Genovese mobsters nabbed for gambling, loan-sharking, cigarette smuggling

[willychichi]

Band of Genovese mobsters nabbed for gambling, loan-sharking, cigarette smuggling ring

A baker’s dozen of Genovese crime family associates were busted in a law enforcement crackdown on mob gambling, loan-sharking and bootlegging, officials said Thursday.

Among those busted in “Operation Shark Bait” was mob veteran Salvatore (Sallie) DeMeo, 76, a made man whose rap sheet includes a New Jersey bank robbery and a New York armored car heist back in 1996.

The other 12 defendants — including Anthony (Buckwheat) Giammmarino — were affiliates of the once-mighty crime family accused in the scheme that handled millions of dollars in gambling action through a wire room in Costa Rica, officials said.

The Genovese crew was also accused of a loansharking operation where customers were charged outrageous weekly interest on borrowed cash.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc ... -1.2912097

[Pogo The Clown]

Merry Christmas in the slammer.


Also a guy nicknamed "Buckwheat".


Pogo

[UTC]

Gambling? Don't care
Avoiding NYC taxes? Good
Loan sharking? Case specific

[SonnyBlackstein]

Every fucking Superbowl the DA grabs some popcorn headlines.

[Pogo The Clown]

Every fucking Superbowl the DA grabs some popcorn headlines.

Last year I made bail so fast my soup was still warm when I got home.


Pogo

[Wiseguy]

A.G. Schneiderman Announces Indictments Of 13 Individuals With Alleged Ties To Genovese Organized Crime Family For Illegal Loan Shark And Gambling Activities

Defendants Allegedly Operated Illegal Off-Shore Gambling Ring And Trapped Victims With High Weekly Usurious Loan Payments

Two Defendants Also Allegedly Sold Tens Of Thousands Of Untaxed Cigarettes In New York State

Schneiderman: No Matter How Complex Or Clever The Scheme, We Will Continue To Work With Our Law Enforcement Partners To Take Down Traditional Organized Crime

NEW YORK – Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman and New York City Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill today announced the arrests and indictment of thirteen individuals on charges stemming from the alleged operation of lucrative loan sharking and gambling activities closely controlled by the Genovese Organized Crime Family.

“Operation Shark Bait” was a long-term investigation into the alleged loan sharking and bookmaking activities of alleged Genovese “made member” Salvatore DeMeo and alleged Genovese ‘associates,’ or ‘non-made’ members, Gennaro Geritano, Eugene Orefice and Anthony “Buckwheat” Giammarino, among others. A series of early morning arrests conducted by Attorney General Schneiderman’s Organized Crime Task Force (OCTF) and the New York City Police Department’s Criminal Enterprise Investigations Section (CEIS), capped a long-term investigation dubbed “Operation Shark Bait.” Based on the evidence obtained throughout the course of the investigation, the Attorney General's Office secured two separate indictments from a Kings County grand jury, charging a total of thirteen individuals on felony charges. The investigation also uncovered a multi-state untaxed cigarette operation.

“Loan sharks shamelessly saddle their victims with outrageous loan rates that are impossible to repay. These defendants allegedly went to great lengths to trap their victims with exorbitant rates, all while evading our gambling laws and taking offshore bets,” said Attorney General Schneiderman. “No matter how complex or clever the scheme, we will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to take down traditional organized crime.”

“Despite these Genovese members continued attempts to evade detection, our investigation revealed millions in offshore sports betting, lucrative loan sharking, and tax evasion,” said Police Commissioner James P. O'Neill. “My thanks to our detectives and the State Attorney General for their work on this case.”

Throughout the investigation, intercepted conversations revealed the hierarchy and alleged criminal activities of the Genovese crime family enterprise. According to the charges, an illegal sports gambling operation was run through an offshore wire room in Costa Rica – 4Spades.org – that handled wagers on various college and professional sports. This gambling operation generated millions of dollars’ worth of wagers.

In addition to bookmaking, the Enterprise Corruption indictment also charges six defendants in a pattern of loansharking activities whereby victims were charged exorbitant weekly loan rates which effectively created a high cost debt trap upon any individual who received such a loan. The Enterprise Corruption charge alone carries a maximum penalty of 8 1/3 to 25 years in prison.

Two defendants, Gennaro Geritano and Mario Leonardi, were also charged in a second indictment which alleges the defendants evaded both state and city excise taxes through a combined sale of more than thirty thousand unlawfully stamped cigarettes within New York City in violation of the New York State Tax Law.

