Five Individuals Charged with Conspiring to Fraudulently Obtain Union Job for Organized Crime Underboss

The U.S. Justice Department released the below information today:

Five men have been charged in the Eastern District of New York with conspiring to defraud the Newspaper and Mail Deliverers’ Union (NMDU) and Hudson News newsstands to obtain a union card and employment at Hudson News newsstands for the son of the alleged underboss of the Colombo family of La Cosa Nostra.

A criminal complaint was unsealed today charging Benjamin Castellazzo Jr., Rocco Giangregorio, Glenn LaChance, Rocco Miraglia, aka “Irving,” and Anthony Turzio, aka “the Irish Guy,” with mail fraud conspiracy.   The five men were arrested earlier today, and their initial appearances are scheduled for this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Robert M. Levy at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn.
In addition, a three-count indictment was unsealed today charging Thomas Leonessa, aka “Tommy Stacks,” with wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy and theft and embezzlement from employee benefit plans in an unrelated scheme.   The indictment was returned by a federal grand jury sitting in Brooklyn, N.Y., on March 6, 2014, and relates to Leonessa’s alleged “no show” job as a delivery driver for the New York Post.
The charges were announced by Acting Assistant Attorney General David A. O’Neil of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, United States Attorney Loretta E. Lynch of the Eastern District of New York Acting Special Agent in Charge Cheryl Garcia of the New York region of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations and Assistant Director in Charge George C. Venizelos of the FBI’s New York Field Office.

As alleged in the complaint, the NMDU is an independent union that represents approximately 1,500 employees involved in the newspaper industry in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.   NMDU members deliver newspapers for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the New York Daily News, the New York Post and El Diario.   Hudson News, which also employs members of the NMDU, is a retail chain of newsstands mainly located in major transportation hubs, including airports and train stations.

Between June 2009 and October 2009, Miraglia, who was a foreman at the New York Daily News – as well as an associate of the Colombo organized crime family and the son of a deceased soldier in the Colombo family – conspired with officials of the NMDU and with Turzio, an employee of El Diario, to get an NMDU union card for Castellazzo Jr. and place him in a job at Hudson News.   Castellazzo Jr. is the son of Benjamin Castellazzo, the alleged underboss of the Colombo family.   Giangregorio and LaChance, who are business agents for the NMDU, also participated on this scheme.

As alleged in the indictment, Leonessa was employed by the New York Post to deliver newspapers by truck from a New York Post warehouse in the Bronx, N.Y., to New Jersey.   He was also a member of the NMDU, which maintained offices, including offices for its welfare and pension funds, in Queens, N.Y.   From about December 2010 to about September 2011, Leonessa had a “no show job” – a job for which he was paid wages and benefits for services he did not perform – at the New York Post.   When Leonessa did not complete his required deliveries, he was nevertheless, based on his fraudulent representations, paid wages by the New York Post and accorded benefits from employee pension and welfare funds managed by the NMDU.

Leonessa is scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Robert M. Levy at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, N.Y.
The charges in the complaint and indictment are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations and the FBI, with assistance from the New York City Police Department, the New York County District Attorney’s Office and Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor.

The government’s case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Joseph Wheatley of the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime and Gangs Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elizabeth A. Geddes and Allon Lifshitz.

  

Long-Time Colombo Crime Family Associate Sentenced To 14 Years Imprisonment

The U.S. Justice Department released the below information yesterday:

Earlier today, Francis “BF” Guerra, a long-time associate of the Colombo organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra (the “Colombo crime family”), was sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment for his role in a scheme to fraudulently obtain and distribute prescription drugs. The sentence was imposed by the Honorable Sandra L. Townes, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of New York, at the United States Courthouse in Brooklyn, New York.

The sentence was announced by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and George C. Venizelos, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), New York Field Office.

Today’s proceeding marks the culmination of a lengthy investigation and prosecution by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI. Following a jury trial conducted in June and July 2011, Guerra was convicted of one count of conspiracy to distribute oxycodone and Oxycontin and one count of actually distributing those drugs in 2010 and 2011. In addition, he was convicted of four counts of wire fraud based on his fraudulently obtaining reimbursement for those drugs from his insurance provider.

During the sentencing proceeding, United States District Judge Sandra L. Townes found that, in addition to the crimes of conviction, the government proved by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant had committed numerous additional crimes, including the 1992 murder of Michael Devine and the 1993 murder of Joseph Scopo. Devine was murdered because he had a relationship with the wife of Alphonse Persico, then the acting boss of the Colombo crime family and son of the official boss, Carmine Persico, Jr. Scopo was murdered because he was the underboss of a faction of the Colombo crime family that sought to take control from the Persicos. By murdering Scopo, Guerra and his co-conspirators won the “Colombo family war”—one of the most violent feuds in mafia history—for the Persico faction.

“Years ago, the defendant Guerra chose a life of crime, with murder as his criminal stock in trade. Organized crime has always been about money rather than honor, and recent years saw Guerra move into the equally deadly business of illegal trafficking in prescription drugs,” stated United States Attorney Lynch.

“This sentence is a harsh warning to anyone considering introducing these addictive, deadly drugs into our community. This sentence also sends an important message to members and associates of organized crime. We will never stop investigating and prosecuting the murders and other violent crimes they commit, no matter how long ago they occurred, and we will hold those who commit such crimes accountable, regardless of how long they have avoided justice.”

Ms. Lynch extended her grateful appreciation to the FBI and the New York City Police Department for their assistance.

FBI Assistant Director in Charge Venizelos stated, “The illegal traffic in prescription drugs poses as grave a danger to society as trafficking in illicit drugs. Today’s sentence reflects the seriousness of the offense. The sentence also closes a chapter in the bloody Colombo war from 20 years ago. Responsibility for two murders has been laid at the feet of this defendant. There is no statute of limitations on the resolve of the FBI to see justice done.”

The government’s case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Nicole M. Argentieri and Allon Lifshitz.