Five N.Y. Mafia Godfathers Indicted in U.S. Crackdown : FBI Sweep Aimed at Top ‘Club’

The reputed godfathers of New York City’s five Mafia families have been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of participating in a “commission” that governs mob operations, prosecutors announced today.

The 15-count indictment names Anthony (Fat Tony) Salerno, Paul (Big Paul) Castellano, Antonio (Tony Ducks) Corallo, Gennaro (Jerry Lang) Langella and Phillip (Rusty) Rastelli as heads of the Genovese, Gambino, Lucchese, Colombo and Bonanno families, respectively.

Acting together, they allegedly regulated Mafia criminal activities ranging from murders--including the 1979 slaying of mob boss Carmine Galante--to loan sharking, gambling, drug trafficking and labor racketeering.

Four Others Named

Four other men also were indicted.

They are Aniello (O’Neill) Dellacroce, a reputed underboss in the Gambino family; Salvatore (Tom Mix) Santoro, an alleged Lucchese underboss; Christopher (Christy Tick) Furnari, a reputed Lucchese consigliere, or counselor, and Ralph Scopo, a purported soldier in the Colombo family.

The nine were arrested in an overnight sweep.

In a statement announcing the indictments, FBI Director William H. Webster called the sweep “historic. It exposes the structure and leadership of organized crime on a scale never done before.”

Prosecutors said the group, referring to itself as “the club,” operates a multimillion-dollar extortion scheme that dominates the concrete industry. Scopo is president of the Concrete Workers District Council of the Laborers International Union of North America.

Long Prison Terms

If convicted of racketeering, each of the men would face a maximum of 20 years in prison. Ten counts of extortion, against each of the defendants except Rastelli, carry a maximum of 20 years per count, while two counts of accepting labor payoffs, again involving all but Rastelli, carry a maximum of one year each.

The indictments, based on a federal anti-racketeering statute, stem from an investigation by the New York State Organized Crime Task Force.

Investigators planted an electronic surveillance device on a black Jaguar used by Corallo, allowing them to trace Corallo to a “sit-down” of family bosses and to hear him later discussing what happened at the meeting.

Goes Back to 1931

The commission was formed in 1931 by Charles (Lucky) Luciano and other New York crime figures to coordinate the operations of the five crime families that had been flourishing since the turn of the century, prosecutors charged. One of its principal duties was to resolve leadership disputes that arose among various factions.

One such dispute was allegedly settled in 1979 when the commission authorized the murder of Galante, who led a faction in the Bonanno family. He was gunned down in a Brooklyn restaurant.

The federal war on the New York Mafia began more than three years ago, when a force of more than 100 federal agents and city police detectives were divided into five groups, one to investigate each family.