Waterfront Commission Bans Multiple Individuals Over Mafia Ties, Helps Nab Two Genovese "Brokesters"

After a seven-month hiatus, the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor was back in business on December 7, when it formally banned multiple individuals from obtaining "gainful" employment on the docks  over alleged ties to Mafia figures.

Stephen (Beach) DePiro, a Genovese soldier
Churchgoer Stephen (Beach) DePiro, reputed Genovese soldier.


As per published reports, the rejects had ties to the Lucchese, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, and DeCavalcante crime families. The potential recruits included an applicant who is affiliated with Stephen (Beach) DePiro, a Genovese soldier who in 2015 was sentenced to three years and five months in prison after pleading guilty to an extortion scheme that collected kickbacks from dock workers.

The Commission also blocked an applicant who did not disclose his association with a “member of the Sicilian faction of the Gambino family.” Another applicant was rejected over his not disclosing multiple family ties to the mob: his father is associated with the Luchese family and a grandfather and uncle are linked to the DeCavalcante family in North Jersey.

The Gambino family's "Sicilian faction" most recently gained dominance around 2011, when Domenico (Italian Dom) Cefalu was named boss, officially marking the end of the John Gotti era. For the first time since Gotti seized power in 1985 with the murder of  Paul Castellano, the Gambino family had chosen a member of the Sicilian faction rather than a Gotti family member or ally. (The Neapolitan John Gotti supposedly cared little for the family's "zips," as he derisively called them.)

“I think they picked a Sicilian because they’re tired of the old, fat, lazy American Italians who turn into rats,” a law enforcement source said at the time.

As if to put a (very belated) exclamation point on the transition away from John Gotti, the family also  tapped a Gambino veteran who punched John Gotti in the face to be number three. In April 2019, following the murder of Francesco (Franky Boy) Cali, another key Sicilian member of the Administration, the Gambino family reportedly tapped Michael (Mickey Boy) Paradiso—a tough old bird and longtime family capo—to fill the leadership void by serving as consigliere alongside Sicilians Cefalu and reputed underboss Lorenzo Mannino.

The Sicilian faction of the Gambinos also sank its tentacles into North Jersey. A 2015 complaint revealed that the North New Jersey-based DeCavalcantes were being closely run by the Gambinos in New York.


Francesco (Frank Boy) Cali
Cali was slain in a 2019 hit that was not at all Mafia related. 


As for Genovese soldier DePiro, he had been a major player in the New Jersey underworld. He was arrested in January 2011, one of the more than 120 wiseguys and associates arrested in New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island as part of the so-called largest organized-crime shakedown in FBI history. The mobsters were arrested for basic mob mainstay crimes like extortion and racketeering but also for pulling off "more sophisticated schemes."

DePiro was a long-time soldier under the family's powerful waterfront capo Tino Fiumara, who was part of a three-man panel running the powerful Genovese family at the time of his death in 2010. DePiro eventually was also acting capo for Fiumara, who controlled Port Newark–Elizabeth-based unions and engaged in loansharking, extortion, gambling, and union and labor racketeering throughout the New Jersey counties of Union, Essex and Bergen. (The Feds attributed around a dozen murders to Fiumara, who reportedly once belonged to a Genovese family hit squad. Several of Tino's alleged victims were FBI informants. Fiumara’s reputation for cunning was so powerful, when he died in September 2010, law enforcement officials didn't believe he was dead. One F.B.I. supervisor sent two agents to confirm Fiumara’s demise. They visited the Long Island funeral home that buried him; the proprietor assured them that Fiumara, who had moved to South Huntington, New York, after his 2005 release from prison, was indeed dead. But that didn't stop the FBI, who then visited the hospital where Fiumara had been undergoing cancer treatment when he died. There, they were finally satisfied: Fiumara, head of the Genovese family’s waterfront rackets, was indeed dead.)

In a bid to win release on bail for the 2015 case, DePiro's attorney highlighted in court filings that DePiro was a good Catholic who went to mass, not once a week, but every day of the week. In a letter to the court supporting DePiro's request for bail, three priests and a deacon at his church, St. Theresa's in Kenilworth, cited "his sincerity" and his "participation in pastoral programs" and added that "some of our parishioners . . . told us they are inspired by his prayerful attitude and kindness."


