Genovese Bust Includes Murder Plot (of Genovese Mobster?)

Salvatore Delligatti 

Members and associates of the Genovese crime family have been arrested and face an eight-count racketeering indictment that includes murder conspiracy, attempted murder, extortion conspiracy, illegal gambling and firearm charges, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said.

The FBI, Nassau County Police and NYPD conducted a multi-year probe (with some alleged crimes dating back to 2008) that resulted in the case against 18 people, 17 of whom are currently in jail following the “coordinated take-down,” according to officials.

Those charged include alleged Genovese soldiers Robert DeBello (aka “Old Man,” “Bobby” and “Grandpa”), 74, of Whitestone, and Steven Pastore, 56, of Staten Island, and associates Ryan Ellis (“Joseph Princi,” “Baldy,” “Lazy Eye” and “Zeus”) , 34, of Bayside, and Salvatore Delligatti (“Jay” and “Fat Sal”) , 40, of Oakland Gardens.

Delligatti already has been linked to the murder plot, it seems (though the victim is not named in the indictment, which is linked to below). He and Robert Sowulski allegedly hired three members of the Bloods street gang to kill a rival mobster who lived in Queens -- specifically, Joseph Bonelli.

This past January Gang Land’s Jerry Capeci wrote an exclusive about the case, calling the plot"new and highly unorthodox" and noting it was put into play to seek revenge over a barroom slight.

Gangland noted: "Not only did the payback plan turn into a fiasco, it was the kind of bozo operation that would make the late Vincent (Chin) Gigante and prior bosses of the once sophisticated Genovese gang go spinning in their graves."

"Gang Land has learned exclusively about this ham-handed plot, and the details are not pretty."

"Sources say it began when Genovese associate Salvatore (Sal) Delligatti had some cross words with another patron in a metro-area saloon. Delligatti was preparing to settle the argument with his fists when another mob associate stepped in and broke up the fight."

Law enforcement sources said that the real reason for the plot was that Delligatti and others believed Bonelli was informing about mob bookmaking ventures in Queens following his release from prison in 2012.

A carload of guys carrying firearms were en route to hit the Genovese associate and were only blocks away from his home when Nassau County detectives, surveilling the home at the time, pulled over and arrested the men on June 8, 2014.

Sowulski is not named in the latest Genovese indictment however.

This blog noted how, according to a Cosa Nostra News source, Vinny Basciano had given Joseph Cammarano, then a Bonanno associate, an order to hit Genovese associate Joseph Bonelli. Court documents claim Basciano wanted Bonelli gone because Bonelli tried over-zealously to collect a debt from a mobster’s son in 2004. Bonelli "went berserk," the Post reported.

Wiretaps of the alleged hit order are contained in paperwork filed in February 2007 as part of a then-ongoing federal case against several Bonnano crime members. Basciano was heard detailing the story of how Bonelli violently attacked someone at the Villa Sonoma, a restaurant then run by Paul “Fat Paulie” Spina.

Vinny Basciano

Bonelli survived Basciano's tenure on the street but was arrested in 2006 on drug and weapons charges, wreaking all manner of havoc on veteran Queens Assistant District Attorney Barbara Wilkanowski.

He was sentenced to five years -- and then, following his release, he apparently raised the ire of members of his own crime family. Ironically what got him in trouble in the first place was an assault charge that occurred outside a Whitestone bar (and a drug offense).

Current Genovese Indictment

Several defendants are from Long Island, including Jonathan DeSimone, 34, from Huntington; Sypro Antonakopoulos, 31, from Elmont; Michael Vigorito, 35, from Massapequa; Frank Celso, 50, from West Hempstead; and Scott Jacobson, 31, from Old Bethpage.

Others named in the indictment are Luigi Romano, 38, of Whitestone; Luigi Caminiti, 35, of Whitestone; Bertram Duke, 48, of New York City; Tyrone McCallum of the Bronx; Marcus Grant, 27, of the Bronx; Sharif Brown, 31; of the Bronx; Joseph Tedesco, 44, of Brooklyn; Mick Sokol, 41, of Brooklyn;; Michael Karnback, 43, of Brooklyn.

See below for who faces which counts.

Officials said DeBello reported directly to a Genovese family captain, often at a social club in downtown Manhattan. From 2008 through May 2016, DeBello, Pastore, Ellis and Delligatti participated in Genovese family criminal affairs.

Authorities said DeBello, Pastore, Ellis and Delligati were charged with racketeering conspiracy, with DeBello, Ellis and Delligatti charged with conspiracy to commit murder and attempted murder in aid of racketeering activity.

Romano, Duke, McCallum, Grant, Brown and Delligatti have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder for hire. All five also were hit with a firearm-related charge, as were DeBello and Ellis.

DeBello, Pastore, Ellis, Delligatti, Caminiti, Jacobson, Celso, Tedesco, Vigorito, Sokol, Antonakopoulos, Karnback and DeSimone allegedly participated in an illegal gambling business.

“Today’s charges show that the mob continues to wreak havoc in our communities, including through a recent murder conspiracy, attempted murder, and extortion,” Bharara said.

“Today’s arrests send a strong message that we are disrupting organized crime in New York,” Nassau District Attorney Madeline Singas said. “The allegations against some of the defendants — including conspiracy to commit murder, racketeering and gambling — are very serious, and we will continue our joint efforts to dismantle these violent criminal enterprises.”

Download indictment (PDF)

United States v. Robert DeBello, et al., S4 15 Cr. 491 (LTS)

COUNT 1

CHARGE

Racketeering conspiracy

DEFENDANTS

ROBERT DEBELLO

STEVEN PASTORE

RYAN ELLIS

SALVATORE DELLIGATTI

MAX. PENALTIES

20 years in prison

COUNT 2

Conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering activity

ROBERT DEBELLO

RYAN ELLIS

SALVATORE DELLIGATTI

10 years in prison

COUNT 3

Attempted murder in aid of racketeering activity

ROBERT DEBELLO

RYAN ELLIS

SALVATORE DELLIGATTI

10 years in prison

COUNT 4

Conspiracy to commit murder for hire

SALVATORE DELLIGATTI

LUIGI ROMANO

BERTRAM DUKE

TYRONE MCCULLUM

MARCUS GRANT

SHARIF BROWN

10 years in prison

COUNT 5

Participating in an illegal gambling business

ROBERT DEBELLO

STEVEN PASTORE

RYAN ELLIS

SALVATORE DELLIGATTI

LUIGI CAMINITI

SCOTT JACOBSON

FRANK CELSO

JOSEPH TEDESCO

MICHAEL VIGORITO

MICK SOKOL

SPYRO ANTONAKOPOULOS MICHAEL KARNBACK

JONATHAN DESIMONE

5 years in prison

COUNT 6

Use of Firearms for Crimes of Violence

ROBERT DEBELLO

RYAN ELLIS

Life in prison

COUNT 7

Use of Firearms for Crimes of Violence

SALVATORE DELLIGATTI

Life in prison

COUNT 8

Use of a Firearm for Murder-for-Hire Conspiracy

LUIGI ROMANO

BERTRAM DUKE

TYRONE MCCULLUM

MARCUS GRANT

SHARIF BROWN

Life in prison