Gangland June 6th 2024

[Dr031718]

Feds Say The Bonannos Paid A Detective To Raid Rival Genovese Gambling Parlors Without Any Evidence To Back That Up

Ex-Nassau County Police Department detective Hector Rosario and mob associate Salvatore Russo make an odd couple. Once Rosario had only kind words for Russo. These days, any comments are likely unprintable. But back in 2016, detective Rosario gushed with praise for Russo who was facing up to two years in prison for failing to pay $400,000 in FICA taxes to the IRS.

Rosario wrote Central Islip Federal Judge Joanna Seybert that Russo was "an integral" member of the communities where he lived and worked. He stated that Russo was a "dedicated father, and husband and strongly believes in family" — meaningful words coming from a member of the county police force.

Thanks in part to Rosario's endorsement, Russo caught a pass on the tax evasion rap. But a year later, he was arrested for selling a pound of cocaine to an undercover agent for $38,000, and for conspiring to sell five more kilos of coke. Facing 40 years behind bars, Russo, 50, knew that this time a letter from a detective wasn't going to help get him off the hook.

So Russo flipped, and hrew his detective pal directly under the bus, fingering Rosario as a corrupt cop, Gang Land has learned.

As a result, prosecutors included Rosario in indictments they filed two years ago charging the Bonanno and Genovese crime families with sharing a lucrative gambling operation at a Lynbrook ice cream parlor for 10 years.

Russo's name doesn't appear in any of the filings that prosecutors have entered so far in the case against Rosario. But sources say he is the key government witness against the ex-cop. But among the public accusations the feds have levelled against Rosario is that he took cash from the Bonanno crime family to raid a rival Genovese family gambling parlor.

To find a bribery charge, however, you have to read between the lines of the racketeering indictments. Nowhere is there a specific charge against Rosario or any of the Bonanno wiseguys who are accused of racketeering, or any other family members or associates. Instead, the feds merely made bald allegations that Rosario "raid(ed) competing gambling businesses in exchange for payment."

Rosario, 51, is charged only with obstruction of justice for trying to stymie a federal grand jury investigation in January of 2020, and for lying to an FBI agent on January 27, 2020 by denying he knew the identity of a "John Doe" whose name was known by the grand jury, or "the gambling business known as Sal's Shoe Repair" that the Genovese family operated.

Those are serious charges for which Rosario has been fired from his $160,000 a-year job as a detective, but not as serious as bribery charges. Two years later, the ex-cop maintains his innocence. Eight defendants in two companion cases charging members and associates of the Bonanno and Genovese crime families with racketeering and illegal gambling have resolved their charges with plea deals.

Last month, Bonanno mobsters Vito and Anthony (Little Anthony) Pipitone pleaded guilty to racketeering and illegal gambling charges — just as Genovese wiseguys had done in April. On the same day, Rosario, who is charged with obstruction and lying to the FBI in the same indictment as the Pipitone brothers, rejected a global plea deal and opted for trial.

Sources say Rosario is hoping to win an acquittal in the case and be reinstated by the NCPD, where he worked for 15 years, from 2007 until his arrest on August 16, 2022.

On that day, Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Breon Peace announced that the Bonannos and Genoveses had shared a lucrative illegal gambling operation at the Gran Caffe Gelateria for 10 years. In addition, Peace, the FBI and the Nassau County District Attorney's office, stated that each crime family had also operated separate illegal gambling parlors, including one run by Genovese associate Salvatore (Sal The Shoemaker) Rubino, the proprietor of Sal's Shoe Repair.

In seeking a "substantial bail package" for Rosario, prosecutors wrote that the detective "did favors at the behest of members of the Bonanno crime family, including offering to use his position as a police detective to raid competing gambling businesses in exchange for payment." One those competitors that Rosario allegedly agreed to raid was Sal's Shoe Repair.

