Why Is This Wealthy Genovese Soldier Even in the Mob?

Sallie DeMeo, Genovese soldier.

You've heard of On the Waterfront? This guy apparently owned it.... Well, huge swaths of it, anyway.....


Reputed Genovese soldier Salvatore (Sallie) DeMeo, 77, was busted on tax-evasion charges this past Thursday for failing to report $2 million in capital gains income and not ponying up about $367,000 in taxes.

However, it's not mob-related, the Feds say. The mob-related stuff was last month. DeMeo got off in September with five years' probation. In Brooklyn Supreme Court he copped to participating in a loansharking and gambling racket.

DeMeo is a "longtime, loyal member" of the Genovese crime family, per the federal prosecutors.

In 2002, in Brooklyn federal court, he copped to being "connected" to a bank stick-up and an armored car heist.


As for his most recent headache, the Feds charge that DeMeo inherited from his father shares of downtown Brooklyn land -- specifically along Atlantic Avenue, Pacific Street, Bond Street and Schermerhorn Street. Then, from 2013 to 2014, he and others sold the property off in pieces, ultimately pocketing a tidy $18.2 million.

DeMeo is on the far right....

DeMeo didn't want to cut Uncle Sam in. He had the the money made out to himself in eight different checks and deposited them into different bank accounts that weren't his. For example, one check (for about $1 million) he deposited into a account for a plumbing business he didn't own; the Feds allege another Genovese wiseguy owned it. (But, hey, it's not mob-related!!!! Somthing smell fishy here to you too???)

DeMeo also wrote a $355,000 check to an unlicensed check-cashing business. The money — minus a fee — was then funneled back to DeMeo.

The judge ordered his released on $2 million bond, despite prosecutors’ protests that he was a flight risk.

"They want him to stay out of the social clubs. But the social club days are over. That's the old Sal,"  DeMeo lawyer Gary Farrell said during the proceedings.

Yeah, Gary. Absolutely. We can totally believe that.....

Brooklyn Executive U.S. Attorney William Muller said: "Organized crime members are on notice that this Office and its law enforcement partners will hold them accountable for such economic crimes no less than for their traditional schemes and offenses."

“Today’s arrest reflects our continued commitment to prosecuting alleged members of the mafia with every tool available to us,” stated Executive Assistant United States Attorney William J. Muller.

“Organized crime members are on notice that this Office and its law enforcement partners will hold them accountable for such economic crimes no less than for their traditional schemes and offenses."

Per Federal guidelines, DeMeo faces more than three years in prison if convicted.