contracted strep throat.

In his filing yesterday, Galeotti questioned the veracity of that diagnosis, and asked Block to order Borrello to furnish "medical records" to confirm that assertion and sentence him to three years in prison on February 8.

If Borrello had strep throat on January 12, he could have easily recovered in time for the 8:15 kickoff for the grid iron battle between the Cowboys and Buccaneers on Monday since, as the Center for Disease Control notes on its website, folks "with strep throat should start feeling better in just a day or two after starting antibiotics."

In his social media account, Borrello seemed pretty chipper. "I'm a Cowboys fan, but I'm going to the game tonight," Borrello said, grinning under the Bucs hat he was wearing on his way to the game. He said he was "pretending" to be rooting for Tom Brady and the Bucs because if "somebody throws something at me in the stands, you know I'm going to go crazy," he said, referring to his often-admitted propensity for violent explosions, verbal and otherwise.

"So I'll be pretending, 'Go Bucs,' No. Go Cowboys," Borrello continued, repeating later, just in case some of his Instagram followers didn't get his drift, "I got a Bucs hat on. But I'm really a Cowboys fan."

And in a later posting, while sitting with Tampa Bay fans in Raymond James Stadium who were watching their beloved Bucs get trounced by his Cowboys, he couldn't control himself, shouting, "Let's Go Cowboys."

Borrello moved to Florida in July, after Judge Block postponed his sentencing for three months and let him move there after defense lawyer Ennis filed a phony-looking letter stating that Borrello had been offered a job as a roofer that turned out to be a "complete fabrication," according to the owner of the roofing company, Robin Sherer, of T&G Roofing of Oldsmar, Florida.

"We did not offer this guy a job," Sherer told Gang Land last year when he was asked about the unsigned and undated letter. Noting that it contained much bogus info about his company, Sherer said he had "never written a letter like this" and that "no one from my company wrote this."

In last year's ruling, Block indicated that he intended to give Borrello a no-jail sentence if his new gig and his new digs in the Tampa Bay area helped keep him out of trouble with the law and his old former friends and cohorts in Howard Beach.

It remains to be seen how great the easy going, lenient sentencing Judge Block thinks things have turned out when Borrello, who's looking for a pass, faces the music.

Prosecutors Say Mob-Linked Restaurateur Should Be Behind Bars; But Two Violent Assault Cases Against Tommy Manzo Seem Stalled With No Trial Dates In Sight

Luchese mobster John Perna is in the second year of a 30-month bid for assaulting the current husband of former Real Housewives of New Jersey TV star Dina Manzo in 2015 on behalf of her ex-hubby, Tommy Manzo. But Perna may be home before Manzo goes to trial for allegedly commissioning the dirty deed and then rewarding Perna with a unique Gang Land gift: a lavish wedding reception for more than 300 guests at a Paterson N.J banquet hall he owns.

In addition to the federal court charge of ordering Perna's "slapjack" assault of Dina's then-boyfriend David Cantin in July of 2015, Manzo is also awaiting trial in state court for stalking the former reality TV star for years and for ordering the armed robbery and the violent home invasion of the couple's home in 2017.

The two cases have been on hold since May of 2021 when Manzo, who had been indicted on federal charges along with Perna a year earlier, was charged by Monmouth County prosecutors with ordering the 2017 home invasion robbery of Cantin and Dina Manzo.

So far, Manzo's only penalty has been the 10 days he spent behind bars as a danger to the community before he was released on bail by a Superior Court Judge.

Perna, who had been caught on videotape and fingered by a cohort, pleaded guilty in federal court in December of 2020 to assault in aid of racketeering. From then on, the federal case against Manzo, proceeded at a snail's pace until May of 2021, when Manzo was charged with the 2017 home invasion robbery of Cantin and Dina Manzo.

At that point, the federal case against Manzo came to a virtual stop. The state case went nowhere, as well, as Manzo's high-powered attorney David Critchley filed discovery motions and contested the validity of the charges in each case. The lawyer also questioned the use by prosecutors in each case of more than 300 pages of documents about Cantin and Dina Manzo that the FBI seized during a search of Manzo's office in 2019.

