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Sunday, July 24, 2016

Mafia Drugs & Gambling Busts Continue

The Waterfront Commission of New York and New Jersey began decades ago and is still making cases against the mafia in 2016.  This new case grew out of a broader investigation into mafia activities along the waterfront.  They write that they will announce more developments at a later time.

This week they took down a multi family crew that distributed marijuana and oxycodone as well as ran an online sportsbook.  

The operation worked like this. John Kelly and Richard Sinde were the ringleaders and coordinated the business.  They would buy marijuana from legal farms in California and have it shipped to New York, where it is still illegal and can command a higher price.  

California is the wild west of weed.  They have laws that say you can grow it for medical and personal use.  Yet you can also grow as a collective.  You can get a marijuana card for as little $25 for a doctor visit.  You can get a card from the state for $100.  It’s only for medical use, but that is a joke. There are so many stores and growers, why bother arresting anyone anymore. The whole business is in a grey area because it is not legal for recreational use, but that is what many people use it for on a daily basis.  So it is a highly unregulated business.  They could just make it legal and tax the actual business, or they could make it illegal.  

Destiny Saetern and Michael Giammarinaro worked on some of the grow operations in California.  They would purchase marijuana from different growers and pack 5-15lbs into boxes to mail or ship UPS or Fedex to New York.  Often they would pack 100-150lbs into boxes and it would be driven to New York in a van.

Stephen Gallo would pick up the packages in New York and then take them to various warehouse or homes to repackage for distribution.

Michael “Mickey Boy” Paradiso, a Gambino capo who did a long stretch for dealing heroin, was taken down in the investigation.  

Lawrence Dentico, the grandson of Genovese capo “Little Larry” Dentico, ran part of the operation from his home in California.

The marijuana part of the operation brought in $350k a month in sales.  Over a 21 month period they sold $15 million in marijuana.  

They also particiapated in an online gambling operation Bklynsportscenter.com, which brought in millions.  This was run just like all the other mafia operated sportsbooks.  A better can bet online or call a wireroom.  He can bet his limit or what he has posted with a local connected bookie. He is paid on Tuesdays or Wednesdays by the local bookie.  

They also had another profitable side business selling oxycodone pills.  They made an $18k profit just on the pills they sold to an undercover agent at the end of the operation, but it is unknown how much they made on oxycodone deals that were not caught.

This was a pretty well set up business.  They took in the cash in New York and New Jersey. They collected it and it was laundered through Regional Food Brokers Inc.

They ended up taking down about two dozen members and associates of all five New York mafia families. After all the work law enforcement did on this case, have people stopped gambling, smoking weed or taking pills? No.

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