Gangland 6/15/2023

[Dr031718]

Hot-Shot Restaurateur Comes Out Shooting In Robbery Led By A Colombo Gangster

It was a robbery right out of a Hollywood thriller: A quintet of mobbed-up thieves waylay a prominent restaurant owner, grabbing a bag filled with thousands of dollars from the night's receipts. But the caper goes bad when the victim blasts one of his assailants who, bleeding badly from his wounds, screeches away, managing to deliver the loot to his boss just before passing out at an all-night garage where the cops grabbed him.

It took two years for the feds to grab other members of the crew, but this week a Colombo gangster and an alleged drug dealing crony were arrested for the vicious assault and robbery of a well-known Staten Island restaurant owner, Gang Land has learned.

The robbery of prominent restaurateur Alessandro (Alex) Borgognone took place in November, 2021, but feds say that they've now got the goods to charge Colombo associate Vincent (Vinnie Mercedes) Salanardi, who allegedly planned the robbery and escaped with a bag filled with $10,000 in cash that Borgognone was carrying.

During the heist, Borgognone managed to shoot a third robber who accosted him as the restaurant impresario was entering a parking garage after leaving his opulent 260-seat restaurant in the Dongan Hills section of the island borough.

Borgognone opened the Baci Ristorante in July of 2020, following the success of a sister Brooklyn restaurant, Baci Ristorante of Bay Ridge. It was the latest in a string of successes for Borgognone whose other endeavors include restoring and reopening Chumley's, the legendary former Greenwich Village speakeasy as a bar-restaurant. Borgognone was also the co-founder of the Japanese restaurant, Sushi Nakazawa, a few blocks away in the Village.

Salanardi, 31, of Staten Island, and a second accused thief, Marlon (Marl) Bellefleur, 48, of East Orange, NJ, were arrested Tuesday on federal robbery charges and detained without bail pending a hearing in Brooklyn Federal Court tomorrow before a U.S. magistrate judge.

In a detention memo, assistant U.S attorney Garen Marshall alleged that Vinnie Mercedes gave Bellefleur the weapon that he then used to assault Borgognone, and that he "told Bellefleur" and the three other thieves he recruited for the robbery "to beat up the Victim in order to teach (him) a lesson" when he walked out of the restaurant on November 22, 2021.

Hours before Salanardi's thugs jumped Borgognone as he left the restaurant, Vinnie Mercedes was seen on surveillance video "taking a weapon, which appears to have been a baton or baseball bat" from the trunk of his car and handing it to Bellefleur, the prosecutor wrote.

Presumably to help his disguise, Vinnie Mercedes was driving his mother's white Volkswagen that evening. According to the feds, the five-man robbery team also gave themselves plenty of time, arriving at the garage in a three-car caravan at 6:19 PM. That was a good three and a half hours before "Salanardi knew that" Borgognone would be leaving his eatery with a "small bag" containing about $10,000 in cash, Marshall wrote.

Salanardi pointed out the door Borgognone would be coming through, and "rearranged their cars to prepare for the robbery," according to the memo. The Colombo hoodlum also told them he "would flash the VW's headlights to let the others know that it was time to attack the Victim," the prosecutor wrote.

The crew had their timing down correctly: At 9:48 PM, according to the surveillance video, Borgognone, "carrying a small dark colored bag" walked into the garage. Vinnie Mercedes "flashed the VW's headlights" and "Bellefleur and the other coconspirators" attacked the restaurant owner, the prosecutor wrote.
Salanardi allegedly watched from his car as Bellefleur and a second robber used the weapons he had given them and attacked the restaurant owner. Bellefleur's son, who was also recruited for the robbery, punched Borgognone as another thief, identified only as "Coconspirator-1," placed him in a headlock and grabbed the bag of cash from him, Marshall wrote.

Then things went bad — for the bad guys. Borgognone, who is identified only as the "Victim" in the filings, was armed with a small handgun which he promptly used to "shoot Coconspirator-1 three times." He then ran back into the restaurant, the prosecutor wrote.

Salanardi screeched away in his VW, as Bellefleur, his son, and a third crony sped away in Bellefleur's Audi. Meanwhile the badly wounded "Coconspirator-1" drove off in his Toyota Corolla, literally holding the bag, according to the filing.