Michael (Mickey Boy) Paradiso
The Gambino's number 3 once punched John Gotti in the face.



As for the Waterfront Commission itself, it currently is facing extinction. The New Jersey Legislature passed a law in 2017 requiring the state to pull out of the alliance and shift its enforcement efforts to its state police force. A years-long legal battle followed — until earlier this year when New York sued New Jersey to stop the dissolution of the commission. The case is now before the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, the Waterfront Commission also was one of the agencies that played a role in investigating an illegal drug ring that was smashed last month that included two longtime Genovese wiseguys who once pulled off million-dollar bank heists. The geezer gangster duo apparently fell on hard times more recently.

This blog did not previously cover this case, so:

Specifically, Elio (Chinatown) Albanese, 73, and Carmine (Baby Carmine) Russo, 77,obtained 17 prescriptions for oxycodone pills in their own names from a Midtown doctor, got them filled in Manhattan, and passed the pills off to two associates. who then sold them on Staten Island.

The indictment, announced on November 30 by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., named a total of nine individuals, including  Tribeca physician Dr. Noel Smith, for charges including conspiring to distribute tens of thousands of prescription pills, including opioids and other controlled substances, in Manhattan and Staten Island. 

Baby Carmine, cash in hand. Elio Albanese faces him. The two reputed Genovese wiseguys were photographed in 1993 hawking fireworks on Mulberry Street. 



The defendants allegedly operated a scheme that involved obtaining oxycodone, Adderall, Klonopin and Suboxone pills in Manhattan to illegally sell in Staten Island.

The defendants are charged in three New York State Supreme Court indictments that were the result of a yearlong wiretap investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, the New York City Police Department, the Business Integrity Commission, the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

“As alleged, these defendants used the ongoing opioid crisis to exploit the suffering and addiction of others. And to make matters worse, a trusted Manhattan doctor prescribed pills to the defendants, which were then sold illegally to New Yorkers,” said District Attorney Bragg. “We are grateful for the collaboration with our law enforcement partners and will continue to work across agencies to hold accountable all who make our streets less safe and endanger the lives of New Yorkers with illicit prescription drugs.”

Smith, a Tribeca-based family practitioner, is charged with numerous counts of Criminal Sale of a Prescription for a Controlled Substance by a Practitioner for writing prescriptions for Adderall, Klonopin and Suboxone to Timothy Bonaguro, Christopher Gorga, Ivan Iorizzo, Mark, Lanfranchi, and Louis Ventafredda.

Along with associate Anthony Santo, Bonaguo, Gorga, Iorizzo, Lanfranchi, and Ventafredda are charged with Conspiracy in the Fifth Degree and numerous counts of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Fifth Degree for participating in a scheme to obtain and fill the prescriptions from Smith and distribute the pills through illegal street-level sales to buyers on Staten Island.

To build up an inventory of pills, Iorizzo, Lanfranchi and Ventafredda designed a plan that would maximize their hauls:

Iorizzo obtained prescriptions in his name for Adderall, Klonopin and Suboxone.

Bonaguro and Gorga obtained prescriptions in their names for Adderall and Klonopin.

Iorizzo, Lanfranchi and Ventafredda would assume the identity of one of Iorizzo's brothers for Adderall and Klonopin prescriptions.

Iorizzo, Lanfranchi and Santo would assume the identity of another one of Iorizzo’s brothers for Adderall and Klonopin prescriptions.

Iorizzo, Lanfranchi, Santo, and Ventafredda are also charged with Identity Theft in the First Degree for impersonating Iorizzo's brothers in order to obtain extra inventory of pills to sell.

In a separate indictment, Iorizzo and Ventafredda are charged along with Elia Albanese and Carmine Russo with Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree and numerous counts of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree for participating in a scheme to obtain oxycodone pills from a different Midtown Manhattan doctor and illegally sell the pills. Iorizzo and Ventafredda carried out a similar scheme for building inventory.

Albanese and Russo obtained prescriptions in their names for oxycodone from the midtown doctor in their names and would get them filled in Manhattan. Iorizzo and Ventafredda would then run the pills obtained by Albanese and Russo so that Iorizzo and associates could then sell the oxycodone on Staten Island.

