U.S. Indicts 5 Top N.Y. Mafia Bosses : Godfathers Accused of Belonging to Ruling Council of Organized Crime

The reputed godfathers of all five New York City organized crime families were rounded up Tuesday and simultaneously charged in a historic single indictment with racketeering and other serious offenses.

The federal indictment charged the five with participating in the decisions of the Commission--the board of directors of the five New York Mafia families. The Commission, it was charged, includes high-ranking Mafia chieftains from other cities also.

“This indictment is historic,” said FBI Director William H. Webster, who traveled to New York for the announcement of the arrests. “It exposes the structure and leadership of organized crime on a scale never done before . . . . We are now taking out the top players.”

Apalachin Conclave

Some officials compared the crackdown to the famous 1957 police raid on a conclave of Cosa Nostra chieftains at Apalachin, N.Y. The discovery of that meeting on the 58-acre estate of mobster Joseph Barbara Sr. shed new light on the scope and ferocity of the underworld in America.

“This is a great day for law enforcement,” said Rudolph W. Giuliani, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, who will prosecute the cases. “This is a bad day for the Mafia.”

Of particular significance was exposure of the inner workings of the Commission. According to the indictment, the 54-year-old ruling council regulates relations between competing Mafia families, authorizes murders of top Mafia members when necessary to enforce its will and carries on a multimillion-dollar extortion scheme known as “the club,” whose corrupt activities dominate the concrete-pouring industry in New York.

Knowledge of the Commission was gained after investigators placed a transmitting device behind the wood-grained dashboard of a black Jaguar used by Anthony (Tony Ducks) Corallo, named as the boss of the Lucchese crime family. Using chase cars and other vehicles equipped with special amplifying devices, agents followed the 1982 Jaguar and eavesdropped on Corallo’s conversations.

What emerged, authorities said, was an intimate portrait of the Commission’s power and operations.

Others Charged

Also charged in the indictment, in addition to Corallo, 72, were Anthony Salerno, 73, reputed boss of the Genovese family; Paul Castellano, 69, reputed head of the Gambino family; Philip Rastelli, 67, reputed leader of the Bonanno family, and Gennaro Langella, 46, reputed acting boss of the Colombo family.

Four other alleged Mafia family members also were charged: Aniello Dellacroce, 60, reputed underboss of the Gambino family; Salvatore Santoro, 69, reputed underboss of the Lucchese family; Christopher Furnari, 60, reputed consigliere, or adviser, of the Lucchese family, and Ralph Scopo, 56, president of the Concrete Workers District Council of the Laborers International Union of North America and a reputed member of the Colombo family.

The 15-count indictment charged all nine with participating in the decisions and activities of the Commission. Several of those named by the grand jury were in prison or on bail accused of other offenses. Authorities said one of the alleged Mafia chieftains was in a hospital with an apparent heart attack and two others had checked into hospitals after they were arrested by policemen and FBI agents.

According to the indictment, the result of a 19-month investigation, the five Mafia families based in New York operate throughout the United States and abroad also. Through undercover operatives, 90 phone taps and 81 bugs, authorities detailed some of the commission’s alleged activities, ranging from murders--including the 1979 slaying of mob boss Carmine Galante--to gambling, drug trafficking, loan sharking and labor racketeering.

The indictment charged that the Commission established “the club,” a massive extortion and bid-rigging scheme, to decide which concrete-pouring contractors would bid successfully on large construction projects. Often, other contractors were directed to submit bids higher than the designated winner.

Enforced Club’s Rules

The Commission allegedly enforced the club’s rules by threatening to cut off cement supplies of disobedient contractors or by causing labor problems.

In return, the Commission extorted payoffs from the contractors, authorities charged. In a 2 1/2-year period, according to the indictment, the commission received more than $1.27 million in payoffs from six concrete companies.

All of the defendants except Rastelli were charged with extortion and labor bribery.

The dashboard tapes were a key element in the investigation. On March 18, 1983, in a parking lot outside a dinner dance at a reception hall in Suffolk County, three agents of the New York State Organized Crime Task Force carefully approached a black Jaguar sedan.

The car was owned by Salvatore Avellino, a reputed member of the Lucchese crime family and chauffeur and confidant of Corallo. It took almost an hour to plant the bug, while the anxious agents feared Avellino would emerge from the dance.

Followed Bugged Car

Police officers and agents followed the bugged car for months, taping conversations. At one point, authorities said, Corallo laughed and told his chauffeur that it would be all but impossible for policemen to follow him that day. But five cars containing law enforcement officials were tailing Corallo as he spoke.

When officials of the New York State Organized Crime Task Force listened to the recordings, they realized that wider scrutiny was necessary and turned the tapes over to federal authorities.

Only four of the defendants appeared at a bail hearing in federal court on Tuesday. The others were either in prison on previous charges or in hospitals with apparent sudden illnesses.

U.S. Magistrate Michael H. Dolinger set bail for Castellano at $4 million, for Salerno at $2 million and for Santoro and Furnari at $1.75 million each.

All the defendants were named in the racketeering charges. They could receive a total of 40 years in prison and $50,000 in fines for racketeering conspiracy and engaging in a racketeering enterprise. All but Rastelli faced additional fines and sentences for extortion and seeking labor payoffs.

Times researcher Tony Robinson contributed to this story.