During the next half-hour, the prosecutor wrote, from 9:52 PM to 10:22 PM, Salanardi spoke on his cell phone to Coconspirator-1, who sources tell Gang Land is Anthony Caruso, 44, of Staten Island. Salanardi allegedly told him to "drive to the Staten Island Mall" where the duo met up and Caruso handed over the bag of cash. Vinnie Mercedes then fled.

Caruso drove to a nearby gas station where he passed out. Police, responding to a 911 call from the clerk, found the shooting victim lying on the ground in front of the station. He was suffering from gunshot wounds in his "right bicep, right side of the neck and the groin." He was taken to the Richmond University Medical Center, according to a Staten Island Advance story about the shooting.

The Advance reported that the victim, who was expected to recover from his injuries, had been shot in a parking lot behind a Dongan Hills strip mall at about 9:50 PM on November 22, 2021 "in the rear of 1657 Richmond Road," which is the street address of Baci Ristorante.

Salanardi is currently serving a nine month stretch at Rikers Island for stalking and harassing a young woman by chasing her, "brandishing a knife and stating 'I will kill you.'" If convicted, he faces up to 20 years. So does Bellefleur, who supplied opiates and cocaine to Caruso for a year, according to the government's detention memo.

The Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's office declined to discuss the status of Caruso, or Bellefleur's son, or whether Borgognone was licensed to carry the handgun he used to defend himself from the Salanardi robbery crew.

Neither Borgognone, nor his brother Sal, the manager of Baci Ristorante, responded to a call from Gang Land about the robbery. An attorney for the Borgognones had no comment, except to state, "The Borgognone family did not cooperate, in any way, with the U.S. Attorney's Office."

In a feature story in the Advance, Borgognone told reporter Carol Ann Benanti that the Baci Ristorante menu of mostly Southern Italian recipes was copied from the concept that had "worked really well in Brooklyn — fine food amid Italian casual dining. It's not pretentious in any way. You can walk in with a T-shirt and a pair of jeans," he said, "and you can be dressy as well if you choose."

"We seat 140 in the main dining room (that features a "full size, live, bamboo tree," the paper noted) and 120 in our roof top party room. There's also outdoor dining in front of the main dining room."

And the place, which was doing very well in November of 2021 when Salanardi & Company robbed Borgognone, is still doing well, according to its website.

Editor's Note: Gang Land tips it hat to Alan K. Rode for reminding us that the famous "round up the usual suspects" quote in Casablanca was uttered by Claude Rains.

Murderous Mob Boss Vic Amuso Seeks Compassion From His Life Sentence

Imprisoned for life Mafia boss Vittorio (Vic) Amuso doesn't want to surpass the unenviable longevity record that fellow mob chieftain Carmine (Junior) Persico set four years ago. In 2019, Persico, who was never convicted of a murder, died behind bars at age 86 after 34 years of the 100-year sentence he received for his bid rigging conviction in the historic Commission case.

Amuso, who is 88, will complete his 32d year behind bars next month. The once-feared boss of the Luchese crime family is seeking a compassionate release from the life sentence he has been serving since his arrest in 1991.

But Amuso, who was found guilty of ordering nine mob murders, would appear to have an even tougher chance of obtaining an early prison release than the late Colombo family boss.

Through his longshot motion filed with Brooklyn Federal Court Judge Frederic Block last week, Amuso also seeks to avoid the demise behind bars that two other Cosa Nostra peers, the contemporary leaders of the Gambino and Genovese families, John Gotti and Vincent (Chin) Gigante, each suffered following their racketeering convictions in the 1990s.

In seeking a "time served" sentence, Amuso's lawyers argue that his "advanced age and severe chronic medical conditions" coupled with "his long imprisonment and perfect institutional record" are "extraordinary and compelling" reasons why he should receive a compassionate release under the provisions of the First Step Act "concerning the early release of elderly inmates."

The attorneys wrote that Amuso, who was moved early this year to the Butner, North Carolina prison complex that houses a medical center, "suffers from serious medical ailments that have largely rendered him immobile." They stated that his health has declined so rapidly in the last six months that it has "substantially diminished his ability to provide self-care within a prison setting."