In a news release, Peace said Rosario had engaged in "shameful conduct" and had "betrayed his oath of office and the honest men and women of the NCPD when he allegedly aligned himself with criminals." The prosecutor said the ex-cop's behavior was "even more disturbing" than the crimes allegedly committed by the gangsters. Statements by Nassau County DA Anne Donnelly and New York FBI boss Michael Driscoll, echoed Peace's remarks about Rosario.

The news release also stated that as "detailed in the indictments and other court filings," Rosario, "a detective with the NCPD, accepted money from the Bonanno crime family in exchange for offering to arrange police raids of competing gambling locations."

The U.S. Attorney's office declined to provide any court filings backing up claims that Rosario accepted cash from the Bonanno family for raiding Sal's Shoe Repair. Its spokesman declined to explain why no one was charged with bribe-related charges in the case, or comment on the status of Russo as the key government witness against Rosario. The ex-detective did not respond to a Gang Land request for comment. His attorney, Louis Freeman, declined to comment.

Sources say that Rosario, was not the first person that Russo agreed to cooperate against when he was arrested for selling coke in November of 2017.

That distinction belongs to his cousin, Damiano (Danny) Zummo, the Bonanno soldier who was videotaped inducting an informer into the crime family in a Hamilton Ontario hotel room, and who was involved in the coke sale with Russo to an undercover agent in September of 2017.

Sources say that during his cooperation, Russo was wired up by the FBI and has taped conversations with Zummo, as well as with Rosario.

In a recording with Rosario, "Russo takes Hector to a grow house and says look what's here" as they entered the marijuana hot house, said one source. "The cop says, 'What the fuck are you bringing me here for?' And Russo tell him. 'It's no big deal. I've gotta make a delivery. You don’t have to touch anything. Just follow me and if I get stopped maybe you can squash it for me.' He says, 'I'm not doing that,' and he splits."

The sources say that Russo did get Rosario to raid Rubino's social club in Merrick where gamblers played Scala Quaranta, an Italian Rummy game played with two decks and four Jokers. "It wasn't for money," said one source, but because "he was pissed off" that Sal The Shoemaker's Genovese cohorts "were screwing him" at another social club that they ran in West Babylon.

"It was a combination of things," said one source. "They were not paying him what they owed him for the club, and he thought they were not giving him a fair share of what they were taking in at the club (which was part of his deal) so he tipped off the cops about Sal's club with the idea that they wouldn't suspect him," the source said.

Russo has not spent any time behind bars in the 10 years since he was charged in 2014 with failing to pay the IRS $400,000 in FICA taxes for nearly $3 million in wages that workers earned at autobody shops that he and his father owned in Medford and Roslyn from 2010 through 2012.

In December of 2016, when Russo entered a halfway house for a month stay that was ordered by Judge Seybert, he tested positive for morphine and codeine. He said he took his girlfriend's prescription pain meds before he entered because "his back was bothering him," according to a report by his probation officer.

The probation officer noted that after a discussion, Russo "grasped an understanding of the reason why he could not ingest another individual's medications" and recommended that Seybert overlook the "unlawful use of a controlled substance." The judge agreed to take "no action" for his VOSR on January 3, 2017.

Later that year, when Russo was arrested on the drug charges with Zummo, in violation of his three years of supervised release, Seybert decided she'd had enough of Russo. She agreed to let the judge who was assigned to handle his drug case, Brooklyn Federal Judge Eric Vitaliano, who is also assigned to Rosario's case, sentence Russo for his VOSR.

That hasn't happened yet. His sentence has been adjourned without date, and most likely will not happen until after he has testified against Rosario, if he maintains his intention to take his chances at trial, which is scheduled for February.

It's been a busy time for Russo. In addition to the work he's been doing for the feds, he's done quite a bit of traveling out of New York for personal reasons. And things seem to have gone pretty well for the snitch since he flipped nearly seven years ago.

