Powerful Genovese Mobster in the Feds' Crosshairs
COSA NOSTRA NEWS EXCLUSIVE
Alleged Genovese crime family acting capo Victor Colletti was indicted in 2005 for running a massive Queens-based gambling operation. He was poised to serve his first stretch behind prison bars at the age of 74. He won on appeal, however, and never served a day.
The state had gone after Colletti, filing a 24-count enterprise corruption indictment in the Supreme Court in Queens County. They missed.
Colletti, a rich and powerful Genovese crime family mobster who hails from Middle Village, Queens, is known for keeping the lowest of profiles. Officially a soldier, he has been serving as an acting capo, reportedly a promotion he didn't want out of concern it would raise his profile among law enforcement officials.
Alleged Genovese crime family acting capo Victor Colletti was indicted in 2005 for running a massive Queens-based gambling operation. He was poised to serve his first stretch behind prison bars at the age of 74. He won on appeal, however, and never served a day.
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| Victor Colletti |
Now the Feds are sizing him up for a prison cell.
Cosa Nostra News has learned that federal agents recently seized computers and records from the offices of Lindy's car service. In addition, drivers who worked for the company have been subpoenaed, according to a source familiar with the events and those involved who spoke with Cosa Nostra News on condition of anonymity.
Colletti, a rich and powerful Genovese crime family mobster who hails from Middle Village, Queens, is known for keeping the lowest of profiles. Officially a soldier, he has been serving as an acting capo, reportedly a promotion he didn't want out of concern it would raise his profile among law enforcement officials.
Lindy's is one of a several car services owned by JT Enterprises, which is secretly owned by Colletti, according to the source. Colletti basically owns the car service industry in New York City and on Long Island for the Genovese crime family.
We called Lindy's car service, located in Amityville, Long Island, for comment regarding news that the FBI had seized computers and office records and were abruptly told by the woman who answered: "The manager will have to call you back."
We provided our name and phone number and asked for the manager's name and were told "they will have to call you back."
We called Lindy's car service, located in Amityville, Long Island, for comment regarding news that the FBI had seized computers and office records and were abruptly told by the woman who answered: "The manager will have to call you back."
We provided our name and phone number and asked for the manager's name and were told "they will have to call you back."
Despite Colletti's wide-ranging interests, the Feds are focusing on JT Enterprises, according to our source. Medicaid fraud and extortion are among the chief charges. On its website, Lindy's bills itself as "the largest Medicaid transportation provider for Suffolk County," with a "computerized scheduling system" designed to "efficiently handle the scheduling of these calls."
"If you never heard of him, it’s because he wanted it that way," Jerry Capeci wrote of Colletti on his Gangland News website.
Another car-service outfit linked to Colletti, VJT Enterprises, in Middle Village, Queens, is not known to be under investigation. This company (the V stands for "Victor") notes on its website that it deploys a fleet of "Multi-Purpose Taxi transports" that can accommodate "people that are in wheelchairs or scooters. These specialty taxis allow people that aren't physically well, are reliant on medical equipment, to get around."
Rackets that bilk Medicaid are a profitable niche for Mafiosi and other crime rings. As The Economist reported: "Medicaid doles out $415 billion a year; Medicare (a federal scheme for the elderly), nearly $600 billion. Total health spending in America is a massive $2.7 trillion, or 17% of GDP... Andrew Hackbarth of the RAND Corporation, estimated that fraud (and the extra rules and inspections required to fight it) added as much as $98 billion, or roughly 10%, to annual Medicare and Medicaid spending—and up to $272 billion across the entire health system."
Colletti's story is that of an old-school gangster who successfully avoided the limelight; for this, he has been lavished with praise by his criminal cohorts, as well as lushly rewarded.
