Gangland October 12th 2023

[Dr031718]

They Never Got Tough Tony, But The Feds Say They've Got The Goods On His Right Hand Man In Crime Now

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn hope the third time is the charm. At the upcoming trial of Genovese crime family member Anthony (Rom) Romanello, 85, the feds have pulled out all the stops in their efforts to put the octogenarian mobster behind bars, Gang Land has learned. The push comes more than a dozen years after prosecutors tried twice, but failed each time to send the wily wiseguy to prison.

In a trial slated to begin just before Thanksgiving, prosecutors plan to play tape recorded talks in which a Queens bookie boasted how Rom punched out prominent restaurateur Bruno Selimaj to collect gambling debts of $86,000. They also say they have a video of the assault, as well as evidence that a day later, on May 12, 2017, a Romanello mob pal used threats to get Selimaj to drop charges he made against Rom the night of the attack.

Romanello and Joseph Celso are not charged with racketeering. And the Mafia and Cosa Nostra are not mentioned in the indictment. But prosecutors say it's a mob case because the duo has a "reputation in the community" that "they are 'wiseguys' in the Genovese crime family" who used their established reputations for violence to threaten victims without stating any threats out loud.

At trial, prosecutors Dana Rehnquist and Irisa Chen say they will prove that Romanello, Celso, and bookmaker Luan (Lou) Bexheti operated "an illegal sports gambling scheme" that used "individuals, including Romanello and Celso" to collect outstanding debts that losing gamblers invariably paid because they "feared" violence from the "wiseguys" if they didn't.

In a court filing, the prosecutors say the duo's "reputation as wiseguys" — coupled with the assault by Rom against Selimaj and the follow-up threat by Celso that "the situation would escalate" unless the restaurateur withdrew his police report — "make clear that the defendants intended to instill fear" in Selimaj and four other "victims" to pay the gambling debt.

Romanello and Celso, 50, are charged with conspiring with bookmaker Bexheti, 50, to use extortionate means to collect the debt between March and June 2017, when it was paid in full, according to prosecutors Rehnquist and Chen who will try the case in late November before Brooklyn Federal Judge Eric Komitee.

Bexheti pleaded guilty to the extortion charge last week. He agreed to forfeit $28,666 in a plea agreement calling for a recommended prison term between 30 and 37 months in prison.

In their filing, the prosecutors informed Komitee they plan to introduce evidence that Romanello and Celso were "associated with organized crime," specifically the Genovese family. They'll do that, they wrote, by playing tape recorded telephone calls of Bexheti speaking to gamblers, as well as cohorts, about his bookmaking business. They also have testimony of Selimaj and four other "victims," including at least three who are relatives of the restaurateur.

Some of Bexheti's taped talks that the prosecutors cited were with a brother and a nephew of Selimaj. They had lost $86,000 in bets in early 2017, and told Bexheti that they didn't have the cash. That's when Bexheti told the father and son, the prosecutors wrote, "that his boss was going to need to get involved" because not having the money to pay up was "serious shit."

Bexheti had numerous other conversations, they wrote, that will establish the mindset of the defendants at the time of the assault against Selimaj which allegedly took place at his Club A Steakhouse on East 58th Street.

In a May 14, 2017 phone call, the prosecutors wrote, Bexheti recounted that Romanello had punched Selimaj in the mouth in his Upper East Side restaurant three days earlier because his "nephew owes us money." In the call, they wrote, the bookie described Rom as the "right hand guy" of Genovese capo Anthony (Tough Tony) Federici, the longtime target of the FBI who bested the feds for decades but lost a bout with lymphoma last year at age 82.

In a taped call a day earlier, the prosecutors wrote, Bexheti warned a bettor who had a losing week and asked for time to come up with the cash that he faced dire consequences. Bexheti was heard telling the unlucky gambler about the attack a few days earlier on another deadbeat gambler. "They went into the restaurant and fucking beat the fucking owner of the restaurant in front of everyone while the restaurant was open," Bexheti told him.

In another call they plan to play, Bexheti shouted what the prosecutors wrote sounded like the word "bomb," several times as he tried to make a "sound effect imitating a punch" while telling a cohort how Rom, who was "80 years old" rose to the occasion. "Rom says, 'You what?" and then punched Selimaj, and "this guy starts screaming; this is like six thirty in the evening."

