Lev L. Dassin, Acting U. S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Joseph Demarest, Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Office of the FBI, and Raymond W. Kelly, Police Commissioner of the City of New York (NYPD), announced the unsealing today of a 38-count indictment (the Leo indictment) against 12 defendants, including Daniel Leo, the alleged former acting boss, and various members and associates of the Genovese Organized Crime Family of La Cosa Nostra.
The Leo indictment
charges the defendants with racketeering and other offenses, including violent
extortions of individuals and businesses, loansharking, narcotics trafficking
and operation of illegal gambling businesses.
Also
announced was the unsealing of a second indictment (the Tassiello indictment),
charging Genovese associate Thomas Tassiello, a/k/a “Tommy,” with racketeering,
extortion and other charges. Shortly after Tassiello’s arrest today, FBI
agents executed a search warrant at the New Jersey residence of Andy Gerardo, a
member of the Genovese Organized Crime Family, which was used by members and
associates of the Genovese Organized Crime Family in connection with their
illegal activities.
Anthony
Palumbo, Rocco Petrozza, Patsy Aversa, Joseph Petullo, Arthur Boland and
Tassiello were arrested this morning at their homes by members of the Joint
Organized Crime Task Force, which includes agents of the FBI and detectives of
the NYPD. Felice Masullo, Anthony Masullo and Angelo Masullo surrendered
earlier today in Magistrate Court. Daniel Leo, Charles Salzano, Joseph
Leo and Vincent Cotona are in federal custody on other charges.
According to
the Leo Indictment, unsealed today in Manhattan federal court:
Daniel Leo,
Charles Salzano, Rocco Petrozza, Felice Masullo, Patsy Aversa, Vincent Cotona,
Joseph Leo, Joseph Petullo, Anthony Masullo and Angelo Masullo participated in
racketeering offenses related to the affairs of the Genovese Organized Crime
Family. Daniel Leo served as acting boss of the Genovese Family beginning
in approximately 2005. During the time he served as acting boss, he supervised
racketeering crimes of his own “crew” of Genovese Family members and
associates, including Soldier Charles Salzano and associates Joseph Leo and
Arthur Boland. Salzano and Joseph Leo are charged with various
racketeering offenses, including loansharking and operation of an illegal
gambling business.
Additional
charges against defendants named in the indictment include making and
collecting extortionate loans to small business owners and other individuals,
including owners and operators of bartending schools in New York City and New
Jersey, and threatening victims with physical harm if they did not repay the
loans.
In 2006,
Daniel Leo placed long-time Soldier and Acting Capo Anthony Palumbo in charge
of the New Jersey operations of the Genovese Family. Palumbo and other
New Jersey-based family members and associates under his supervision, including
his driver Felice Massulo and Soldier Rocco Petrozza, are charged with, among
other offenses, forcibly taking over a small business in Jersey City, N.J., to
collect payment on a loanshark loan. Petrozza and associates Patzy
Aversa, Vincent Cotona, and Joseph Petullo are charged with extortion of the
owners and operators of this same business.
Felice
Masullo – who served as Palumbo’s driver and was proposed as a member of the
Genovese Family – is charged with his brothers, Anthony Masullo and Angelo
Masullo, with racketeering offenses including the trafficking of cocaine and
crack cocaine, loansharking, and operating an illegal sports-betting business.
According to
the Tassiello indictment, unsealed today in Manhattan federal court:
Beginning in
at least 2004, through the date of the indictment, the defendant, Thomas
Tassiello, a/k/a “Tommy,” used his status as an associate of the Genovese
Organized Crime Family to make a string of extortionate loans to
Manhattan-based small business owners and to threaten them with physical
violence and other harm when they failed to make prompt repayment of their
loans. In one instance, Tassiello took ownership interest in a Manhattan
bar after its owner did not keep up with weekly interest payments on a series
of loans totaling approximately $100,000.
After
Tassiello became aware of a federal investigation into his loansharking
operation, he instructed his victims to provide false and misleading
information to a federal grand jury and special agents of the FBI.
Tassiello is
also charged with the operation of an illegal gambling business that engaged in
sports bookmaking and illegal lottery schemes, and the transportation across
state lines of stolen property.
Tassiello is
charged with two counts of racketeering, six counts of conspiracy to make and
collect extortionate loans, one count of interstate transportation of stolen
property and one count of operating an unlawful gambling business. If
convicted of all the charges contained in the indictment, Tassiello, 61, of New
York City, faces a maximum sentence of 70 years in prison.
All of the
defendants who were arrested today appeared before a U.S. Magistrate
Judge. Daniel Leo, Charles Salzano, Joseph Leo and Vincent Cotona are
expected to be arraigned on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009, at noon.
Mr. Dassin
praised the work of the Joint Organized Crime Task Force in the investigation,
and added that the investigation is continuing.
Assistant
U.S. Attorneys David B. Massey, Avi Weitzman, John T. Zach and Steve Kwok are
in charge of the prosecutions.
The charges contained in the indictments are merely accusations, and the
defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.