{"id":321881,"date":"2024-06-06T18:20:57","date_gmt":"2024-06-06T23:20:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=321881"},"modified":"2024-06-07T09:09:38","modified_gmt":"2024-06-07T14:09:38","slug":"ex-nypd-cop-indicted-in-new-york-mafia-gambling-racket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ex-nypd-cop-indicted-in-new-york-mafia-gambling-racket\/","title":{"rendered":"Former NYPD Cop Among 17 Indicted in New York Mafia Gambling, Extortion Racket"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seventeen people have been charged for their alleged involvement in a Mafia-linked gambling and loansharking operation on Staten Island<\/a>, New York, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\"Fred
Fresh from prosecuting the Trump Organization, Letitia James, above, sets her sights on an alleged Gambino syndicate, which has been up to traditional New York Mafia stuff — illegal gambling and extortionate loansharking. (Image: CNBC<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Among the defendants are a former NYPD officer, a mobbed-up pizza restaurateur, and numerous reputed members and associates of the Gambino crime family.<\/p>\n

Heading the operation were alleged Gambino soldiers John LaForte, Anthony Cinque, and John Matera, prosecutors claim. Also named in the indictment are alleged Gambino associates Edward LaForte, Frederick Falcone, Sr., Giulio Pomponio, Daniel Bogan, and alleged Colombo associate Charles Fusco.<\/p>\n

Gambino Cop?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

An ex-cop, Falcone\u2019s role was to manage the books, meticulously keeping track of who owed which exorbitant debt.<\/p>\n

\n

Falcone retired from the police force in 1992. In 1980, his patrol partner was Joseph Esposito who later became Chief of the New York City Police Department. Esposito died in January 2024.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Edward Laforte, brother to John Laforte, managed the sports betting enterprise, using an offshore price-per-head website<\/a>, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n

Several of those charged were “sheetholders,” whose role was to collect gambler\u2019s bets and debts.<\/p>\n

Often, the gamblers who were wagering illegally through these sheetholders would fall into debt and the members of this criminal enterprise would exploit this opportunity by providing a usurious loan and charging and collecting illegally high interest on these loans, making a profit off of a gambler who had fallen into debt,” prosecutors said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The operation handled more than $22.7 million in bets and generated weekly interest of around $500K worth of usurious loans. Investigators used wiretaps, covert surveillance, and offshore gambling site warrants to collect evidence against the group.<\/p>\n

\u2018Slice of Pizza\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Members would meet to discuss business at the Eltingville Shopping Center and the Greenridge Shopping Center on Staten Island, according to prosecutors. Edward LaForte would often leave proceeds from the operation at Frank and Danny\u2019s Pizzeria in the Eltingville Shopping Center, which was owned by Bogan.<\/p>\n

\u201cStopping over for a slice of pizza\u201d was a euphemism used by the group for distributing the spoils, according to wiretaps.<\/p>\n

Illegal gambling and loan sharking schemes are some of the oldest rackets in the mob\u2019s playbook,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James, who recently successfully prosecuted the Trump Organization for fraud, said in a statement Wednesday.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“While organized crime may still be active in New York, today we are putting several Gambino family members out of business. These criminal enterprises took tens of millions of dollars from New Yorkers and trapped many in dangerous amounts of debt,” James added.<\/p>\n

The charges, detailed in an 84-count indictment, include enterprise corruption, promoting gambling, criminal usury, and conspiracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seventeen people have been charged for their alleged involvement in a Mafia-linked gambling and loansharking operation on Staten Island, New York, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday. Among the defendants are a former NYPD officer, a mobbed-up pizza restaurateur, and numerous reputed members and associates of the Gambino crime family. Heading the operation were alleged […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":321882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,88702,1074],"tags":[91168,91167,91165,91169,91166,91170,13765,34,82946],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEx-NYPD Cop Indicted in New York Mafia Gambling Racket<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fred Falcone Sr., ex-NYPD cop, indicted in Gambino gambling, extortion racket, with John LaForte, Anthony Cinque, and John Matera\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ex-nypd-cop-indicted-in-new-york-mafia-gambling-racket\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ex-NYPD Cop Indicted in New York Mafia Gambling Racket\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fred Falcone Sr., ex-NYPD cop, indicted in Gambino gambling, extortion racket, with John LaForte, Anthony Cinque, and John Matera\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ex-nypd-cop-indicted-in-new-york-mafia-gambling-racket\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-06-06T23:20:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-06-07T14:09:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/James.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"666\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ex-nypd-cop-indicted-in-new-york-mafia-gambling-racket\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ex-nypd-cop-indicted-in-new-york-mafia-gambling-racket\/\",\"name\":\"Ex-NYPD Cop Indicted in New York Mafia Gambling Racket\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ex-nypd-cop-indicted-in-new-york-mafia-gambling-racket\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ex-nypd-cop-indicted-in-new-york-mafia-gambling-racket\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/James.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-06-06T23:20:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-06-07T14:09:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Fred Falcone Sr., ex-NYPD cop, indicted in Gambino gambling, extortion racket, with John LaForte, Anthony Cinque, and John Matera\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ex-nypd-cop-indicted-in-new-york-mafia-gambling-racket\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ex-nypd-cop-indicted-in-new-york-mafia-gambling-racket\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ex-nypd-cop-indicted-in-new-york-mafia-gambling-racket\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/James.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/James.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":666,\"caption\":\"Fresh from prosecuting Donald Trump, Letitia James, above, sets her sights on an alleged Gambino syndicate, which has been up to traditional New York Mafia stuff -- illegal gambling and extortionate loansharking. 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He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. 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