"Amuso's life expectancy is grim, and his advanced age and deteriorating health render his remaining quality of life negligible" if he remains incarcerated, attorneys Anthony DiPietro, James Froccaro and Mathew Mari stated in their filing with Judge Block.

While Amuso was able to cope with his chronic arthritis in his knees and hips for many years by using a cane during his incarceration, the lawyers wrote that Bureau of Prison officials recently described his condition as "unstable" and stated that he required "complex chronic care" and "requires (a) wheelchair" to get around.

"While not discounting the seriousness" of the crimes of "racketeering, extortion, fraud, bribery, and murder" for which he was convicted, the lawyers wrote that "the aims of sentencing have been achieved by Mr. Amuso's service of 31-plus years of imprisonment and there is truly no penological interest to be further achieved by the continued confinement of (the) elderly and sick inmate."

Butner warden L.B. Kelly disagreed with that assertion. He rejected a compassionate release request that Amuso had submitted to the BOP before he was transferred to the Butner facility.

In his rejection letter, Kelly noted that Amuso did "not have a terminal illness" with a "life expectancy of less than 18 months," and that he did "not have (a) debilitated medical condition." On the contrary, the warden asserted, Amuso's "medical conditions (were) under control."

"At present," Kelly wrote, "you are receiving appropriate medical care and treatment by Health Services staff" that is "committed to providing you with the necessary and appropriate care for your medical needs."

In their appeal to Block, Amuso's lawyers argue that even Amuso's "non-medical circumstances are an extraordinary and compelling reason" for compassion. "Amuso is not the same defendant who stood before the Court" and was convicted of conspiring with his underboss Anthony (Gaspipe) Casso to murder rival gangsters who crossed them in the late 1980s, they wrote.

"His circumstances have dramatically and materially changed," the attorneys wrote, noting that he "has maintained a spotless institutional record" without "a single disciplinary infraction" in prison. That achievement is "compelling evidence" of Amuso's "maturation and rehabilitation" during his incarceration "despite having had no realistic hope of release before the end of his life."

Noting that the First Step Act, and proposed amendments by the U.S. Sentencing Commission that take effect in November have "expanded the list of extraordinary and compelling reasons" that judges may consider "in deciding prisoner-based motions," the lawyers asked Block to release Amuso to family members "who will ensure that he will be well cared for during his final days."

Prosecutors were ordered to respond to Amuso's motion within 30 days. Gang Land expects they will oppose Amuso's motion, as they did in 2021 when now 88-year-old ex-acting Colombo boss Victor (Little Vic) Orena, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, sought his own compassionate release. In Amuso's case, it's a virtual certainty the feds will cite his position as official boss of the Luchese family as a major reason for their opposition.

Arrested in a shopping mall near Scranton Pennsylvania in July of 1991 after 14 months on the lam by two FBI agents, Amuso was found guilty of nine mob rubouts and many other crimes on the testimony of turncoat Luchese wiseguys Peter (Fat Pete) Chiodo and Alfonso (Little Al) D'Arco in 1992 and sentenced to life in prison by Judge Eugene Nickerson.

When D'Arco walked into court, Amuso "shot him a look of contempt," wrote reporter Pete Bowles, who covered the month-long trial for Newsday. But when Little Al testified that he had given Amuso and Casso a $12,000 tribute at Christmas, Amuso gave his ex-acting boss a sarcastic smile and mouthed the words, "Thank you," Little Al recalled in Mob Boss, the book about Little Al by Tom Robbins and Gang Land.

During most of the courtroom confrontation between the two former friends, Amuso seemed forlorn, recalled former FBI agent Lucian Gandolfo. "He sat there by himself. Never said a word. Rarely looked up. When he did, he was expressionless."

What's App, Doc? Feds Say Genovese Family Financial Whiz A Key Player In Their Colombo Case

Albert Alimena seemed like an after-thought addition to the blockbuster case against the hierarchy of the Colombo crime family in April of last year. It came seven months after the feds had arrested family boss Andrew (Mush) Russo, and four days after he had died. Alimena's name rose in both rank — he's now the lead defendant — and the feds say he's a significant player in the government's case.

