Feb 01 2007
ADMITTED MAFIA BOSS PLEADS GUILTY TO RACKETEERING
FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida: The admitted boss of the Genovese organized crime family’s South Florida operations pleaded guilty Thursday to federal racketeering charges and could spend the next 20 years in prison.
Renaldi “Ray” Ruggiero, 73, who once contended he was in the restaurant business, said in a plea agreement he was a “capo,” or leader, in the New York-based Mafia family and supervised a crew that committed numerous crimes including extortion, robbery, money laundering and possession of stolen property.
Ruggiero pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy, but did not agree to cooperate with federal Mafia investigators in his written deal.
The guilty plea came after another federal judge rejected Ruggiero’s attempt to throw out evidence from more than 12,000 phone calls intercepted on FBI wiretaps and 130 other undercover recordings that provide details about the group’s plots and crimes.
Ruggiero did own a restaurant in Florida, called Soprano’s. Court documents show his crew members sometimes discussed the popular TV series with the same name, once complaining the show was bad for business because it so accurately portrayed their underworld.
Like fictional boss Tony Soprano, prosecutors said Ruggiero oversaw a wide range of all-too-real criminal activities. In one 2003 case, members of his crew stuck a gun to the back of a man’s head at an office and demanded he pay them $1.5 million.
Sentencing was set for April 27 for Ruggiero, who could also be fined $25,000 (€19,201).
Four other defendants have also pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy charges, and two others are pending.
Ruggiero became the top Genovese boss in South Florida in 2003, court documents show.
The Associated Press, Published: February 1, 2007, http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/02/01/america/NA-GEN-US-Mafia-Ring.php