Rackets that bilk Medicaid are a profitable niche for Mafiosi and other crime rings. As The Economist reported: "Medicaid doles out $415 billion a year; Medicare (a federal scheme for the elderly), nearly $600 billion. Total health spending in America is a massive $2.7 trillion, or 17% of GDP... Andrew Hackbarth of the RAND Corporation, estimated that fraud (and the extra rules and inspections required to fight it) added as much as $98 billion, or roughly 10%, to annual Medicare and Medicaid spending—and up to $272 billion across the entire health system."
Colletti's story is that of an old-school gangster who successfully avoided the limelight; for this, he has been lavished with praise by his criminal cohorts, as well as lushly rewarded.
"If you looked at [Colletti], you'd never know it," we were told. "He goes to church with his grandchildren every Sunday, lives in a modest house, he sweeps the sidewalk in front of his house--but he's got mega-fucking juice, even for a soldier. He's got more power than most capos."
Colletti is serving as acting capo for Anthony "Tough Tony" Federici, a fellow Queens resident who allegedly is part of a ruling panel overseeing the Genovese clan, considered the richest and most powerful crime family in the nation. Federici is the family's acting underboss. Anthony "Rom" Romanella was Federici's first acting capo.
Our source said he'd even heard Colletti referred to as consiglieri of the Genovese family, which "sounds like a good fit," but cautioned us he couldn't confirm it. "That family, as you know, is the Ivy League of the mob, and very secretive."
Nevertheless, whatever his title, Colletti "for years had special status, reporting directly to the administration. He is very well-liked and very well-aligned with the top members of all five crime families. They all respect him because he has so much power but remains so low key. He doesn't travel with many people and avoids the limelight at all costs."
In addition to his car-service business, Colletti also is said to have major clout in the garment district; in addition he reportedly controls a stagehands union for Broadway theaters and other major venues.
And Colletti still holds a majority share in the Genovese-Bonanno bookmaking operation busted back in 2005. Colletti himself has since relocated it to Costa Rica to avoid further scrutiny by U.S. law enforcement.
Colletti has ties that harken way back in the Mafia. His maternal uncle was Charlies "Chaloots" Gagliodotto, a legendary hit man for the Genovese crime family found strangled to death in August 1969, supposedly payback doled out by members of Frank Tuminaro's family. Chaloots, in the summer of that year, had gone off the deep end, going on a vicious killing spree that included the brutal murders of Frank Tuminaro and Frank Gangi Sr (father of Frank Gangi Jr., with whom we are writing an ebook focused on his association with Thomas "Tommy Karate" Pitera.)
Chaloots had taken Colletti under his wing. "He traveled in the shadows," our source said of Chaloots, adding that "Colletti has a lot of work under his belt."
Colletti is known to be a smoother operator, a man who gets things done quietly.
"There's always little fanfare; a guy will just disappear. [Colletti's] a sharp businessman. He usually gets the decision before it even goes to a sitdown."
Relatively unknown to the public at large -- "If you never heard of him, it’s because he wanted it that way," Jerry Capeci wrote of Colletti on his Gangland News website -- Colletti was poised to serve up to three years in prison fοr running a huge bookmaking operation that brought in several million dollars a year.
Of the bookmaking operation, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said it involved illegal wages involving horse racing, numbers and college and professional sports contests, including bets on the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship tournament.
The 2005 indictment charged Colletti and 16 other individuals with operating a gambling ring out of at least three Queens bars, including Club House Sports Bar in Maspeth and First German Sports Club and Tee-Dee’s Tavern, both in Ridgewood. Also involved were locations in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Westchester County.
The case was unique, according to DA Brown because it is the first time that two organized crime families were prosecuted for working in cooperation in an illegal gambling enterprise.
Colletti was the only one out of the 17 indicted in 2008 to refuse to cop a plea. He took the case to a courtroom, where he was found guilty following a cantankerous 10-day jury trial.
Colletti was sentenced tο one to three years іn prison (he could've been sentenced to up to 25 years, but his age was a consideration in the sentencing guidelines), but in 2010 he won on appeal. The Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court in Brooklyn threw out the conviction because, as Capeci described it: "Queens prosecutors failed to properly identify the name of the bookmaking operation that he was charged with heading in the five year old indictment."
