NEW YORK, N.Y.—Federal prosecutors say 127 people are facing charges in one of the largest Mafia crackdowns in FBI history.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said at a news conference Thursday in New York City that the defendants include high-ranking members of the Gambino and Colombo crime families and the reputed former boss of organized crime in New England.
Holder says the charges cover decades worth of offences, including hits to eliminate perceived rivals, a killing during a botched robbery and a double shooting in a barroom dispute over a spilled drink.
Authorities say the investigation was aided by informants who recorded thousands of conversations by suspected mobsters.
The FBI said most of the arrests were made Thursday morning.
Many were in Brooklyn, but they occurred throughout New York City, in New Jersey and New England. Charges include murder, extortion and narcotics trafficking.
The takedown was the result of multiple investigations.
Federal probes aided by mob turncoats have decimated the families’ ranks in recent years and have resulted in lengthy prison terms for several leaders.
On Friday, a federal judge in Brooklyn sentenced John “Sonny” Franzese, 93, to eight years in prison for extorting Manhattan strip clubs and a pizzeria on Long Island.
Federal prosecutors had sought at least 12 years behind bars for the underboss of the Colombo crime family — in effect, a life term.
To bolster their argument, they had an FBI agent testify that Franzese bragged about killing 60 people over the years and once contemplated putting out a hit on his own son for becoming a government co-operator.
The reputed leader of New England’s Patriarca crime family was arrested in Florida and at least one other alleged mob associate has been picked up in Rhode Island as part of the FBI crackdown.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Providence says Luigi Manocchio was arrested Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale.
A newly unsealed indictment accuses Manocchio, the alleged head of the Patriarca crime family, of collecting protection payments from strip club-owners.
Also arrested was Thomas Iafrate, who worked as a bookkeeper for Providence strip clubs. Prosecutors allege he set aside money for Manocchio.
Iafrate is expected to appear in Providence federal court later Thursday.
In October, Mafia turncoat Salvatore Vitale was sentenced to time served after federal prosecutors praised his total betrayal of his own crime syndicate — and after he apologized to the families of his victims.
Authorities said he had a hand in at least 11 murders, including that of a fellow gangster in the fallout from the infamous Donnie Brasco case.
The evidence provided after his arrest in 2003 helped decimate the once-fearsome Bonanno organized crime family, Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Andres said.
“The Mafia today is weaker because of his co-operation,” Andres said. “Mr. Vitale provided lead after lead. . . . The results speak for themselves.”
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