By MITCHEL MADDUX
Last Updated: 10:22 AM, January 27, 2012
Posted: 9:38 AM, January 27, 2012



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Federal agents this morning arrested several high-ranking Bonanno crime family members and charged them with racketeering and extortion, sources said.
Among those arrested in the joint FBI-Drug Enforcement Administration probe were two senior members of the Bonanno ruling administration, Anthony "TG" Graziano and Vinny Badalamenti, law enforcement sources said.
Bonanno captain Nicky Santoro was also charged, as were soldiers Vito Balsamo and Anthony Calabrese, sources said.
A Gambino crime family associate, James LaForte, was also arrested in the early morning raids, sources said.

They are scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon in Brooklyn federal court.
Graziano was already facing previous extortion charges in a separate case.
Today's sweep against the Bonanno leadership stems in part from the assistance of former mob associate Hector Pagan, who is the ex-husband of "Mob Wives" star Renee Graziano.
Pagan is now a DEA informant.
Renee Graziano is the daughter of Anthony Graziano.
Anthony Graziano, 71, was released recently from prison but then was quickly ensnared in an earlier Drug Enforcement Administration probe that pre-dated today's developments.
In that previous case, Pagan - a Bonanno associate-turned DEA informant - reportedly wore a wire and secretly recorded conversations for the feds with his ex-father-in-law while discussing the collection of a loanshark debt.
Anthony Graziano was indicted by Brooklyn federal prosecutors on those earlier charges just last week


Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brook...L#ixzz1kgjpRDOb

No surprise there.

Fighting two separate indictments at once will really put the pressure on Graziano to plea out. The other guys are a little more likely to take their chances at trial, but it's waaaay too soon to speculate on such things.

I'm not well versed in the east coast like you guys, but having lived through this thing multiple times in my life, it is textbook government takedown and I have been waiting for this to happen. The major bust last year, and then the feds allow a shift up in leadership only to quickly swoop back in and take out that leadership. When this happens you have effectively been dealt a 1.5 generation takeout of your leadership. The government has their foot on the throat of two families currently. What will happen is very similar to cleveland in that the remaining members will ultimately form a "street gang leadership" and turn almost exclusively into a drug ring to make money, and that's when the family will dissolve into jails, state's witness, or retirement.

I agree with this. They're little more than a gang right now (regardless of what the fanboys and apologists want to tell you).

They're going to be around for awhile---maybe a long while, who knows?---but their strength will continue to decline. In my opinion, the biggest change is how outsiders view these guys today.

They just don't instill the same fear in Joe Public that they did 20 or 30 years ago. If you try to shake down a Pakistani or Dominican store owner here in the Bronx today, he's going to either call the law or take a shot at you. He doesn't care that your last name ends in a vowel.

When I was growing up in the Bronx in the '60s, '70s and even the '80s, people were petrified of these guys. Today, not so much.

Does anyone have the indictment?

So they get the boss, underboss, and consgilere..

Pretty interesting. A street gang structure is not neccesarily a bad thing, its more individualistic than family orientated but that means that means that a mobster can do his own thing and if he runs into any trouble can call upon other guys to help still but without having to pay up any or very little tribute. It may also have the effect that the feds may not be able to indict so many made members in one case because things are alot more looser and mob guys wont be communicating with eachother so much.

here you go

http://cbsnewyork.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/badalamenti-indictmentv6.pdf

Fat Tony Rabito is laying low he wasnt caught up in this indictment...

Here's the story which was printed on SI Live :

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The boss was busted.


And so were several other alleged Staten Island mobsters today with high-ranking positions or ties to the Bonanno crime family, for racketeering, extortion and other charges, authorities say.

The allegations include the shakedown of a Dongan Hills pizza store owner over a recipe used at a famous Brooklyn pizzeria. In some instances, the purported crimes date back more than a decade.


Vincent Badalamenti, 53, the acting Bonanno boss also known as "Vinny TV," was arrested at his lush Bertram Avenue home in Annadale.

Also nabbed by federal Drug Enforcement Administration and FBI agents were Staten Islanders Vito Balsamo, 55; Anthony Calabrese, 44, and James LaForte, 35. Court papers didn't specify their home communities.


In addition, authorities busted Long Islander Nicholas (Nicky Mouth) Santora, 69, and charged reputed Bonanno consigliere Anthony (TG) Graziano, 71, of Huguenot. Graziano, who’s currently incarcerated on related extortion charges, is the father of "Mob Wives" reality-TV star Renee Graziano.

Court documents said Santora is a Bonanno captain, Balsamo is an acting captain and Calabrese is a solider within the family. LaForte, who recently served time for his role in a Nassau County real-estate scam, is a Gambino crime family associate, allege prosecutors.

Prosecutors said the wise guys used violence and intimidation to extort cash from victims.


