Major Bonanno Takedown Follows FBI Reduction

Nicky Mouth, at his arrest.

According to published reports, indictments were rolled out yesterday for nine reputed Bonanno gangsters.The Manhattan District attorney, who unveiled them, noted that they were the tender fruits of a two-year investigation into a $10 million scheme involving organized crime's infiltration of a labor union.

It seems the lead defendant is none other than brokester/former underboss Nicholas "Nicky Mouth" Santora, who is still linked to Donnie Brasco in nearly every newspaper article in which his name appears.

Santora and the others were charged with enterprise corruption, the state version of the federal crime of racketeering. The charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 25 years. Only eight names were released (full list of names at end of article); it turns out one arrest hasn't gone down yet. Someone's in the wind tonight. Godspeed to ya, sir, but you can't spend the rest of your life on the run...



Making up the corruption charge was a host of traditional mob rackets: extortion, loan sharking, and gambling in New York City -- as well as the selling of prescription drugs ranging from oxycodone pain killers to Viagra.

Bunch of Bonannos hanging in Manhattan Supreme Court.

Investigators used court-ordered wire taps and search warrants in the probe.

Another key defendant is former Teamsters union president/reputed Bonanno associate Nicholas Bernhard, who made it up the ladder thanks to his friends to helm Teamsters 917 on Long Island.

The union represents about 1,900 workers in liquor, automotive, parking and other industries; members of the union local borrowed money and placed bets in the crew’s loan-sharking and gambling operations, the indictment says.

According to the Times, the crew also ran a multimillion-dollar online sports betting operation in Costa Rica. And some of them were recorded making plans to sell hundreds of thousands of pills to treat erectile dysfunction, for at least $5 each.

Nearly 30 guns were recovered as part of the operation, with some reports describing the crew as "well armed."

Santora, 71, pleaded guilty to a federal extortion charge in Brooklyn last year and was sentenced to 20 months in prison. He is serving his sentence in the Federal Correctional Institution in Loretto, Pa., and did not appear in court on Tuesday.

The ninth man is expected to be apprehended soon. (What else they gonna say?)

The NYTimes.com noted that seven of the accused were arraigned at State Supreme Court in Manhattan. "As police officers led them into a courtroom in handcuffs, several made profane remarks about the wives and mothers of news photographers. Sitting in the front row with large, tattooed arms protruding from T-shirts, they laughed out loud, elbowed each other and smiled at family members in court."

A lot of action going on, right on the heels of the announcement a couple of weeks ago that the Feds were cutting by more than half the number of agents assigned to eyeball the Mafia in its historic stronghold of the tri-state area.

Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, said at a news conference that the F.B.I. had been so successful at breaking up organized crime families “that many mistakenly believe that the mob has disappeared entirely.”

He added, “Times have changed since Jimmy Hoffa disappeared, but organized crime still exerts a corrupting influence in our city.”

Santora and several other defendants were also charged with second-degree grand larceny and usury. Other accusations in the 158-page indictment include the sale of weapons.

Each of the seven men who were arraigned on Tuesday pleaded not guilty. Justice Melissa C. Jackson ordered three defendants — including Santoro, of Staten Island — to be held without bail.

Justice Jackson set bail for the rest, a $500,000 bond for Bernhard being the highest amount.



The charges contained in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
ERNEST AIELLO, D.O.B. 6/8/79
Bronx, NY

Charges:
• Enterprise Corruption, a class B felony, 1 count
• Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, a class C felony, 1 count
• Criminal Usury in the First Degree, a class C felony, 1 count

VITO BADAMO, D.O.B. 8/1/62
Brooklyn, NY

Charges:
• Enterprise Corruption, a class B felony, 1 count
• Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, a class C felony, 1 count
• Criminal Usury in the First Degree, a class C felony, 1 count

NICHOLAS BERNHARD, D.O.B. 9/13/61
Congers, NY


Charges:
• Enterprise Corruption, a class B felony, 1 count
• Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, a class C felony, 1 count
• Criminal Usury in the First Degree, a class C felony, 1 count
• Perjury in the First Degree, a class D felony, 2 counts

SCOTT O’NEILL, D.O.B. 1/20/65
Howard Beach, NY

Charges:
• Enterprise Corruption, a class B felony, 1 count
• Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, a class C felony, 1 count
• Criminal Usury in the First Degree, a class C felony, 1 count
• Perjury in the First Degree, a class D felony, 1 count

NICHOLAS SANTORA, D.O.B. 6/21/42
Deer Park, NY


Charges:
• Enterprise Corruption, a class B felony, 1 count
• Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, a class C felony, 1 count
• Criminal Usury in the First Degree, a class C felony, 1 count

ANTHONY SANTORO, a/k/a “Skinny,” D.O.B. 7/28/63
Staten Island, NY


Charges:
• Enterprise Corruption, a class B felony, 1 count
• Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, a class C felony, 1 count
• Criminal Usury in the First Degree, a class C felony, 1 count

DOMINICK SIANO, D.O.B. 4/25/90
Howard Beach, NY


Charge:
• Enterprise Corruption, a class B felony, 1 count

ANTHONY URBAN, D.O.B. 7/25/63
Staten Island, NY


Charge:
• Enterprise Corruption, a class B felony



Comments

  1. It was reported that Tommy D. is the new underboss...the family saw this coming. They just need to keep their mouths shut and it will be business as usual. If someone flips...a lot of guys will go down.

