Authorities says the arrests Thursday of 46 people on racketeering charges related to mob-tied business from New Jersey to Florida shows that organized crime remains a potent force.
NEW YORK--From mob-backed goons wielding baseball bats, to offshore sports betting and violent extortion rackets, it was a litany of alleged schemes stretching from Miami to New Jersey that could have played out on an episode of The Sopranos.
But the arrests earlier this week of nearly four dozen people--including four from New Jersey--were reminders that organized crime remains a force to be reckoned with, say law enforcement officials.
"Tony Soprano may have gone off the air, but the mob never did," said Lee Seglem, acting executive director of the State Commission of Investigation in New Jersey. "In the real world these guys are still active and, as this indictment shows, they haven't faded away--because there's a lot of money to be made."
In the cases announced by federal prosecutors in New York on Thursday, the schemes ranged from old-style loan sharking to the move by organized crime into health care fraud. With aliases that included names like "Mustache Pat," "Fish," "Harpo" and "Tugboat," the FBI's New York assistant director, Diego Rodriguez, said the indictment read like an old school Mafia novel.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said the charges against members and associates of five different crime families demonstrated that the Mafia remained "fully diversified in its boundless search for illegal profits."
While it is not often that authorities tie together members of the Genovese, Gambino, Lucchese, and Bonanno families in one case, the racketeering charges were wide ranging and were not alleged to be part of any one single operation. Indeed, one of the top names that came out of the indictments was Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino, long believed to head the Philadelphia mob even after he moved to Boca Raton, Florida, and opened a restaurant. He had claimed he left the world of organized crime, but few in law enforcement believed it.
Among those arrested were two New Jersey men. Marco Minuto, 80, of Upper Saddle River, known as "The Old Man," was convicted more than a decade ago for his role in a multi-million-dollar bootlegging scheme involving illegal shipments of gasoline from New Jersey. Anthony "Tony the Cripple" Cassetta, 48, of Belmar, was charged in an earlier 1994 federal case involving arson and extortion. The two were both connected to an illegal sports betting operation that utilized gambling websites based in the United States and abroad, according to the indictment unsealed in New York.
Another New Jersey man, Anthony Cirillo, 51, of Englewood Cliffs, was also accused of involvement in an illegal sports betting operation. Daniel Marino Jr., 49, of Short Hills, was charged with racketeering.
Merlino was said to be involved in a sports gambling business based in Costa Rica through a company named Costa Rican International Sportsbook, which authorities said was utilized in New Jersey, New York and Florida.
2 tied to mob-backed sports bet operation
Others were charged with evading $3 million in taxes on cigarettes, using skimmers to capture the PIN numbers and account information of victims as part of a credit card fraud ring, and paying kickbacks to doctors for unnecessary prescriptions that ripped off health insurance providers.
New York Police Commissioner said those charged "seemed to use every scheme known to us, from arson, to shake-downs, violence, health care fraud, and even untaxed cigarettes to keep the racket going."
New Jersey officials say it should come as no surprise that organized crime continues to hold onto its grip of the metropolitan area.
Earlier this year, SCI investigators found mob-connected individuals had infiltrated the recycling business, illegally dumping truckloads of tainted fill laced with cancer-causing contaminants in neighborhood developments and restoration projects along waterways across New Jersey.
"Wherever there is a demand for illicit goods and services, somebody or some group will establish themselves to meet that demand," remarked Seglem. "That should give pause to anyone who thinks the mob has faded into the mists."
Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.