Thanks to john g for originally posting this.



Top mobster from Ramapo arrested by Rockland DA, FBI
Steve Lieberman
August 7, 2014


A top-ranking mob figure from Ramapo was arrested Thursday morning on conspiracy charges involving loan sharking and illegal gambling.

Daniel Pagano, 61, the son of the late Hudson Valley mob boss Joseph Pagano, was arrested at his home in Ramapo, law enforcement sources said. The arrest was made by detectives with the Rockland District Attorney's Office and the FBI.

An alleged associate, Michael Palazzolo, was also arrested. Both men have been indicted on charges of racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to commit extortion. Prosecutors are seeking forfeiture of their assets and property.

The U.S. Attorney's Office declined comment on the case.

Pagano's attorney, Murray Richman of the Bronx, declined comment on the charges but said Pagano would plead not guilty to the charges when arraigned Thursday afternoon in U.S. District Court.

Richman, a former New City resident, said Pagano planned to put up his house on Christmas Hill Road as collateral for bail under an arrangement with prosecutors.

Pagano was identified by prosecutors as a captain in the Genovese crime family, "part of a nationwide criminal organization." As a capo, Pagano ran a crew and answered and paid money from the gambling operation to the leaders of the crime organization, they said.

The indictment accuses Pagano and Palazzolo of participating in a conspiracy involving gambling and using threats and extortion to collect money from gamblers.

This is not Pagano's first brush with the law. He was sentenced to nearly nine years in federal prison after being convicted in 1998 of leading a tax scam related to bootleg gasoline sales involving Russian mob figures.

Pagano ran the scam for the Genovese, Gambino, Lucchese and Colombo crime families, New Jersey prosecutors said at the time. The scam defrauded the federal government of more than $77 million.

He also served three years in New York state prison from 1990 to 1993 for gambling and loan sharking.

Back in 1983, Pagano was accused of being involvment with African-American activist Al Sharpton in business dealings and drugs. In the 1989 indictment, Pagano was described as a Genovese soldier charged with running the family's Westchester and Rockland loansharking, extortion, and gambling operations. He also was accused of using a bank account of Sharpton's National Youth Movement to launder mob money.

Sharpton has repeatedly denied the allegations.

Pagano's father-in-law, Vincent DeVito, was shot dead dead in 2003 in the back yard of his Airmont house. DeVito had been tied linked to the robbery of $100,000 and jewelry from a millionaire businessman living in Piermont.

No one has been arrested in DeVito's killing.

http://www.lohud.com/story/news/crime/20...ffice/13717371/

Great post ivy , the paganos r longtime genovese mobsters who have done jail time , can see pagano ratting

Dom, is that a typo? You meant I can't see the Paganos ratting right?

Sorry pal , yes . Stupid fuckin ipad , I'm gonna clip the thing ha

LOL! I knew that's what you meant!

Any word on who whacked his father in law?

Wonder what johnny matassa and.chicago think

His father was a former bronx guy.

Interesting stuff. Wonder who clipped the father-in-law.

So is it safe to say Danny's got Quiet Doms crew nowadays?

Is he the guy who was charged with killing a cop or his friend killed a cop in the 70 tys not the guy fittzy in queens. He made a killing in the gas scam so I'm guessing he was friendly with are favorite rat TV star Michael franese . Remember reading this guy was one of chins favorites or it could have been his dad. Wants he gonna get for this 3 yrs on the plea. Its pizza boys favorite lawyer Murray. I like this guy he gets in a lot of headlines he's old as shit to I think. I wish Pete peluso wrote a book on his 50 of lawyering for the family would have been interesting.

Here is an interesting article on Pagano back in 1989

http://www.nytimes.com/1989/06/13/nyregi...ng.htmlArchives

5 Are Indicted As Participants In Rackets Ring
By JAMES FERON, Special to The New York Times
Published: June 13, 1989
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A Rockland County grand jury today indicted five people believed to be organized-crime figures on charges of participating in a ''criminal enterprise'' involving gambling, loan sharking and extortion, much of it in Westchester and Rockland Counties.

Ronald Goldstock, director of the New York State Organized Crime Task Force, said those accused included Daniel Pagano, a 37-year-old Rockland resident, who, with his father, ''ran the Pagano faction of the Canterino crew'' of the Genovese crime family.

The indictment identified Vincent (Chin) Gigante as the ''boss'' of the Genovese family and Dominick (Baldy Dom) Canterino as one of the ''capos,'' with Joseph Pagano, who died earlier this year of natural causes, and his son serving as ''soldiers.'' A Waterfront Project

One of the faction's jobs, Mr. Goldstock said, was to mediate disputes between trash haulers in the Westchester sanitation industry and ''to control a Westchester waterfront construction project'' in Yonkers, ''insuring continued domination of the on-site gambling and loan-sharking activities.''



The authorities said the gambling activities were operated for the most part from two offices, at 5421 Sylvan Avenue in the Bronx and at 188 East 80th Street in Manhattan, where bets were accepted and called to a telephone at Joseph Pagano's home in Monsey, a Rockland village, where they were recorded on an answering machine.

