To mark the 50th anniversary of the movie “The Godfather”, the prosecution in New York provided a reminder that the Sicilian mafia – the famous Cosa Nostra – is still alive and kicking: charges of extortion, illegal gambling and money laundering were filed against eight suspects who belong to the Bonanno and Genovese crime families and against a police detective.
According to the lawsuit, the defendants allegedly operated since 2012 several illegal gambling enterprises in New York and Long Island that were hidden under the cover of a coffee bar, a football club and a shoemaker’s store. The profits were laundered through cash transfers to the accused and reached the heads of the crime families.
Carmelo Polito, who allegedly served as a captain in the Genovese family, is also accused of running an online gambling scheme and extorting a man who lost thousands of dollars gambling. In a conversation from October 2019, Polito was recorded telling another person to tell the indebted gambler that “I’m going to put him under the bridge…
Also on the list of defendants are Anthony Pipitone, who was a captain and soldier of the Bonanno family, Vito Pipitone who was a soldier of the Bonanno family, Agostino Gabriela who was a partner of the Bonanno family, Joseph Macario who was a soldier of the Genovese and two partners of the Genovese family, Salvatore Rubino and ‘And Zef Rotigliano who was the only one not arrested yet.
Among those arrested is Hector Rosario, a detective from the Nassau County Police, who is accused of allegedly receiving money from the Bonanno family in exchange for organizing police raids on gambling complexes that competed with the gambling ventures of the Coza