The feds say Alimena, who is seeking to have his case severed from the upcoming trial of five wiseguys, should stay right where he is. They claim that he is a financial whiz, and was a major player in the crime family's scheme to steal benefit funds from a construction workers union.

Alimena, 69, was identified as a longtime Genovese crime family associate in the 2018 labor racketeering case against Vincent Esposito, the son of Vincent (Chin) Gigante. In the Colombo case he is charged with conspiring with the Colombo mobsters to extort $10,000 a month from Health Funds of Local 621 of the United Construction Trades & Industrial Employees Union (UCTIE.)

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn laid out much of their evidence against Alimena last week to counter a claim by Alimena's attorney, Jacob Laufer, that Judge Hector Gonzalez had incorrectly described the government's evidence when he stated that Alimena had allegedly plotted with mobster Vincent (Vinny Unions) Ricciardo "to award vendor contracts to service providers."

In fact, Laufer, wrote, Alimena's company was a vendor to the funds, serving as a 'third party administrator,' (TPA) to "provide operational services such as claims processing and employee benefits management to the Fund."

The Court, Laufer argued, "mistakenly assign(ed) Alimena a central role" in the scheme, and that putting him on trial in a racketeering indictment with mobsters would be prejudicial since "Alimena is a man of retirement age, with no criminal record, (and) not a member of organized crime."

Because of "the untimely demise of Andrew Russo," Laufer wrote, his client "finds himself the lead defendant in United States v. Alimena." The indictment lists "decades of alleged organized crime conduct including extortion, a conspiracy to commit money laundering, health care fraud, loansharking, fraud in connection with identification documents, drug trafficking and unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition," he wrote.

In their reply, prosecutors note that Alimena "conveniently omits" that he "worked closely with his co-defendants" for more than six month at a time when he had no legal role with the union's health fund. Alimena also advised Ricciardo and others on how to cancel contracts so they could rebid them to vendors including himself in return for kicking back or embezzling funds, they wrote.

"By proceeding on the theory that Alimena's criminal culpability would only depend on what steps he or his company — the Dickinson Group — would have taken after the TPA contract was in place," the prosecutors wrote, Laufer "seeks to bypass the significant incriminating evidence of Alimena conspiring with Colombo family members and associates and doing their bidding."

And by arguing that because Alimena was not awarded a "vendor contract," he "committed no crime," Laufer "jumps over months of activity by Alimena" with Vinny Unions and other co-conspirators, they wrote. He also "proceeds on a hyperbolic claim that Alimena is the 'lead defendant' simply became his name is alphabetically listed first," they wrote.

"The labor racketeering conduct was and remains the central scheme" in the case, the prosecutors wrote, noting that the Colombo family plot "to divert thousands of dollars from the Health Fund's accounts was the principal focus of the government’s investigation and the forthcoming trial."

"Alimena had promised to kickback at least $10,000 on a monthly basis from his TPA contract to the Colombo crime family," but that never happened, the prosecutors wrote, because "the charges in this case were filed before any of the conspirators were able to divert actual benefit funds."

The defense motion also ignored numerous taped conversation that Ricciardo, and other codefendants had with Alimena, and about the role he would play in the scheme to steer $10,000 a month into the crime family's coffers, wrote prosecutors James McDonald, Michael Gibaldi, Devon Lash and Andrew Reich.

On January 22, 2021, they wrote, co-conspirator Andrew Koslosky and Ricciardo were recorded discussing "internal Health Fund paperwork" that Koslosky "had obtained in his role as a 'consultant' to the Health Fund" to Alimena.

"The government has evidence that a package of materials was then mailed by co-defendant Erin Thompkins to Alimena (along with the telephone number for Ricciardo's 'burner' cellphone), and that Alimena sent materials about the Health Fund back to Ricciardo on February 13, 2021, they wrote.

ALIMENA: All right so, you got the package, right?
V. RICCIARDO: Yea, you saw that?
ALIMENA: I broke everything down.
Vincent RicciardoV. RICCIARDO: Right.

And there's little doubt that Alimena would be much happier today if the feds hadn't been listening to their discussions for more than six months, based on what he told Vinny Unions on February 21, 2021.

