Authorities said the indictments resulted from years of investigations, including the use of wiretaps and cooperating witnesses.
“These cases are the cumulative results of years of investigative work, including the development of key cooperating witnesses, a trend that has definitely been tilting in law enforcement’s favor,” said Janice Fedarcyk, head of the New York FBI. “The vow of silence that is part of the oath Omerta is more myth than reality today.”
This is awesome news and congratulations to all those in the FBI and other agencies that put this together and pulled it off. I also love this quote up top about ‘Omerta’. lol The snitches win, and this is yet again a prime example of how effective an insider can be to tearing apart an organization. Now if we can just get a snitch to help us tear apart Al Qaeda and capture or kill UBL. –Matt
Mafia Takedown–Largest Coordinated Arrest in FBI History
127 Busted in Largest Mafia Roundup in FBI History
Mafia Takedown–Largest Coordinated Arrest in FBI History
01/20/11
Early this morning FBI agents and partner law enforcement officers began arresting nearly 130 members of the Mafia in New York City and other East Coast cities charged in the largest nationally coordinated organized crime takedown in the Bureau’s history.
Members of New York’s infamous Five Families—the Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, and Luchese crime organizations—were rounded up along with members of the New Jersery-based DeCavalcante family and New England Mafia to face charges including murder, drug trafficking, arson, loan sharking, illegal gambling, witness tampering, labor racketeering, and extortion. In one case involving the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) at the Ports of New York and New Jersey, the alleged extortion has been going on for years.
More than 30 of the subjects indicted were “made” members of the Mafia (see graphic), including several high-ranking family members. The arrests, predominantly in New York, are expected to seriously disrupt some of the crime families’ operations.
“The notion that today’s mob families are more genteel and less violent than in the past is put to lie by the charges contained in the indictments unsealed today,” said Janice Fedarcyk, assistant director in charge of our New York Field Office. “Even more of a myth is the notion that the mob is a thing of the past; that La Cosa Nostra is a shadow of its former self.”
The Mafia—also known as La Cosa Nostra (LCN)—may have taken on a diminished criminal role in some areas of the country, but in New York, the Five Families are still “extremely strong and viable,” said Dave Shafer, an assistant special agent in charge who supervises FBI organized crime investigations in New York.
Today’s operation began before dawn. Some 500 FBI personnel—along with about 200 local, state, and other federal law enforcement officers—took part, including key agencies such as the New York Police Department and the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General. By 11 a.m., more than 110 of the 127 subjects charged had been taken into custody.
The idea for a nationally coordinated LCN takedown originated at the Department of Justice last summer, said Shafer, a veteran organized crime investigator. “We have done big LCN takedowns before, but never one this big.”
Among those charged:
• Luigi Manocchio, 83, the former boss of the New England LCN;
• Andrew Russo, 76, street boss of the Colombo family;
• Benjamin Castellazzo, 73, acting underboss of the Colombo family;
• Richard Fusco, 74, consigliere of the Colombo family;
• Joseph Corozzo, 69, consigliere of the Gambino family; and
• Bartolomeo Vernace, 61, a member of the Gambino family administration.
The LCN operates in many U.S. cities and routinely engages in threats and violence to extort victims, eliminate rivals, and obstruct justice. In the union case involving the ILA, court documents allege that the Genovese family has engaged in a multi-decade conspiracy to influence and control the unions and businesses on the New York-area piers.
“If there’s money to be made,” said Diego Rodriguez, special agent in charge of the FBI’s New York criminal division, “LCN will do it.” He noted that today’s Mafia has adapted to the times. “They are still involved in gambling and loan sharking, for example, but in the old days the local shoemaker took the betting slips. Now it’s offshore online gambling and money laundering. If you investigate LCN in New York,” Rodriguez added, “it’s a target-rich environment.”
Link to FBI website here.
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127 Busted in Largest Mafia Roundup in FBI History
Jan 20, 2011
Allan Lengel
Federal authorities today announced what they called the largest mob roundup in FBI history: the indictment of 127 people, including key Mafia figures from the New York, New Jersey and New England crime families, on charges ranging from murder and racketeering to gambling, extortion and loan-sharking.
About 800 law enforcement members from the FBI, Secret Service, the U.S. Labor Department and state and local law enforcement had arrested more than 110 people by late morning as part of 16 indictments filed in different jurisdictions. The indictments were aimed at all five New York crime families — the Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, Bonanno and Luchese families — along with the New England Patriarca family and the New Jersey Decavalcante family.
“Today’s arrests mark an important and encouraging step forward in disrupting La Cosa Nostra operations,” Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. said at a press conference this morning in Brooklyn, N.Y. “But the reality is that our battle against organized-crime enterprises is far from over.”
Authorities said the indictments resulted from years of investigations, including the use of wiretaps and cooperating witnesses.
“These cases are the cumulative results of years of investigative work, including the development of key cooperating witnesses, a trend that has definitely been tilting in law enforcement’s favor,” said Janice Fedarcyk, head of the New York FBI. “The vow of silence that is part of the oath Omerta is more myth than reality today.”
In all, authorities said 91 members and associates of seven crime families were indicted, along with 36 others who were charged with “associated criminal activity.” More than 30 were “made men.”
The higher-profile mob figures indicted included Luigi Manocchio, 83, the former boss of New England’s Patriarca crime family; Andrew Russo, street boss of the Colombo family; Benjamin Castellazzo, 73, acting underboss of the Colombo family; Richard Fusco, 74, consigliere of the Colombo family; Joseph Corozzo, 69, the consigliere of the Gambino family; and Bartolomeo Vernace, 61, a member of the Gambino family administration.
“Some of the allegations involve classic mob hits to eliminate perceived rivals,” Holder said. “Others involve truly senseless murders. In one instance, a victim was allegedly shot and killed during a botched robbery attempt. And two other murder victims allegedly were shot in a public bar because of a dispute over a spilled drink.”
One of the murder allegations involves Russo, who is charged in the 1993 murder of Colombo family underboss Joseph Scopo. Scopo was shot in the passenger seat of a car outside his home in Ozone Park in Queens, N.Y.
Authorities said they realize this isn’t the end of organized crime.
“The FBI has waged a largely successful campaign against the mob over the last three decades, but the mob has shown itself to be resilient and persistent,” said the FBI’s Fedarcyk. “Arresting and convicting the hierarchy of the five families several times over has not eradicated the problem.”
Story here.