Romanello's lawyer Gerald McMahon has stated from the outset that his client's indictment is the continuation of a vendetta the feds have had against him for more than a decade because he refused to testify against Federici back in 2010 when FBI agents asked him to. Charged with racketeering twice, Rom won a sweet plea deal and probation the first time, and an acquittal the second time.

The restaurant confrontation was a "personal dispute" and Selimaj "got punched in the face," McMahon said last year, "because he hurled a derogatory insult at my client."

In their 53-page filing, prosecutors Rehnquist and Chen wrote they'll be able to prove not only that Rom was part of Bexheti's gambling operation, but that he made two prior attempts to collect the debt from Selimaj.

In March of 2017, they wrote, Romanello approached Selimaj and told him that his brother Nino "owed him $6000" and that Nino's son Tony "owed him $80,000," without identifying Selimaj, his brother or nephew by name in the filing. "Romanello made clear to (Selimaj) that (he) was now being held responsible for the debt," they wrote, noting that Nino "promised he would pay off the debt.

A few weeks later, the prosecutors wrote, Romanello and Bexheti visited Selimaj at the Club A Steakhouse to complain that the gambling debt had not been paid. The restaurant owner told them that he had spoken to his brother and that the debt would be satisfied.

But it wasn't.

So on May 11, 2017, the prosecutors wrote, Romanello, his son George, and Celso "confronted (Selimaj) for a third time to induce payment of the debt," again at the Club A Steakhouse. "Romanello once again asked about the debt," they wrote, and then "hit (Selimaj) in the face while Celso, and George Romanello surround(ed) Selimaj."

The restaurant's surveillance footage captures the three men walking forward towards Selimaj as he "is forced backward until other waitstaff at the restaurant became involved," the prosecutors wrote, stating that "Romanello and the other co-conspirators then exited the restaurant."

Later that night, they wrote, after Selimaj filed a police report against Romanello, the restaraunt owner met with his brother and nephew. They decided that Selimaj, along with a relative of Tony's nephew and an "individual who knew Celso," would team up to cover the two debts and pay them through Celso.

The next day, after Selimaj was told by the "individual who knew Celso" that the wiseguy had stated that the restaurant owner "should drop the charges against Romanello (or) otherwise the situation could escalate," Selimaj "went to the police station and withdrew the police report against Romanello," the prosecutors wrote.

McMahon, Romanello's lawyer, told Gang Land he still isn't impressed by the government's case. "This is the most frivolous case I've seen in 45 years of practicing law," he chortled. "This is the government's third attempt to get Anthony Romanello and like their first two tries, this one will also fail."

Celso's attorney, Gerard Marrone stated that his client is a "legit businessman" who "has nothing to do with this situation. He is not on any wiretaps nor seen on any surveillance doing anything at all. For these reasons we are going to trial so Mr. Celso can be cleared of these allegations."

Thomas Gambino, Son of Crime Family Patriarch Don Carlo, Checks Out At 94

Mafia scion Thomas Gambino, who followed his father, Don Carlo Gambino into the criminal organization that still carries his family name, died last week. He was 94.

Before his racket was spoiled by a wide-ranging investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau that was spearheaded by future governor Eliot Spitzer, Gambino and his younger brother Joseph oversaw a multimillion-dollar empire that controlled all trucking in Manhattan's Garment Center which had long been a Mafia preserve.

During a raid on the brothers' offices, investigators were stunned to find a money management account holding $75 million. The Gambino brothers dodged prison in the Garment Center case by agreeing to quit the industry and pay a $12 million fine. "We took them out in one fell swoop," said Morgenthau.

Thomas Gambino was in Sparks Steakhouse waiting to dine with his uncle Paul (Big Paul) Castellano back in December 1985 on the night that Castellano and key aide Thomas Bilotti were gunned down as they stepped out of their car by four shooters wearing Russian-style fur hats who had been dispatched by John Gotti.

Castellano was the successor Mafia boss Carlo Gambino had chosen to lead the crime family before he died in 1976.

But like Bilotti's brother Joseph, Gambino knew that there was nothing he could do about his personal loss, and he soon threw in with Gotti & Company. He was indicted on federal racketeering charges along with the Dapper Don and his Administration members in December of 1990. He was found guilty of "supervising the Connecticut faction" of the crime family in a separate trial in 1993.