Russo's taken his three kids to an indoor waterpark in Massachusetts, made several trips to Illinois to help a daughter move in and out of her college dorm, and numerous trips to The Meadowlands to attend the American Dream Mall with his younger daughter, and last year with his son to watch the futile Giants, or perhaps the sad sack Jets play. He's also taken vacation trips with his girlfriend to Fort Lauderdale, Lake George, and Saratoga Springs.

Ex-Hubby Of Real Housewives Of New Jersey Star Dina Manzo Guilty Of The Bloody Assault Of Dina's Boyfriend

Thomas Manzo had good reason to want to delay his trial for ordering the brutal assault of the boyfriend of his ex-wife Dina Manzo, the Reality TV star of the Real Housewives of New Jersey, as long as he could. But he was dead wrong not to cop the best plea deal he could since he knew that the feds had more evidence than they needed to convict him at trial.

He was found guilty Tuesday of all counts regarding the bloody assault of David Cantin — Dina's then boyfriend, now husband. The verdict was delivered by a nine-woman, three-man jury who deliberated for 11 hours spread out over three days. It followed a two-week trial before Newark Federal Judge Susan Wigenton.

The jurors had a plenty to consider: They saw a video of Cantin getting hit over the head with a "slapjack" about 15 times, causing a head wound that required 11 staples to close. They saw and heard Cantin describe the pain he survived back in July of 2015 when he was assaulted by Luchese mobster John Perna and the trauma that he suffered during the ensuing years.

The jurors saw and heard Dina Manzo testify about the "screaming" phone call she got from Cantin minutes after he was attacked. She told how the call came as she was attending a spectacular wedding reception for her niece at The Brownstone owned by her jealous ex-husband. She testified that she immediately "knew" her ex had ordered the bloody assault based on the threats he had leveled at her for seeing Cantin.

They heard Dina testify that the assault had been her "worst fear" — one that began when her ex-hubby learned that she and Cantin would be returning to New Jersey so she could attend her niece's wedding. She knew "in my brain," she testified, "it would be the people he hangs out with, the kitchen staff, who are tough guys" would do his dirty work. "He never does it himself," she said, "so his people" would do it.

"I know my ex-husband," she testified. "He could be a dangerous man."

And the jury saw and heard turncoat Luchese gangster Lorenzo Tripodi testify that Manzo discussed the planned assault with him and Perna four times in the parking lot of The Brownstone where he gave them a packet of info about Cantin as well as his photograph to assist them in locating their intended victim.

At their third meeting, Tripodi testified that Manzo was "extremely aggravated and pissed off" that "it was taking too long," for him and Perna to get the job done, and Manzo told Tripodi, "You don't — you don't understand what I want. I want you to cut his fucking face like this," he said, thrusting his arm forward.

"I am saying it calmly," Tripodi testified, "but that's not how he was saying it to me," he said. "He almost put the hand on my face to mark (the spot) that he wanted his face cut," he testified. He said Manzo told them: "I want him, every time he looks in the mirror, I want him to think of me."

The jurors also listened to taped talks between Perna and Tripodi about the assault, and heard Anthony Rubino, the CFO of The Brownstone, testify how Manzo planned to cover up the fact that his banquet hall had given Perna a free wedding reception for 272 guests, testimony that was corroborated by tape recordings of Manzo discussing his plans with Rubino.

Manzo, whose sentencing guidelines prosecutor Kendall Randolph wrote were six and half years before trial, now faces up to 20 years when he is sentenced. That is currently scheduled for October. Until then, Judge Wigenton ordered home confinement for the convicted defendant.

And for Manzo, 59, it is not over: He also faces trial in Monmouth County Superior Court for stalking the former reality TV star for years and for ordering the armed robbery and the violent home invasion of the couple at their Holmdel NJ home in 2017.

