Feb 10 2007
BONANNO FAMILY
BONANNO FAMILY ACTING UNDERBOSS, ACTING CONSIGLIERE AND 17 CAPOS, SOLDIERS, AND ASSOCIATES INDICTED FOR RACKETEERING, RACKETEERING CONSPIRACY, AND OTHER CHARGES
A superseding indictment was unsealed this morning in federal court in Brooklyn charging nineteen members and associates of the Bonanno organized crime family of La Costa Nostra, including two members of the Bonanno family’s administration – Bonanno family acting underboss NICHOLAS SANTORA and Bonanno family acting consigliere ANTHONY RABITO. This superseding indictment is the latest in an ongoing investigation that has resulted in the prosecution of more than 100 members and associates of the Bonanno family in the Eastern District of New York.
Since March 2002, three Bonanno family bosses or acting bosses have been convicted in this district on racketeering and racketeering-related charges, which include murder or murder conspiracy as a racketeering act – Joseph Massino, Anthony Urso, and Vincent Basciano. A fourth Bonanno family acting boss, Michael Mancuso, is awaiting trial. To date, fifteen members of the Bonanno family administration have been charged; thirteen of whom have pled guilty or been convicted after trial of racketeering related crimes. Since the commencement of this investigation, more than seventy members and associates of the Bonanno family have either pled guilty or been convicted after trial.
(Media-Newswire.com) - A superseding indictment was unsealed this morning in federal court in Brooklyn charging nineteen members and associates of the Bonanno organized crime family of La Costa Nostra, including two members of the Bonanno family’s administration – Bonanno family acting underboss NICHOLAS SANTORA and Bonanno family acting consigliere ANTHONY RABITO. This superseding indictment is the latest in an ongoing investigation that has resulted in the prosecution of more than 100 members and associates of the Bonanno family in the Eastern District of New York. Since March 2002, three Bonanno family bosses or acting bosses have been convicted in this district on racketeering and racketeering-related charges, which include murder or murder conspiracy as a racketeering act – Joseph Massino, Anthony Urso, and Vincent Basciano. A fourth Bonanno family acting boss, Michael Mancuso, is awaiting trial. To date, fifteen members of the Bonanno family administration have been charged; thirteen of whom have pled guilty or been convicted after trial of racketeering related crimes. Since the commencement of this investigation, more than seventy members and associates of the Bonanno family have either pled guilty or been convicted after trial.
The new superseding indictment includes charges against Bonanno family administration members NICHOLAS SANTORA and ANTHONY RABITO, captains or former captains JEROME ASARO, JOSEPH CAMMARANO, Jr., and LOUIS DECICCO, Bonanno family soldiers GIACOME BONVENTRE, MICHAEL CASSESE, PAUL SPINA, and MICHAEL VIRTUOSO, and Bonanno family associates TRACEY BADGETT, JOHN COMPONO, ANTHONY DEFILIPPO, ANTHONY DIGIOVANNA, CHRISTOPHER MERZ, JOSEPH ROSSETTI, ROBERT SCHWICHRATH, PATRICK TARSIO, and ANTHONY VIVELO alleging crimes including racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, illegal gambling, extortion and extortion conspiracy, loansharking, securities fraud, and narcotics distribution.1
The defendants will be arraigned later today before United States Magistrate Judge Lois Bloom, at the U.S. Courthouse, 225 Cadman Plaza West, Brooklyn, New York. The case has been assigned to United States District Judge Sandra A. Townes.