Last August, sources say both cases stopped completely for more than three months, when Critchley and Manzo had a falling out, and the lawyer sought, and was granted permission to withdraw as his attorney in both cases.

On November 17, Manzo retained another high-powered Garden State barrister, Red Bank attorney Christopher Adams, according to court records in the federal case. Adams did not respond to a Gang Land call, but sources say the veteran lawyer also represents Manzo in the state case, and has been reviewing the discovery in both cases for the last two months. The sources say to expect some "action" in each case this month.

Since Manzo faces two violent assault charges, the defendant is between a rock and a hard place. If he decides to contest the charges at trial, he has to win two trials to avoid incarceration, and a key decision for Adams would be which case to try first.

If Adams decides to try and negotiate a plea deal for his client, he's got to convince state and federal prosecutors to go easy — which seems difficult. Since Perna has already taken a 30-month sentence for the assault, it's likely that the feds would want Manzo to get at least as much time behind bars, if not more.

Another complication in the state case is James (Jimmy Balls) Mainello, the Luchese gangster whom Manzo allegedly used for the home invasion robbery and assault of Cantin and Dina Manzo. Mainello was arrested in 2019 and he'll have to agree to a plea deal, since it's unlikely that the state will give one defendant a plea deal if the co-defendant wants to go to trial.

And while assistant U.S. attorneys Grady O'Malley and Kendall Randolph and assistant district attorney Caitlin Sidely have shared evidence linking Manzo to his alleged disdain for his ex-wife and the boyfriend she married in 2017, their primary concerns are for their own cases.

They each have their own theories about which case should be tried first, and how much time behind bars their defendants should get, if they cop guilty pleas, or go to trial and get convicted.

The only real development in either case since Manzo's arrest in the state case, was the release on bail in July of 2021 of Jimmy Balls. His attorney, Marco Laracca, pushed for trial, or bail for his client, who had been behind bars for 26 months. Mainello "is working construction while he waits for his day in court," said Laracca, the only lawyer who responded to a request for comment from Gang Land.

[Dr031718]

[CornerBoy]

look at Bragg prosecuting the "eye-talians" while letting other types of ppl commit armed robbery be realeased on own recognizance.

Look at MS13, russian mob, the incessant street crime.

This should take a backseat to all the other depraved shit going on in thsi city.

[JohnnyS]

Thanks for posting.

[TSNYC]

I don’t know Baselice’s work background but he was convicted on a Queens bookmaking case years ago, to see him as an exec at s mid size to larger construction manager firm is a little strange to me.

Thanks for posting

[Chucky]

Borrello being a Cowboys fan is very on brand

[Snakes]

Borrello being a Cowboys fan is very on brand

Jackass is also wearing a Bucs hat in the Ganglang pic

[TommyGambino]

First Campos, now Camuso, Fillipelli next? That’s 3 huge earning Gambino capos

[DonPeppino386]

Thanks for posting.

[JakeTheSnake630]

Borello is a complete tard, kid can't help himself.

[NorthBuffalo]

These constructions scams these days are quite interesting - its really astounding these mob-linked firms still get the contracts despite how much they've been driven out of unions and governing bodies. If anyone has access to this indictment on Camuso, please post a link - would love to know how they manage to even get these contracts in 2023. Shows these guys really are smarter than you would think.

[Dr031718]

These constructions scams these days are quite interesting - its really astounding these mob-linked firms still get the contracts despite how much they've been driven out of unions and governing bodies. If anyone has access to this indictment on Camuso, please post a link - would love to know how they manage to even get these contracts in 2023. Shows these guys really are smarter than you would think.

Have not seen the indictment yet. The only thing released so far is the statement of facts. The link was posted earlier in the thread

[Cheech]

Cheirchio is everywhere. Jesus

[Tonyd621]

All released without bail lol. That must destroy the morale of those DAs trying to make a name for themselves in these mob cases trying to grab headlines.

[Dr031718]

If anyone can find a photo of Camuso from yesterdays bust that would be appreciated. The one in GL was old