U.S. Arrests Top Mafia Group’s Reputed Bosses

Federal agents Tuesday announced the arrests of three reputed leaders and 15 members of the Genovese organized crime family--the nation’s most powerful Mafia group--on charges ranging from murder to gambling.

A 60-count indictment, obtained after a two-year investigation, charged a dozen of the defendants with 31 separate acts of racketeering. Five members were charged in two murders--including the execution of one mob member they believed was a government informant.

Other crimes set forth in the indictment included extortion, labor racketeering, gambling, loan sharking, money laundering, obstruction of justice, tax evasion and the fraudulent operation of the Feast of San Gennaro, one of New York City’s major street festivals, siphoning off money advertised to go to churches and charities.

“One of the most celebrated events of the feast is the pinning of money on the statue of St. Gennaro paraded through the streets of Little Italy,” said U.S. Atty. Mary Jo White. “That money pinned to that statue . . . lined the pockets of the racketeering defendants.

“Almost none of the monies collected at the feast went to churches or charities,” White added.

Investigators said the arrests dealt a crippling blow to the group, which emerged strengthened after rival Gambino family boss John Gotti was sent to prison in 1992 for life for planning the murder of Paul Castellano, his predecessor as family leader.

While investigators conducted successful prosecutions of the city’s four other major crime families, including the Gambinos, the Genovese family had remained intact by maintaining a relatively low profile, sticking to construction and labor racketeering schemes and avoiding drug dealing, authorities said.

For decades, soldiers in the Genovese family took orders from their reputed boss Vincent “The Chin” Gigante, who would wander through the streets of Greenwich Village in Manhattan, mumbling to himself in a soiled, tattered bathrobe and slippers.

Prosecutors charged that Gigante was feigning mental illness to avoid trial on earlier murder and racketeering charges. Last month, a federal judge in Manhattan ordered psychiatrists to reexamine Gigante. Defense lawyers contend he is not mentally competent to stand trial.

Among the defendants, who were arrested Monday night and Tuesday, were the ruling hierarchy of the Genovese family, including Liborio Bellomo, alleged to be its acting boss; Michele Generoso, alleged to be the acting underboss, and James Ida, alleged to be the consigliere, or family counselor.

All three were charged in the slaying of Antonio Dilorenzo, a former Genovese soldier killed in 1988 allegedly because he was suspected of being an informant. Prosecutors said Dilorenzo and another victim were both slain in New Jersey.

The Feast of San Gennaro, held each September in Manhattan’s Little Italy, features blocks lined with food concessions, game booths, rides and other entertainment. Invariably, crowds line the streets, curb to curb.

But prosecutors charged that while on paper the event was sponsored, operated and controlled by the Society of Saint Gennaro Naples & Suburbs Inc., an organization not affiliated with any church, it really was controlled by members of the Genovese crime family, who got a significant percent of the rent paid by vendors.

In addition, the indictment alleged that the crime family cheated New York City by deliberately undercounting the number of vendors at the festival and the rent they paid.

The city levies a permit fee, costing 20% of the total rent collected from each vendor.

The undercounting, prosecutors said, also defrauded the Internal Revenue Service because the society running the feast had obtained nonprofit tax-exempt status, when it really was a conduit for funneling money to the mob.

“These people don’t take from the rich and give to the poor, they take from everyone and give only to themselves,” said Donald E. Wanick, chief of criminal investigations at the Manhattan field office of the IRS.

“Today’s charges and arrests have dealt a crippling blow to the Genovese crime family and its leadership,” said White.

“This investigation and resulting indictment is another step along the way toward reducing the power and influence of organized crime,” said James K. Kallstrom, assistant director in charge of the New York office of the FBI. “Law enforcement’s goal is to limit the mob’s criminal activity to the level of a street gang and then see its eventual extinction.”