Attorney Sarita Kedia, former acolyte to lauded defense attorney Gerald Shargel, made the appeal that resulted in the tossing of Colletti’s conviction.
Colletti is serving as acting capo for Anthony "Tough Tony" Federici, a fellow Queens resident who allegedly is part of a ruling panel overseeing the Genovese clan, considered the richest and most powerful crime family in the nation. Federici is the family's acting underboss. Anthony "Rom" Romanella was Federici's first acting capo.
Our source said he'd even heard Colletti referred to as consiglieri of the Genovese family, which "sounds like a good fit," but cautioned us he couldn't confirm it. "That family, as you know, is the Ivy League of the mob, and very secretive."
Nevertheless, whatever his title, Colletti "for years had special status, reporting directly to the administration. He is very well-liked and very well-aligned with the top members of all five crime families. They all respect him because he has so much power but remains so low key. He doesn't travel with many people and avoids the limelight at all costs."
Capeci noted that "this senior mob citizen had the mob juice to win a lucrative
Forest Hills car service from the Bonanno crime family at a sitdown during the
12-year reign of that family’s then-powerful boss Joseph Massino.
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| Massino gave the decision for a Queens car service to Colletti. |
"Sources say Massino himself told FBI agents about the
dispute over the car service between the two families and his decision for the
Genovese gangster..."
And Colletti still holds a majority share in the Genovese-Bonanno bookmaking operation busted back in 2005. Colletti himself has since relocated it to Costa Rica to avoid further scrutiny by U.S. law enforcement.
Colletti has ties that harken way back in the Mafia. His maternal uncle was Charlies "Chaloots" Gagliodotto, a legendary hit man for the Genovese crime family found strangled to death in August 1969, supposedly payback doled out by members of Frank Tuminaro's family. Chaloots, in the summer of that year, had gone off the deep end, going on a vicious killing spree that included the brutal murders of Frank Tuminaro and Frank Gangi Sr (father of Frank Gangi Jr., with whom we are writing an ebook focused on his association with Thomas "Tommy Karate" Pitera.)
Chaloots had taken Colletti under his wing. "He traveled in the shadows," our source said of Chaloots, adding that "Colletti has a lot of work under his belt."
Colletti is known to be a smoother operator, a man who gets things done quietly.
"There's always little fanfare; a guy will just disappear. [Colletti's] a sharp businessman. He usually gets the decision before it even goes to a sitdown."
Relatively unknown to the public at large -- "If you never heard of him, it’s because he wanted it that way," Jerry Capeci wrote of Colletti on his Gangland News website -- Colletti was poised to serve up to three years in prison fοr running a huge bookmaking operation that brought in several million dollars a year.
Of the bookmaking operation, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said it involved illegal wages involving horse racing, numbers and college and professional sports contests, including bets on the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship tournament.
The 2005 indictment charged Colletti and 16 other individuals with operating a gambling ring out of at least three Queens bars, including Club House Sports Bar in Maspeth and First German Sports Club and Tee-Dee’s Tavern, both in Ridgewood. Also involved were locations in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Westchester County.
The case was unique, according to DA Brown because it is the first time that two organized crime families were prosecuted for working in cooperation in an illegal gambling enterprise.
Colletti was the only one out of the 17 indicted in 2008 to refuse to cop a plea. He took the case to a courtroom, where he was found guilty following a cantankerous 10-day jury trial.
Colletti was sentenced tο one to three years іn prison (he could've been sentenced to up to 25 years, but his age was a consideration in the sentencing guidelines), but in 2010 he won on appeal. The Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court in Brooklyn threw out the conviction because, as Capeci described it: "Queens prosecutors failed to properly identify the name of the bookmaking operation that he was charged with heading in the five year old indictment."
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| Sarita Kedia won Colletti's appeal in 2010. |
Attorney Sarita Kedia, former acolyte to lauded defense attorney Gerald Shargel, made the appeal that resulted in the tossing of Colletti’s conviction.