Assistant D.A.s Anne Ternes and Mao Yu Lin are handling the prosecution of this case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Julieta V. Lozano (Chief of the Major Economic Crimes Bureau), Executive Assistant D.A.s Christopher Conroy (Senior Advisor to the Investigation Division) and Susan Hoffinger (Investigation Division Chief). Assistant District Attorney Sun Moon Heo, Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor; Senior Financial Investigator Robert Pomeroy and former Senior Financial Investigator Evelyn Marrero; Rackets Investigators Robert Mistretta, Daniel Frooks, and Shannon Rowe; Investigative Analysts L. Jackson Howell and Benjamin Kobrin; Trial Preparation Assistants William Briskin, Miranda Coombe, and Georgia Longstreet Joseph; and former Investigative Analysts Alessandro Schooley, Lauren Davila, Sloane Ruffa, and Anna Bruckner, also provided assistance with the investigation.

District Attorney Bragg thanked the Criminal Enterprise Investigation Section of the New York City Police Department, especially Detective Brian O’Keeffe, New York Strike Force- Tactical Diversion Squad, the Business Integrity Commission, especially Matthew Gonzalez, Deputy Director of IT and Chief Information Security Officer, the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, the New York State Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, and the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor for their assistance with the investigation. District Attorney Bragg also thanked the New York State Department of Health for providing continuity of care for patients of Smith.


Defendant Information

ELIA ALBANESE
New York, NY
Charges:

Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, a class B felony, nine counts

Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree, a class E felony, one count

TIMOTHY BONAGURO
Parlin, NJ
Charges:

Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Fifth Degree, a class D felony, eight counts

Conspiracy in the Fifth Degree, a class A misdemeanor, one count

CHRISTOPHER GORGA
Matawan, NJ
Charges:

Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Fifth Degree, a class D felony, four counts

Conspiracy in the Fifth Degree, a class A misdemeanor, one count

IVAN IORIZZO
Staten Island, NY
Charges:

Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, a class B felony, four counts

Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Fifth Degree, a class D felony, 59 counts

Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree, a class E felony, one count

Attempted Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Fifth Degree, a class E felony, two counts

Identity Theft in the First Degree, a class D felony, 15 counts

Conspiracy in the Fifth Degree, a class A misdemeanor, one count

MARK LANFRANCHI
Morganville, NJ
Charges:

Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Fifth Degree, a class D felony, 57 counts

Identity Theft in the First Degree, a class D felony, 13 counts, D felony

Conspiracy in the Fifth Degree, a class A misdemeanor, one count

CARMINE RUSSO
New York, NY
Charges:

Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, a class B felony, eight counts

Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree, a class E felony, one count

ANTHONY SANTO
Staten Island, NY
Charges:

Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Fifth Degree, a D felony, 12 counts

Identity Theft in the First Degree, a class D felony, six counts

Conspiracy in the Fifth Degree, a class A misdemeanor, one count

NOEL SMITH, M.D.
New York, NY
Charges:

Criminal Sale of a Prescription for a Controlled Substance by a Practitioner, a class C felony, 30 counts

LOUIS VENTAFREDDA
Staten Island, NY
Charges:

Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, a class B felony, 17 counts

Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Fifth Degree, a class D felony, 14 counts

Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree, a class E felony, one count

Attempted Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Fifth Degree, a class E felony, two counts

Identity Theft in the First Degree, a class D felony, eight counts

Conspiracy in the Fifth Degree, a class A misdemeanor, one count


“Today’s charges prove again that New York City’s fight against the illegal drug trade is unrelenting,” said NYPD Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell. “The NYPD, together with all of our law-enforcement partners, will pursue these criminals however they operate – and when the perpetrators are trusted members of the medical community, their crimes are especially appalling. I thank and commend the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, the NYC Business Integrity Commission, the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, the DEA’s New York Division, and everyone else involved in this case for their exceptional work.”

“This investigation demonstrates how the diversion of prescription medication precipitates drug peddling throughout our communities,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge Frank Tarentino. “Investigators learned that Dr. Noel Smith prescribed controlled substances in a manner inconsistent with public health and safety which put many people in harm’s way. I want to thank our law enforcement partners who worked collectively on this significant investigation.”

“BIC values working in partnership with NYPD, Manhattan DA’s Office, the DEA’s New York Division and the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor and our collective continued efforts to work as partners in public safety,” said BIC Commissioner and Chair Elizabeth Crotty.

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