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GOTTI BUST
By KATI CORNELL SMITH, MURRAY WEISS and ANDY GELLER
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June 5, 2002 -- The feds broke the Gambino family's stranglehold on the Brooklyn waterfront yesterday, busting its new don, Peter Gotti, and 16 others on charges of shaking down the longshoremen's union, related companies and even action-movie star Steven Seagal.
A 68-count indictment, returned after a three-year investigation, accuses the older brother of "Dapper Don" John Gotti, two other relatives and 14 other Gambino soldiers and associates of extortion, racketeering, gambling and loan-sharking.
Peter Gotti, 62, who took over from his ailing brother this year and represented the Gambinos at a meeting of the commission of the five New York crime families, raked in $10,000 a month from the scheme, sources said.
The indictment says Gambino family soldier Primo Cassarino was caught on tape threatening a gambler who owed him cash, "You think you can outsmart me, you see what the . . . is going to happen to you . . . I went to your restaurant last night . . . I'm going to grab your mother today."
And he allegedly told a Brooklyn company owner who balked at storing gambling devices, "When I tell you something . . . you . . . do what I tell you. You hear me? If you don't like it, let me know now. I'll come there and throw you through the window."
Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Alan Vinegrad said, "When it comes to the waterfront, the greedy grip of organized crime knows no bounds." But, he added, "The tide is turning."
The indictment says the defendants used "threats of force, violence and fear" to win control of the Brooklyn and Staten Island chapters of the International Longshoremen's Union.
Once in control, the indictment says, they plotted to take over the presidency of the entire 85,000-member union. They also allegedly awarded a lucrative union contract for prescription drugs to a mob-controlled company, collecting a $400,000 kickback.
The indictment also accuses Gambino associate Julius Nasso, a former business partner of Seagal, of trying to extort "hundreds of thousands of dollars from an individual in the film industry." Authorities would not name the individual, but sources said it was Seagal.
Nasso sued Seagal for $60 million in March, accusing him of reneging on a deal to appear in four pictures. Prosecutors said, in fact, that Nasso demanded the actor pay the crime family $150,000 for each movie.
A key figure in the extortion scheme is Gambino capo Anthony "Sonny" Ciccone, a former top official of ILA Local 1814 who was barred from taking part in union affairs in 1991 after a racketeering conviction.
But the indictment says Ciccone continued to oversee the family's interests in the ILA with the help of mob associate Frank "Red" Scollo, as well as the president of Local 1814 and the vice president of the ILA.
For example, Ciccone and Scollo, with the help of Gambino soldiers Cassarino and Jerome Brancato, allegedly schemed to take control of the full ILA.
The Gambino and Genovese families had divided up the New York City waterfront, the Gambinos taking Brooklyn and Staten Island and the Genovese family taking Manhattan and New Jersey, the feds say.
Between April and August of last year, the indictment says, Ciccone, Cassarino, Scollo and Brancato intimidated ILA officials into placing a Genovese family associate on the union's executive council.
They allegedly planned to elevate him to the union's presidency and, in turn, gain control of the executive council post.
The indictment says the defendants extorted thousands of dollars from waterfront businesses and from people who wanted waterfront jobs.
Scollo allegedly collected the extortion money and passed it along to Cassarino, who delivered it to Ciccone.
Brancato, the feds say, turned over a portion of the money to Peter Gotti during meetings on the streets of Howard Beach, Queens. Sources said Gotti pocketed $10,000 a month.
After Brancato was arrested in April 2001, Cassarino delivered the money to Peter's brother Richard V. Gotti and nephew Richard G. Gotti.
All 17 defendants pleaded innocent. Peter Gotti and four others were held without bail. Nasso was freed on $1.5 million bond, and the rest freed on bail.
GOTTI BUST
By KATI CORNELL SMITH, MURRAY WEISS and ANDY GELLER
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
June 5, 2002 -- The feds broke the Gambino family's stranglehold on the Brooklyn waterfront yesterday, busting its new don, Peter Gotti, and 16 others on charges of shaking down the longshoremen's union, related companies and even action-movie star Steven Seagal.
A 68-count indictment, returned after a three-year investigation, accuses the older brother of "Dapper Don" John Gotti, two other relatives and 14 other Gambino soldiers and associates of extortion, racketeering, gambling and loan-sharking.
Peter Gotti, 62, who took over from his ailing brother this year and represented the Gambinos at a meeting of the commission of the five New York crime families, raked in $10,000 a month from the scheme, sources said.
The indictment says Gambino family soldier Primo Cassarino was caught on tape threatening a gambler who owed him cash, "You think you can outsmart me, you see what the . . . is going to happen to you . . . I went to your restaurant last night . . . I'm going to grab your mother today."
And he allegedly told a Brooklyn company owner who balked at storing gambling devices, "When I tell you something . . . you . . . do what I tell you. You hear me? If you don't like it, let me know now. I'll come there and throw you through the window."
Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Alan Vinegrad said, "When it comes to the waterfront, the greedy grip of organized crime knows no bounds." But, he added, "The tide is turning."
The indictment says the defendants used "threats of force, violence and fear" to win control of the Brooklyn and Staten Island chapters of the International Longshoremen's Union.
Once in control, the indictment says, they plotted to take over the presidency of the entire 85,000-member union. They also allegedly awarded a lucrative union contract for prescription drugs to a mob-controlled company, collecting a $400,000 kickback.
The indictment also accuses Gambino associate Julius Nasso, a former business partner of Seagal, of trying to extort "hundreds of thousands of dollars from an individual in the film industry." Authorities would not name the individual, but sources said it was Seagal.
Nasso sued Seagal for $60 million in March, accusing him of reneging on a deal to appear in four pictures. Prosecutors said, in fact, that Nasso demanded the actor pay the crime family $150,000 for each movie.
A key figure in the extortion scheme is Gambino capo Anthony "Sonny" Ciccone, a former top official of ILA Local 1814 who was barred from taking part in union affairs in 1991 after a racketeering conviction.
But the indictment says Ciccone continued to oversee the family's interests in the ILA with the help of mob associate Frank "Red" Scollo, as well as the president of Local 1814 and the vice president of the ILA.
For example, Ciccone and Scollo, with the help of Gambino soldiers Cassarino and Jerome Brancato, allegedly schemed to take control of the full ILA.
The Gambino and Genovese families had divided up the New York City waterfront, the Gambinos taking Brooklyn and Staten Island and the Genovese family taking Manhattan and New Jersey, the feds say.
Between April and August of last year, the indictment says, Ciccone, Cassarino, Scollo and Brancato intimidated ILA officials into placing a Genovese family associate on the union's executive council.
They allegedly planned to elevate him to the union's presidency and, in turn, gain control of the executive council post.
The indictment says the defendants extorted thousands of dollars from waterfront businesses and from people who wanted waterfront jobs.
Scollo allegedly collected the extortion money and passed it along to Cassarino, who delivered it to Ciccone.
Brancato, the feds say, turned over a portion of the money to Peter Gotti during meetings on the streets of Howard Beach, Queens. Sources said Gotti pocketed $10,000 a month.
After Brancato was arrested in April 2001, Cassarino delivered the money to Peter's brother Richard V. Gotti and nephew Richard G. Gotti.
All 17 defendants pleaded innocent. Peter Gotti and four others were held without bail. Nasso was freed on $1.5 million bond, and the rest freed on bail.
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