The Rockland County District Attorney, Kenneth Gribetz, said they were ''commuting criminals who did a little bit of work at home and the major work in their offices.'' Many Rockland residents ''were placing bets with these individuals,'' he said, ''but the majority were in the Bronx and Manhattan.'' A Pit Bull for Collections

Mr. Goldstock said the accused made usurious loans at prearranged rates of interest, generally amounting to 156 percent a year. He said the ''collection of unlawful debts was accomplished in part by the use of a pit bull terrier.''

He said the group demanded payment from Irwin Schiff, a mob-linked businessman shot to death in a Manhattan restaurant in 1987 ''who committed the sin of using the Pagano name without permission.'' Those indicted also ''sought to use the bank account of the National Youth Movement to avoid reporting cash transactions.''

The National Youth Movement, now defunct, was founded by the Rev. Al Sharpton when he was 16. Mr. Goldstock, when asked if Mr. Sharpton was aware of the group's suspected interest in using the organization to launder money, said Mr. Sharpton ''has not been indicted'' and the investigation ''at this point is concluded.''

Indicted on ''enterprise corruption,'' a New York State version of RICO, the Federal racketeering law, were Daniel Pagano, 37, of 18 Hastings Avenue, Wesley Hills, N.Y.; Lawrence Blumenfeld, 55, of 246 Shady Rock Lane, Pomona, N.Y.; Charles Hemstreet, 42, of 95 Waters Edge Road, Congers, N.Y.; Howard Spitz, 35, of 230 Kearsing Parkway, Pomona, and Carmine Tenga, 37, of 249 Revere Avenue, the Bronx.

Besides the post above, here is another article about Slim Shadie Sharpton and the FBI targeting the Paganos.

One highlight is:

"The probe focused on some colorful characters. There was the mobster, Joseph Pagano, who controlled Sammy Davis Jr., and for good measure, was engaged in kickback schemes with several Columbia Records executives. Pagano also was a close friend of comedian Rodney Dangerfield, who had performed at the weddings of Pagano's son and daughter during the 1970s. And there was Morris Levy, who was the founder and head of Roulette Records. Levy, a heavy straight from central casting, ran the label as a profit center for the Genovese crime family. He was a go-to guy in the record industry whose net worth was north of $50 million. Much of that wealth represented his cut from the $30 million to $40 million he'd siphoned away over the years from Roulette's biggest hitmakers, Tommy James and the Shondells.

Here is the full article:

http://nlpc.org/stories/2014/04/08/al-sharpton-revealed-fbi-mob-sting-informant

Anyone else thinking Sharpton had something to do with this?

Will Sharpton be testifying?

Never mind my last comments. Was thinking out loud after drinking. He'll probably take a plea.

Anything is possible with Sharpton!

Sharpton plays by the books ;-)

I have a good friend from Yonkers and he told me this guy is ( or was ) a huge earner . Big sports book and a pile of cash to lend out, big shy. Would love to get PB take as the info I got could be dated but this bust appears to be significant for LE

I know a bit about this guy, his father was Joe Pagano who was a Valachi era button along with his brother Patsy, they both came up I believe under the village crew but were from the East Harlem area, now I could be wrong on that. anyway he later relocated to Rockland County and died, Danny P is still based out of Rockland and allegedly was acting for Dom Cirillo at one point in time, but it's entirely possible that he was given his own solely Westchester/Rockland/Bergin crew, it seems he still holds weight though

Picture of Pagano.

Paulie Walnuts ^^^^^

I'll be home on Sunday night, DB. I'll pm you then. But suffice it to say that he's very heavy in the Bronx these days (the fact that he lives in Rockland notwithstanding). I've been telling you guys that QD has been hands off for some time now. So you do the math .

Even though these are "only" gambling charges on the surface, this is a very significant arrest for law enforcement because they were able to tie in a RICO. Not to mention that Pagano's current status with that family makes it a headline grabber.

Oh, and there's ZERO chance that anyone named in this case will flip. I'll talk to you guys when I get home .

Im surprised they let him out on bail, usually they try to argue that a higher ranking guy like him is a threat to the community, but then again there doesn't seem to be a lot of violence in the indictment.

Had no clue a capo ran Hudson valley. But hey, I have no clue about a lot of things.

Thanks for posting the article, Ivy.

The Fea gambling bust in Rockland back in 2010 was also tied to Pagano, who one article said was a captain at that time. Seems that crew runs much of the rackets things in the lower Hudson Valley.

Did I read somewhere that pagano is pleading not guilty? That kinda goes against the westside mantra doesn't it??

You are supposed to plead Not Guilty and go to trial and take your chances.
Pleading guilty would result in making an allocution that you are a Mafia member, thus exposing the so called secret society. Roll the dice like many before you!

The westside been taking guilty pleas for years now. That acting captain larry ricci supposedly got hit because he didn't take a plea in 05.