In one instance, Graziano directed a cooperating witness to see a loanshark victim and to "break his balls" and "open him up," said court papers. In another, the witness told Graziano that a second man from whom he was trying to collect a debt "was crying hysterical," court documents said.


Some of the alleged crimes occurred while Graziano and LaForte were living in federal halfway houses shortly after their release from prison. Santora allegedly broke the law in some cases while on supervised release after serving a stint behind bars, said court papers.


"Members of organized crime continue to exploit their victims the old-fashioned way — through violence, threats and intimidation," said Loretta E. Lynch, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, whose office is prosecuting the case. "Learning nothing from their incarceration, two of the defendants allegedly sought to regain their money and influence on the street while still under federal supervision. But, because they learned nothing, they find themselves back in custody again, along with their co-defendants."


The oldest charge dates to 1999.

That’s when Badalamenti allegedly ordered the hostile takeover of a bar on Coney Island Avenue, Brooklyn, when its owner failed to pay a debt.

According to court papers, Badalamenti is the highest-ranking Bonanno member on the street. He "wields day-to-day control over all other Bonanno members and associates who are at liberty." He also allegedly controls a mob social club on 20th Avenue and 72nd Street in Brooklyn’s Bensonhurst section.

Court documents said Calabrese, between May and August of 2010, participated in the extortion and beat-down of the owner of The Square pizzeria in New Dorp.


Feathers were ruffled over the shop’s pizzas, which were considered too similar to those of L&B Spumoni Gardens in Brooklyn. However, the owner has denied being attacked or forced to pay money to end the hostilities, according to published reports.

Badalamenti, Balsamo, Calabrese, Graziano and Santora are charged, variously, under a 14-count indictment with racketeering and racketeering conspiracy, including predicate acts of extortion and extortion conspiracy. Santora is also accused of marijuana-distribution conspiracy and illegal gambling.


LaForte is charged with extortion and attempted extortion.


The suspects are to be arraigned today in Brooklyn federal court.


If convicted, each faces up to 20 years in prison, said prosecutors.

-SI LIVE

Thanks for sharing DC. Good article.

I cant imagine Badalamenti will get beyond 5 years. Pretty weak charges considering how Capeci hyped it up the last couple months.

Agreed, racketeering is never easy to defend, however this being racketeering and extortion is helluva lot more relaxed than a RICO involving drugs and murder.

Why the hell does the DEA have such an interest in Vinny TV though?

im sure their is a superseeding indictment in the works on vinny tv you can prob be sure of that...

I honestly think the cose nostra will never be 100% gone.. they will always exist one way or another. so it's now 2012, & im curious to know what kind of condition the "mafia" is in today.

Indictment -

http://cbsnewyork.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/badalamenti-indictmentv6.pdf


Press Release -

http://www.justice.gov/usao/nye/pr/2012/2012jan27.html

It will be a long while yet before the Bonannos are like Cleveland.

haha, I agree, I found your reply humorous, not sure if that was your intent.

I agree, the New York families are far to much sophisticated to be leveled to the same status as Cleveland. I can agree that Philadelphia, and Jersey to drop down to drug crews, but not the New York families. Certainly not with the Genoveses.

None of the New York families are going anywhere. They'll always be around to some degree.

I agree that they will always be around in some form... with the emphasis on "some form". They might eventually change so much that they become unrecognizable.

For example, I doubt if insisting that members be pure-blooded Italian (which I believe is still the rule in some (?) of the families) will still be an ongoing thing in, say, 2100.

That rule supposedly was changed in the mid-1980's. Which is one reason Gotti Jr. was able to be made. Later, in the late 1990's, it was supposedly changed back to 100% Italian. But even if that's the case, there are obviously guys who aren't 100% who still get made because they are well connected or whatever.

it seems to me that this 100% italian rule to be made will change and fluctuate depending on the need for manpower or how influential,ie how good of an earner, that the guy is who is wanted for membership. as long as there is some italian in you(italian last name), the mob can just lie and twist the facts to get thier way just like the government:)

ifranzese said your dad must be italian but now your mum can be italian but you must have an italian name. im suprised that all five defendants pleaded not guilty!

was that for all families or just the gambinos?

does any mobster live in brookyln any more. all these guys are islanders arrested.

wonder if L&B Spumoni Gardens pays anything? they seem to protect that place.

Does anyone know why it's the DEA thats hitting these guys? The DEA used Pagan against Graziano and they are the ones that raided Vinny TV's social club a few years ago, (supposedly a making ceremony)instead it was just a bunch of old timers. The DEA temporaily kept their drivers licences.Just my thoughts.

Supposedly all the NY families.

I read when they raided the social club all the old-timers had napkins stuck in there ears

It's a new thing old-timers in the mafia do.

This to me as been the most interesting, especially considering the fact that the most recent indictment makes no mention of drugs.