ALIMENA: Listen, there’s something called WhatsApp.
V. RICCIARDO: Called what? Called what?
ALIMENA: When you talked to our mutual friend, it’s a good thing for you to download and put on this phone, ‘cause it’s encrypted end-to-end, so whatever you do, nobody can pick it up one way or the other.

[Dr031718]

[Southshore88]

Thanks for posting

[CabriniGreen]

Those Borgognones arnt pushovers.....Frankly, they seem like the ones who the Colombos should look to recruit.

Successful guys who ain't afraid to stand up for themselves and protect what's theirs. The Mob used to respect guys like this...no?

[DonPeppino386]

Thanks for posting. Didnt know Vic was moved. I highly doubt has motion will be granted. He's one that the govt wants to die behind bars for sure.

[outfit guy]

In order, the debacles and decline of the mob (excluding RICO) that was inevitable: Apalachan, No Work Put In to Get Made, Gotti, Vic and Gas. Maybe it would have survived another decade in a form that is respected. Perhaps the slow decline begins in 2010.
Can you believe these FEDS - 2 year investigation into a $10K robbery.

[DonPeppino386]

Can you believe these FEDS - 2 year investigation into a $10K robbery.

Exactly. Definitely the best use of tax payer money.

[TommyGambino]

Amuso is leaving in a box

[johnny_scootch]

Those Borgognones arnt pushovers.....Frankly, they seem like the ones who the Colombos should look to recruit.

Successful guys who ain't afraid to stand up for themselves and protect what's theirs. The Mob used to respect guys like this...no?

The Borgognones are respected because they make $$$$ they're definitely with someone but I'm not sure who. Go to either Baci on a Friday or Saturday night in the summer and you're sure to spot quite a few wiseguys eating and drinking. Seems like Salanardi was off on his own doing this, I doubt it was sanctioned by anyone.

[TSNYC]

For some reason I thought this restaurant was connected to teddy Persico. For the brief period he was out, he’d be there decent amount.

[newera_212]

Same Borgognone family that is connected to Patricia's , and where the Dad got a stern talking-to by Thomas Gioeli at La Palina for pretending to be a made guy? If so, seems like these guys have been back and forth on the Colombo fringes for a while. Going to be surprised if this guy had a licensed hand gun but also surprised if he's charged with anything

[MoLarryCurly]

Surprised they didn’t mention he’s Vinny baldie son, luchesse turncoat. Pretty messed up do a robbery someone gets shot and you make them meet you and take the money lol.

[TSNYC]

Surprised they didn’t mention he’s Vinny baldie son, luchesse turncoat. Pretty messed up do a robbery someone gets shot and you make them meet you and take the money lol.

Ha thought the same …. Wonder if he gave them any of the loot

…

Wonder if this is the same Marlon? Age seems to match up, if so, he’s been a robber his whole life:


Teen-Ager Killed After a Subway Robbery


By The Associated Press
Dec. 26, 1994


A teen-ager who had taken part in a subway robbery at the 191st Street IRT station in upper Manhattan was shot and killed early yesterday morning, apparently by the robbery victim, the transit police said.

The youth, Ed Corporan, 17, of 567 West 186th Street, was one of a group of four to six young men who had robbed someone shortly after 4 A.M. on a No. 1 train at the Washington Heights station, said Al O'Leary, a transit police spokesman.

Afterward, the group was in a passageway that leads from the station to Broadway when Mr. Corporan was shot in the chest, apparently by the man the youths had robbed on the train, Mr. O'Leary said.

The police described the assailant as a Hispanic man in his 30's, 5 feet 6 inches, weighing 200 pounds, with a beard and a light mustache and wearing a blue goose-down jacket.

Two members of the group were taken into custody yesterday. The two, Jerry Bellefleur, 17, and his brother, Marlon Bellefleur, 20, will probably be charged with robbery, Mr. O'Leary said.

[AntComello]

Those Borgognones arnt pushovers.....Frankly, they seem like the ones who the Colombos should look to recruit.

Successful guys who ain't afraid to stand up for themselves and protect what's theirs. The Mob used to respect guys like this...no?

And he had his lawyer make it clear that he is NOT cooperating with law enforcement lol

[aray22]

So I guess the assumption is the gunshot victim is cooperating?