Sales of untaxed cigarettes deprive the state of millions of dollars in lost cigarette tax revenues, hurt law-abiding small businesses, and undercut public health measures designed to discourage smoking. Packs of cigarettes sold in New York City must bear a joint New York City/New York State tax stamp and only a licensed stamping agent can possess and affix the tax stamps on the cigarette packs. Neither Gennaro Geritano nor Mario Leonardi were authorized to sell tobacco products in New York City or New York State.

The defendants charged today are:

Salvatore DeMeo (76), Brooklyn, NY
Eugene Orefice (48), Monroe Township, NJ
Gennaro Geritano (62), Brooklyn, NY
Anthony Giammarino (65), Brooklyn, NY
Joseph Tommasino (52), Staten Island, NY
Thomas Alexiou (55), Brooklyn, NY
Rocco Maglione (46), Brooklyn, NY
Windsor Lewis (66), Brooklyn, NY
Mario Leonardi (76), Odenville, AL
Vincent Taliercio (65), Brooklyn, NY
Jackie Charlton (53), Brooklyn, NY
Michael Epstein (48), Brooklyn, NY
John Giglio (55), Staten Island, NY

The Attorney General would like to thank Acting Kings County District Attorney Eric Gonzalez for his cooperation in this matter and, additionally, Kip Brailey, Tansey Brent, and John Yaros of the Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes and Enforcement Network (FinCEN) for their assistance throughout this investigation.

The charges against the defendants are merely allegations. All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law.

The OCTF portion of the investigation was directed by OCTF Investigators Gerard Quinn and Derek Stevens. They were supervised by OCTF Supervising Investigator Paul Grzegorski, Downstate OCTF Deputy Chief Christopher Vasta under the overall supervision of Investigations Bureau Chief Dominick Zarrella. The NYPD portion of the investigation was directed by NYPD Detective Vincent Imperato and Detective Lori Aanonsen worked under the supervision of Lieutenant Edward Barry of CEIS, Captain John Dusanenko, Deputy Inspector Dominick D'Orazio, and Assistant Chief Brian McCarthy.

The case is being prosecuted by OCTF Deputy Bureau Chief Diego Hernandez. Deputy Attorney General Peri Alyse Kadanoff runs the Organized Crime Task Force.

http://www.ag.ny.gov/press-release/ag-s ... -organized

[moneyman]

Seems like most of the LCN busts in 2016 have been Genovese related.. I wonder if this has been the case in the last few years as well.

[Sam22]

Anyone know what crew is Salvatore Demeo is in ?

[Pogo The Clown]

Anyone know what crew is Salvatore Demeo is in ?

Most likely the DiChiara Crew. He was in that crew when he was indicted in 2001.


Pogo

[SonnyBlackstein]

Not a good year for the DiChiara Crew.

Both soldiers Robert DeBello and now Salvatore Demeo nabbed in 2016.

I wonder if DiChiara has appointed an acting as he's street for Barney. Or Consig.

[SonnyBlackstein]

http://abc7ny.com/news/police-arrest-al ... gallery-11

Photos with ID in link above.

Courtesy DanteMoltisante GBB

[Pogo The Clown]

Demeo looks like Gotti during his cancer days.


Pogo

[willychichi]

http://abc7ny.com/news/police-arrest-al ... gallery-11

Photos with ID in link above.

Courtesy DanteMoltisante GBB

Thanks for the link Sonny. All these guys are from NYC and Jersey except Leonardi from Alabama which is strange. He looks like he just got off from a backpage hooker when they snapped his picture. Orefice was arrested for something else just a couple years ago wasn't he? How bout the guy with the eye that can look around the corner with his head facing forward

[JerryB]

Looks like only two made guys out of that whole crew: DeMeo and Giglio. (I posted their mugshots in the Genovese guys topic in the Mugshot forum).

[willychichi]

Corner Store Owner Denies Family Ties, All Five Families.

Take all the random stuff out of that dresser drawer where it tends to land, and all that stuff’s distant cousins in the kitchen drawer, and the exotic little screws and bolts from the untouched corners of the toolbox. Put them all on shelves in a dark little room, add coolers stocked with beer, and declare everything for sale. That’s pretty much the business model at the Smith Union Market in Brooklyn.

Need a Bible? Check the shelf under the Spanish olives. Want a new case for the iPhone that came out in 2009? Behind the counter.

The business opened in 1945 as a meat store, but the slicer and grinder have been moved to a table in the back, unplugged for years as the place slowly changed into a cross between a bodega and a bachelor’s stuffy living room.

That bachelor is Vincent Taliercio, 65, the grandson of the original owner from the meat store days. He ran the aisles as a little boy of 5 or 6, arrived for work full time in 1986 alongside his mother and two brothers, outlived them all, and now stands behind the counter, owner of a store with a staff of one.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/01/nyre ... .html?_r=0