Bazoo Buddy Says He's Mended His Ways; All He Wants To Do Now Is Keep Selling Caddys

Mob associate Thomas Costa is looking for a complete exit from the blockbuster case against the hierarchy of the Colombo family. Costa who was charged along with Bonanno soldier John (Bazoo) Ragano with loansharking against a codefendant, is seeking a "time-served" sentence of four months for the loansharking caper and for being part of a drug dealing operation with Ragano and their codefendant victim.

Since his January 12, 2022 release from "unduly harsh" conditions at the Metropolitan Detention Center following his arrest, Costa says he has "closed a regrettable chapter in his life" and gone back to work for a car dealer where he has been promoted to general manager and "is responsible for about 25 employees" at the Smithtown dealership, according to his attorney.

The four months Costa, 55, has served behind bars plus two years of supervised release added to the time he has already served under supervision by the Probation Department, would be a "just punishment" that is "sufficient but not greater than necessary" to satisfy the goals of sentencing, lawyer Lawrence Carra argues.

Since his release on a $750,000 bond, his client "has not only acquired gainful employment," but has been "recognized in his field as one of the most successful Cadillac car salesmen in the U.S." while working for King O'Rourke Cadillac Buick GMC in Smithtown, Carra wrote.

In seeking a sentence much lower than his guidelines term of 33-to-41months from Brooklyn Federal Judge Hector Gonzalez, Carra noted that Costa is a grandfather who wants nothing more than to work hard and spend his time with his fiancé, his four children and eight grandchildren who have supported his recovery in the 28 months since his release from the MDC.

Carra also cited the glowing letters of support Costa has received from the woman he's been living with for eight years, Joy Treanor, and his ex-wife of 25 years, who stated that Costa has "transformed himself from a person who was physically present to an emotionally involved participant in our family" that "will be impacted unfavorably without his presence."

In addition to Ragano and Costa, Colombo wiseguys Vincent (Vinny Unions) Ricciardo and Michael Uvino also took part in using extortionate means to try and collect $250,000 from codefendant Vincent Martino, who was a partner of Ragano, Costa and Ricciardo in a plot to distribute marijuana from October 2020 to September of 2021, when they were all arrested.

Unlike Bazoo, who is charged with continuing to extort Martino from November of 2022 until July of last year, Costa didn't try to collect the debt from Martino, which had been owed to Uvino and Ragano, after he copped a plea deal in December of 2022.

In their sentencing letter to Gonzalez, prosecutors Devon Lash, Michael Gibaldi and David Reich cited the "serious" crimes that Costa had committed, namely loansharking and drug trafficking. They also stated that Costa had picked up ammunition for a .38 caliber handgun from a cooperating witness and delivering it to Vinny Unions in 2021.

But in a marked departure from the norm, the prosecutors did not ask Gonzalez to impose a prison term within the sentencing guidelines in the plea agreement.

Instead, they noted that Carra had "several mitigating factors, including Costa's "medical condition," and his work "performance" during his pretrial release, and his "promotion at his place of employment" that could be "properly considered by the Court in fashioning an appropriate sentence" when Costa faces the music for his crimes next week.

[AntComello]

Thanks for posting.

[Tonyd621]

Thank for posting. Sal Russo has never been to jail. He seems to be a very soft individual. These families need to do a better job of recognizing certain characteristics of these people. It sounds ridiculous saying that out loud to myself, but...

[NYNighthawk]

what happened to the auto repair shops they owned?

[OcSleeper]

Costa was proposed for membership too.

Thanks for posting. Could last weeks GL be posted too?

[Dr031718]

Costa was proposed for membership too.

Thanks for posting. Could last weeks GL be posted too?

Just posted last weeks. Sorry I was on vacation and forgot to upload

[OcSleeper]

All good, appreciate you sharing them for us

[bluehouse]

selling a pound of cocaine to an undercover agent for $38,000

Either this is a typo or these guys have no contacts whatsoever in that world.You can get a whole kilo in NY for under 30k.Anyone willing to pay more than that is usually an undercover.Apond should be no more than 16k