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  2. Look at the tattooed sleeves. When I picture organized crime I see guys in suits, men of honor. These ass clown look like they belong in a biker gang or some African street gang. If that's the quality of people the mob recruits today, gee whiz, the pickings are a gettin slim fellas.....

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  3. Good for Cy Vance, glad this wasn't in Queens Criminal Court being "prosecuted" by Asst. DA Robert Masters - they'd all walk.

    Santora can walk away from the 25 years if he wants. The FBI wants something he has and they approached him back in August, 2012 at MDC but they didn't get what they wanted...then. He figured 20 months was nothing. What the FBI wanted involved the Genovese family and a corrupt official. Wonder what Nicky will decide to do now...

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  4. To the webmaster. Your link pointing to the 'FBI' website is incorrect. This was not an FBI takedown. It was the OCID Manhattan District Attorney. Big difference, one is federal, one is not.
    To anonymous #2: regarding the appearance of the suspects. When you arrest 9 people who all know one another and allegedly conspired with one another, one does not plug 9 addresses into Map quest, fire up the minivan and head out for a road trip.. You arrive at the homes of the suspects simultaneously, preferably at around 5am and rip their fuckin asses out of bed and shove them in a vehicle as fast as possible. They won't be dressed in a 2,000 dollar suit... You imbecile. By the way, Sammy The Bull wore a suit to court every day, is he a man of honor you're referring to?
    I don't know any of these fellas arrested, but I can guarantee any "ass clown" in those photos would break you in half.
    This 'anonymous' jag-off, is the quintessential dumb American citizen who sit on juries. Men of honor, what a douchebag.

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    1. You are correct - I will fix the name of the hyperlink...I am only referring to your first graph; I don't speak for others, though I am disturbed by the decidedly violent tone comments have been taking on. I left a request for commments, folks, and I wish more of you would honor it... I am not singling you out, anon 1:14pm...

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    2. ^^^Internet Tough Guy Right Here^^^

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    3. The Internet is the great equalizer when you think about it ... all we can be here are Internet tough guys. One ex -(wise)guy who doesnt like what i write but keeps reading it anyway thinks I'm a kid living in my parent's basement doing nothing but blogging. That I am older than him, 6"1' and 250 pounds, look very intimidating but deplore violence, am living on Long Island in a co-op I bought with my own legal money, which i earned working for a national law firm never crossed his mind. I am a kid in the basement to him -- so what does it matter any of it on here? I would love it if more debates vs. arguments, fact checking and insults took place here...

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    4. And I wish regular commenters would make up a name instead of all using "anonymous!"

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  5. To Anonymous Four: So when they pull them out of their bed, they are dressed in blue jeans and T-shirts?....and have Goat tees?

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  6. I wonder how much information for this new indictment came from the October 25, 2012 indictment of 25 people, including Vincent Basciano, Jr. (son of Vinny Gorgeous) in the multi-million-dollar illegal nationwide sports betting ring, which, coincidentally was also in Costa Rica. I also wonder when they'll indict Michael "Michael Nose" Mancuso on anything related. He has relatives (blood relatives) in Las Vegas and he has been constantly in touch with other Bonanno family members since his incarceration in 2006. BOP records will reveal at least one Bonanno associate has visited Mancuso on more than one occasion while in prison. The Bronx Social Club that has been under surveillance, where wiretaps most certainly picked up info, is the same Social Club where that particular associate attends regularly...as in, "every day".

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  7. That's why they invented superceding indictments ...

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  8. Anonymous 2 needs to understand whether a guy has tattoos or facial hair us irrelevant. If he's a fucking quiet, money earner who is a stand up guy than that shit is Hollywood. American Cosa Nostra has been depicted by film, Italian factions laugh at such a notion. N'drandheta, Camorra, Sicilian Cosa Nostra, Sacra Unita ...they have beards, wear whatever they see fit, have earrings too. BUT they handle fucking business and keep their fucking mouths shut and enforce like men. The days of double breasted pin striped suits, fedoras and Tommy Guns are gone. Although I appreciate and can respect the old school Italian panache..spa cone...but its not the 20's..30's..it's 2013. We gotta tutsoone in the White House for Christ sake.

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  10. Where are the gun charges? Nobody has been charged with the guns?

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  11. The Bananas can't run a freaking card game without getting pinched.

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  12. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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