Not long after Big Paul was killed, and while the leaders of the Luchese and Genovese families were plotting to kill Gotti for his unsanctioned killing of his Mafia boss, Tommy Gambino stepped up to convince the swashbuckling mob boss that his primary allegiance was to the Gambino crime family, not his blood relatives.

Until Castellano was killed, his son Philip, thanks to his dad's clout, had a good thing going with his Staten Island-based concrete company, Scara-mix, Inc. The company had the lion's share of contracts on the island, and was allowed to operate non-union. And he didn't have to share the profits with the crime family.

But after the murder, things changed quickly for Philip Castellano. And, according to FBI reports, Gotti had Tommy Gambino deliver the message that Castellano was going to have to pay tribute to the men who killed his father — Gotti and Salvatore (Sammy Bull) Gravano.

And he had to pay big for the privilege of continuing to running a non-union company. In the decade after his father's murder, a time frame when the Dapper Don lived and died in prison, sources say that Castellano paid out more than $1.5 million to the Gotti-led crime family.

After his father's murder, "Phil got word from Tommy Gambino that he had to pay $3 a yard (of concrete,) about $25,000 per month," a law enforcement official told Gang Land back in 2004, adding that "about 80 per cent went to Gotti and Gravano" with the rest going to corrupt leaders of Local 282 of the Teamsters Union, Robert Sasso and Michael Carbone.

After all his appeals were rejected, Gambino began serving a five year prison term in January of 1996. He was released from prison in May of 2000, and had no further involvement with the law since then.

Gambino wasn't wholly focused on crime: A few years before he went to prison, Thomas and brother Joseph donated $1 million to a treatment center for kids suffering from leukemia at Long Island Jewish Medical Center. It was the largest single gift to the $2.5 million Gambino Medical and Science Foundation Bone Marrow Transplantation Unit, the Daily News reported in 1991.

Gambino also managed to combine two royal Mafia families in 1962 when he married Frances Luchese, daughter of Thomas Luchese, chieftain of his own powerful mob organization.

Like his brother Joseph, who died four years ago, at the age of 83, funeral arrangements for Gambino, who lived for years in Lido Beach NY, Manhattan and Florida, were private.

Cops Had An Easy Time Tagging A Gambino Capo As A Suspect In Brutal Beating Of The Owners Of A Jersey Shore Eatery

Toms River police didn't have to conduct a far-reaching investigation to identify a suspect in the brutal Labor Day weekend assault of the husband and wife owners of a Toms River restaurant, Gang Land has learned. Right away, they honed in on Gambino capo Joseph Lanni, a member of the powerful Sicilian faction that runs the crime family.

That's because Lanni, who was released on bail last week to await trial after spending two weeks behind bars following his arrest, had been told to stay away from Roxy's Bar & Grille Restaurant hours earlier by a police officer who had responded to the eatery when the wiseguy was ejected for being drunk and disorderly, Gang Land has learned.

Hours before Lanni allegedly punched the wife in the face with a closed fist, and kicked her husband and threatened to kill both with a knife at about 12:30 AM on Saturday September 2, 2023, the mobster had been told to leave the eatery, according to a court filing.

According to the arrest complaint, on a busy Friday evening at 8:13 pm, a Toms River police officer, Dominick Pollio, responded to a call from the restaurant owners that Lanni was causing trouble at the restaurant.

Lanni, 52, a Staten Island resident who has owned a Toms River home for four years, was "specifically" informed by the officer "that he was no longer welcome on the property." Four hours later, Lanni allegedly launched his brutal assault on the couple as they were leaving to go home.

At a detention hearing last week, Ocean County prosecutor Iva Krasteva argued that Lanni should remain behind bars until his trial to guard against further violence by Lanni against the restaurant owners or other members of the community. But Judge Wendell Daniels agreed with a defense request that he be released on bail.

In addition to facing up to ten years in prison for assaulting and terrorizing his victims, Lanni is also charged with criminal mischief for slashing the two driver's side tires of the couple's Jeep Cherokee — Bridgestone Ecopia H/L 422 Plus tires with a total value of $635.98, according to the complaint — after he punched the wife and pummeled her husband in the restaurant parking lot.

Lanni maintains his innocence for all charges in the case, but if push comes to shove, the mobster shouldn't have too much trouble footing the bill for the two tires.

As Gang Land reported last week, Lanni is a longtime ally of the crime family's late underboss, Francesco (Frank) Cali, and he took over Cali's extensive rackets when he was killed by a mentally troubled Staten Islander four years ago.

