Bona fide capo.
Posted on 06/12/2003 6:14:51 PM PDT by Coleus
N.J. mob probe brings arrests of reputed capo, 19 associates
Wednesday, June 11, 2003
By RANDY DIAMOND TRENTON BUREAU
The Genovese crime family's reputed capo in New Jersey and 19 alleged other associates were charged Tuesday with operating a criminal enterprise that engaged in loan-sharking, illegal gambling, theft, and drug distribution.
Acting Attorney General Peter Harvey Jr. described the early morning arrests of reputed capo Ludwig "Ninny" Bruschi and the others as the most significant dent in organized crime operations in northern and central New Jersey in a decade.
"It's not by accident that 'The Sopranos' television show on HBO is based in New Jersey," Harvey said at a news conference at the Hughes Criminal Justice Building in Trenton. "While the show is fictional, it is rooted in fact."
The alleged center of the enterprise was the Blue Collar Inn, a bar in an industrial neighborhood in the small Union County borough of Garwood, authorities said. But the indictment also alleges that crimes occurred in unspecified locations in Paterson, New York City, and Hudson, Essex, Middlesex, Monmouth, and Ocean counties.
Harvey said the two-year investigation showed that Bruschi approved loans at exorbitant interest rates - three "points" per week, or 156 percent per year - to "desperate people" and that repayment was enforced by implied threats of violence.
Harvey said hundreds of people from all walks of life were saddled with those loans, and that the proceeds were distributed to members of the operation at the Blue Collar Inn.
Bruschi, 68, of Jackson, was charged with being a leader of organized crime in his alleged role as head of the New Jersey faction of the Genovese crime family. In addition, he was charged with racketeering, criminal usury, and promoting gambling.
At Bruschi's arraignment Tuesday afternoon, Monmouth County Assignment Judge Lawrence Lawsen set bail at $250,000. Bail for other defendants was set as low as $10,000.
Authorities said Bruschi replaced Angelo Prisco as head of the Genovese family's New Jersey operations.
Prisco was paroled last year, and Harvey's office is investigating whether undue influence was exerted on the Parole Board by the governor's office, Prisco's attorneys, or top parole officials.
Prisco, who directed the Genovese family's New Jersey operations from a Bronx clubhouse, had been serving a 12-year sentence on 1997 arson and racketeering convictions.
Among those arrested Monday was Rocco Petrozza, 43, of Pompton Lakes, who authorities say is a crew leader in the Genovese family. Petrozza was charged with promoting gambling, a third-degree crime that could send him to prison for up to five years.
Petrozza has a history of gambling arrests.
Petrozza was last sentenced to a year in state prison in 1997 for maintaining a gambling resort at his Paterson business, the Cougar Cafe.
The latest indictment says Petrozza took bets in Paterson and other locations.
Officials say their investigation also revealed that the racketeering enterprise operated a bookmaking operation in New York City.
Harvey said those who lost money in sports betting were told to pay up, or else.
He added that those who did not have the money were in serious trouble.
"They will collect the money, definitely," he said.
However, Harvey said he knew of no bettors who suffered physical injuries at the hands of the defendants.
New Jersey State Police Superintendent Joseph "Rick" Fuentes said the investigation was called Operation Blue Collar and involved the state police Organized Crime and Narcotics unit and the state Division of Criminal Justice,. The probe also included federal, county, and local law enforcement departments.
He said the investigation had gotten at the money-earning part of the Genovese family.
"When you go after that working layer, you literally take the legs out of the crime family," he said.
Fuentes said the probe also revealed some dealings between the Genovese and Luchese crime families.
"We saw interfamily cooperation," Fuentes said.
Authorities were vague about how the investigation began and how they tracked the alleged criminal operation, but they did say investigators used undercover tactics and video surveillance. They said the illegal activities occurred from January 1993 to October 2002.
Officials said Tuesday's arrests were especially significant because of the difficulty of penetrating the inner layers of the New York City-based Genovese crime family, the most secretive of the five Mafia families.
Authorities said the family uses a phony leadership structure, and that even some of its members don't know who other family members are.
He could become Capo di Capi, but all he'll be remembered for is his name.
Maybe if we rewrite the Preamble to the DOI and remove the pesky parts about 'unalienable rights' then maybe we can turn a blind eye to these sorts of consensual cruelties.
Bona fide capo.
Doesn't bother me. The sports betting doesn't bother me either. The prostitution doesn't bother me either as long as it is kept off of residential streets. Now theft, of course, bothers me. However the main focus of the article was consensual crimes.
My uncles and cousins will not be so lucky. Time to take a trip to bella Napoli I guess.
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