Two Bookmakers Testify They Were Forced To make Payments To Whitey Bulger's Gang

The Boston Globe is covering the Whitey Bulger trial in Boston.

Two former bookmakers from the 1970s and 1980s told a federal jury Friday that they were forced to make payments to James “Whitey” Bulger and his crew, and that the gangster and his cohorts had a reputation for hurting anyone who did not follow their demands.

“I had heard about them because their reputation preceded them. They were very capable,” said Richard O’Brien, 84, who ran gambling rackets for years and said he was forced into a meeting with Bulger in the mid-1970s.

“You’re working alone ... you ought to be with us,” Bulger told him, O’Brien recalled.

“They were laying down the law,” he told a jury in federal court in Boston.

James Katz, another bookmaker, said he dealt often with Bulger’s right-hand man, Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi, and it was his understanding that Flemmi and Bulger ran their gang together.
“You knew Stevie Flemmi had a reputation that he had killed several people?” Bulger’s lawyer, J.W. Carney Jr. asked.

“I would never want to run into him,” Katz acknowledged.

Bulger, 83, is on trial in US District Court, charged in 32 counts of a racketeering indictment that alleges that while running a criminal enterprise from 1972 to 2000, he participated in 19 murders; extorted bookmakers and drug dealers, and businessmen; laundered his criminal profits through real estate transactions; and stockpiled an arsenal of weapons.

You can read the rest of the story via the below link:

http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2013/06/14/whitey-bulger-trial-enters-third-day-two-bookmakers-slated-testify/e6IvGhTh4u3xSxOATTytAK/story.html

You can also read my Washington Times review of Whitey: The Life of America's Most Notorious Mob Boss via the below link:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jun/13/whitey-bulgers-horrific-crime-span/?page=all#pagebreak

Gaeton Lucibello, A Member Of Philadelphia's Cosa Nostra Crime Family, Sentenced To 51 Months In Prison

 

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

Gaeton Lucibello, 59, of Philadelphia, was sentenced today to 51 months in prison for his participation in a racketeering conspiracy involving extortion and illegal gambling, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and George C. Venizelos, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division.

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Lucibello was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Eduardo C. Robreno in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. In addition to his prison term, Lucibello was ordered to serve three years of supervised release. On Aug. 2, 2012, Lucibello pleaded guilty to conspiring to conduct and participate in the affairs of the Philadelphia La Cosa Nostra (LCN) Family through a pattern of racketeering activity. At the time of the plea, he admitted to the court that he assisted in shaking down a bookmaker for “street tax” payments and operated two illegal video poker machine businesses in furtherance of the racketeering conspiracy.

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Lucibello was among 14 members and associates of the Philadelphia LCN Family charged with crimes involving racketeering conspiracy, extortion, loan sharking, illegal gambling, witness tampering and theft from an employee benefit plan in a third superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Philadelphia on July 25, 2012. The other defendants charged in the 52-count third superseding indictment included Philadelphia LCN Family boss Joseph Ligambi, Philadelphia LCN Family underboss Joseph Massimino, George Borgesi, Martin Angelina, Anthony Staino Jr., Damion Canalichio, Louis Barretta, Gary Battaglini, Robert Verrecchia, Eric Esposito, Robert Ranieri, Joseph Licata and Louis Fazzini.

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Angelina pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy charges on Aug. 8, 2012, and is awaiting sentencing on Sep. 17, 2012. Barretta also pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy charges on Sep. 5, 2012, and is awaiting sentencing on Nov. 26, 2012.
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The trial for Ligambi, Massimino, Borgesi, Staino Jr., Canalichio, Battaglini, Licata and Fazzini is scheduled for Oct. 9, 2012. The trial for Verrecchia, Esposito and Ranieri has not yet been scheduled. Ligambi, Massimino, Borgesi, Canalichio, Licata and Fazzini are detained while awaiting trial. Staino Jr., Battaglini, Verrecchia, Esposito and Ranieri are on bond while awaiting trial.

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The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney John S. Han of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Frank A. Labor III and Suzanne B. Ercole of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Valuable prosecutorial assistance was provided by the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General.

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The case is being investigated by the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, the Pennsylvania State Police, the New Jersey State Police, the Philadelphia Police Department, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations, and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration. Additional assistance was provided by the New Jersey Department of Corrections.