Since then, Lanni has not only purchased the Toms River home he mentioned when he was questioned by Judge Daniels.

According to Property Shark, an online real estate data base, Lanni is listed as an owner of four Toms River homes that are worth a total of approximately $2.2 million.

[Blunts]

Thanks for posting. Crazy the hard on the feds have for Romanello. At 85 and beating the charge twice can't you just admit defeat and give the guy a fucken break. No that is not an option it seems no other cases to pursue. The money spent here is literally incinerated. Who's mom did Romanello fuck is the real question.

[CabriniGreen]

Lanni seems like a case of mob cronyism.

Isnt he supposed to be a capo? Doesn't he have a crew? If he just has to resort to this petty nonsense, doesn't he have goons for this shit?

First the Bonnanos at the funeral, now this....

These guys need to focus on making money...

[slimshady_007]

Lanni seems like a case of mob cronyism.

Isnt he supposed to be a capo? Doesn't he have a crew? If he just has to resort to this petty nonsense, doesn't he have goons for this shit?

First the Bonnanos at the funeral, now this....

These guys need to focus on making money...

Just because he’s a captain doesn’t mean he’s smart. The smart Italian Americans aren’t joining the Mafia anymore they’re making an honest living.

[TommyGambino]

Lanni seems like a case of mob cronyism.

Isnt he supposed to be a capo? Doesn't he have a crew? If he just has to resort to this petty nonsense, doesn't he have goons for this shit?

First the Bonnanos at the funeral, now this....

These guys need to focus on making money...

Just because he’s a captain doesn’t mean he’s smart. The smart Italian Americans aren’t joining the Mafia anymore they’re making an honest living.

Smarts go out the window when youre drinking though, sounds like hes made a lot of money and been very lowkey, cant be a complete dummy

[CabriniGreen]

Lanni seems like a case of mob cronyism.

Isnt he supposed to be a capo? Doesn't he have a crew? If he just has to resort to this petty nonsense, doesn't he have goons for this shit?

First the Bonnanos at the funeral, now this....

These guys need to focus on making money...

Just because he’s a captain doesn’t mean he’s smart. The smart Italian Americans aren’t joining the Mafia anymore they’re making an honest living.

Smarts go out the window when youre drinking though, sounds like hes made a lot of money and been very lowkey, cant be a complete dummy

Nah bro. This guy came back what...6 hours later? To beat up a wife?

It might make more sense if we knew whst it was about. Did Lanni ask for an envelope?

[aray22]

Has Romanello's son George ever been ID'd as an associate?

[Tonyd621]

If the guy dropped the charges, why is LE pursuing it?

[TommyGambino]

Lanni seems like a case of mob cronyism.

Isnt he supposed to be a capo? Doesn't he have a crew? If he just has to resort to this petty nonsense, doesn't he have goons for this shit?

First the Bonnanos at the funeral, now this....

These guys need to focus on making money...

Just because he’s a captain doesn’t mean he’s smart. The smart Italian Americans aren’t joining the Mafia anymore they’re making an honest living.

Smarts go out the window when youre drinking though, sounds like hes made a lot of money and been very lowkey, cant be a complete dummy

Nah bro. This guy came back what...6 hours later? To beat up a wife?

It might make more sense if we knew whst it was about. Did Lanni ask for an envelope?

Aint nobody stopping drinking or putting the coke down at 8pm pal doubt hes trying to shake the place down, it says why he was kicked out, probably didnt like the fact they called thw cops people do wild shit id gove him a pass but beating a woman like that is scummy

[Tonyd621]

If it's drunken isolated incident then I would imagine it wouldn't have much of an impact on his overall stature. However, if this is just one event of many, coupled with beating up a woman then it should have a negative impact on his status. I feel like it's probably just one event in a series of many. It's akin to getting your first DUI. It's not the first time you done it-it's just the first time you got caught.

[bronx]

man of dishonor

[NYNighthawk]

Anyone know when Tommy took his oath and in what year and who else was in on the ceremony? Also did he start right out as a Capo or if as soldier, who;s crew was he initially assigned to?

[johnny_scootch]

Anyone know when Tommy took his oath and in what year and who else was in on the ceremony? Also did he start right out as a Capo or if as soldier, who;s crew was he initially assigned to?

1980/81 made by his uncle, he doesn’t become a captain until a few years later.