American and Italian Authorities Bring Large Scale Arrests and Sweeping Indictment on Alleged Mafia Members

Authorities from the United States and Italy came together Thursday to arrest a number of individuals in a large scale attack on an alleged Trans-Atlantic drug trafficking operation controlled by New York’s Gambino crime family.^[1]

In what is being referred to as operation ''Old Bridge,'' individuals with alleged ties to the Gambino, Bonnano and Genovese crime families, as well as a number of supposed Mafia members operating in Italy were arrested.^[2]

On Wednesday, Feburary 6, 2008, a federal grand jury in Brooklyn, New York found probable cause to issue an indictment which accused 62 people of ties to the Gambino crime family and alleged criminal activities ranging from murder to embezzlement, as well as a number of other crimes occurring over the course of the past four decades.^[3] Charges pertaining to some of the more recent crimes allege credit fraud conspiracies and theft of union benefits. Within 24 hours of the indictment’s issuance, 54 individuals were placed under arrest in the New York City area, including its northern suburbs, New Jersey and Long Island. Italian police stated they were hoping to bring in 25 to 30 suspects alleged to be members of Mafia families controlling drug trafficking between the two sides of the Atlantic.

The sprawling indictment asserts that the members of the Gambino crime family of La Cosa Nostra, constituted an enterprise as defined by Title 18, United States Code, Section 1961(4)^[4], whose alleged criminal activities have had a disruptive effect on interstate and foreign commerce. The indictment, totaling over 80 pages, accused the individuals of committing extortion within the construction industry, embezzling from labor unions, and participating in bookmaking, as well as loan sharking activities.^[5] Many of these charges fall under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act^[6], commonly referred to as RICO. Click here to read more on the RICO Act.

Included in the long list of the indictment's targets were people believed to be head members of the Gambino family, including the alleged acting boss of the family, John ''Jackie the Nose'' D'Amico, who is accused of directing a broad racketeering operation.^[7]

Since November, there has been renewed attention to the Sicilian Mafia's relationship to the United States, following the arrest of Salvatore Lo Piccolo, an alleged mobster attempting to become La Cosa Nostra's next ''boss of bosses.” Following, Lo Piccolo’s arrest investigators warned of the strengthening of ties between U.S. and Italian factions of La Cosa Nostra.^[8]

Since the imprisonment of late don John Gotti in 1992, the Gambino crime family has been consistently harassed by a steady onslaught of federal indictments and prosecutions. In the government's last high-profile attack on the family, John Gotti’s son, John Jr., was freed after completing his prison term, only to be tried three times on charges of conspiracy to commit murder on radio talk show host Curtis Sliwa. Those trials came to an end with hung juries and last year prosecutors finally gave up their case.^[9]

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[1] Keith B. Richburg, 62 Indicted in Organized-Crime Roundup in N.Y., Wash. Post, Feb. 8, 2008, at A03.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1961(4)(2008). 18 U.S.C. § 1961(4) defines enterprise to include any individual, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal entity, and any union or group of individuals associated in fact although not a legal entity. To read more on Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations crimes please visit http://www.federalcrimes.com/rico.htm.
[5] Keith B. Richburg, 62 Indicted in Organized-Crime Roundup in N.Y., Wash. Post, Feb. 8, 2008, at A03.
[6] Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961-1968 (2008).
[7] Keith B. Richburg, 62 Indicted in Organized-Crime Roundup in N.Y., Wash. Post, Feb. 8, 2008, at A03.
[8] Ariel David, Police Arrest Fugitive Salvatore Lo Piccolo in Raid on Mafia Dons’Summit in Sicily (Nov. 6, 2007), available at boston.com
[9] Julia Preston, Gotti is Released After Judge Declares Mistrial, The New York Times, Sept. 20, 2005 available at http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/20/nyregion/20cnd-gotti.html.