Last Luchese Standing: Underboss Steven Crea Sentenced To Life
Stevie Wonder Boy during 1980s arrest. |
At the end of this story is a chart with details on all the defendants involved in the case.
A jury convicted Crea and three co-defendants on November 15, 2019 following a six-week trial before U.S. District Judge Cathy Seibel, who also imposed the sentence.
Strauss said: “Steven L. Crea – the underboss of the Luchese Family – is the last of a dozen made men arrested in 2017 to be sentenced for his crimes. For his role in the 2013 murder of Michael Meldish and other crimes, Crea will now spend the rest of his life behind bars. Thanks to the outstanding investigative work of the FBI and NYPD, we continue our commitment to render La Cosa Nostra a thing of the past.”
According to the evidence presented at trial, the admissions of defendants who pled guilty, and other court documents: From 2000 to his arrest in 2017, Crea helped lead the family, which made millions of dollars in profit from crimes committed by the Family’s members and associates in New York City, Westchester, Long Island, New Jersey, and elsewhere. In 2013, Crea helped orchestrate the murder of Michael Meldish.
“Michael was a stone-cold killer,” Joseph Coffey, former commanding officer of the NYPD’s organized crime homicide task force, has said.
Coffey spent years trying to pin murders on Meldish, though acknowledged that he faced one insurmountable obstacle: “We couldn’t get any witnesses," Coffey has said. "They had the people so terrified they just wouldn’t cooperate.”
Meldish is believed to have committed as many as 10 mob-related hits, and was never prosecuted for a single one. His brother and longtime street partner Joseph Meldish has been serving a 25-to-life sentence for a 1999 slaying. Joseph is believed to have committed as many as 70 contract killings.
Investigators at the 2013 murder of Michael Meldish. |
The Purple Gang roamed the South Bronx and Harlem where members were involved in the large‐scale distribution of heroin. They also whacked people -- and in many cases, dismembered their victims, of which there reportedly were 17 by December 1977. (Many of the 17 had been active informants for law enforcement when slain.) Purple Gang members essentially cut their teeth as glorified coffee boys in decade-long apprenticeships. They stepped up their game when the competition was wiped out -- meaning, they filled a huge niche after law enforcement cleared away many local narcotics trafficking rings, including the one known as the French Connection. The Purple Gang entered the contract killing business after it got into drug trafficking.
Most Purple Gang members were raised on Pleasant Avenue between 110th and 117th streets and were related to known Mafia figures or had been allied with local drug traffickers.
In 1979, Coffey, who died in September 2015, said that the Purple Gang was suspected of involvement in multiple unsolved .22 caliber killings -- many of which were allegedly carried out with the same weapon.
As reported last November, after a jury trial, Madonna, Crea, Christopher Londonio, and Terence Caldwell were convicted of murder, conspiracy to commit racketeering, and other felonies.
DEFENDANT | AGE | CITY OF RESIDENCE | CHARGES OF CONVICTION | SENTENCE |
Madonna, Matthew | 84 | Incarcerated | Racketeering conspiracy, murder in aid of racketeering, conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, aiding and abetting use of a firearm to commit murder | Life in prison |
Crea, Steven L. | 73 | Crestwood, NY | Racketeering conspiracy, murder in aid of racketeering, conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, aiding and abetting use of a firearm to commit murder | Life in prison, $400,000 fine, $1 million forfeiture |
Londonio, Christopher | 46 | Incarcerated | Racketeering conspiracy, murder in aid of racketeering, conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, aiding and abetting use of a firearm to commit murder, conspiracy to distribute narcotics | Life in prison |
Caldwell, Terrence | 62 | Incarcerated | Racketeering conspiracy, murder in aid of racketeering, conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, use of a firearm to commit murder, attempted murder in aid of racketeering, use of a firearm during a crime of violence | Life in prison |
Datello, Joseph | 69 | Staten Island, NY | Racketeering conspiracy | 168 months' imprisonment |
Crea, Steven D. | 48 | New Rochelle, NY | Racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, attempted assault with a deadly weapon in aid of racketeering | 156 months' imprisonment, $50,000 fine |
Bruno, Vincent | 36 | Incarcerated | Attempted murder in aid of racketeering, racketeering conspiracy | 136 months' imprisonment |
Vaughan, Brian | 54 | Matawan, NJ | Racketeering conspiracy | 84 months' imprisonment |
O’Connor, Richard | 66 | Staten Island, NY | Conspiracy to distribute narcotics | 72 months' imprisonment |
Garcia, Carmine | Deceased | Hawthorne, NJ | Racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit assault in aid of racketeering | 60 months' imprisonment, $250,000 fine |
DiNapoli, Joseph | 84 | Bronx, NY | Racketeering conspiracy | 52 months' imprisonment, $250,000 fine |
Castelucci, John | 60 | Staten Island, NY | Racketeering conspiracy | 37 months' imprisonment, $150,000 fine |
Maffucci, James | 72 | New York, NY | Extortion, Extortionate extension of credit | 37 months' imprisonment |
Corso, Tindaro | 59 | Staten Island, NY | Racketeering conspiracy | 30 months' imprisonment, $10,000 fine |
Venice, Joseph | 59 | Yonkers, NY | Racketeering conspiracy | 18 months' imprisonment, $10,000 fine |
Cassano, Paul | 41 | Yonkers, NY | Conspiracy to commit assault in aid of racketeering | 18 months' imprisonment |
Camilli, Robert | 63 | Briarcliff Manor, NY | Extortionate extension of credit | One year supervised release; $35,000 fine |
Incatasciato, John | 45 | Elmsford, NY | Extortionate collection of credit | Two years' supervised release; 100 hours' community service |
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