Operation Shark Bait & Salvatore DeMeo

The New York Attorney General's office just concluded an operation they called Shark Bait.

They targeted a group of mafia-connected online bookmakers that mostly took bets in the New York area. I understand that gambling is illegal unless state run (OTB, lotto) or on Indian land.

My question for you is, why do they waste so much money and time going after a few guys who are only providing what the public wants?  In my humble opinion, if they spent as much time and effort going after illegal aliens, who are costing the state 5.1 billion a year, the money and effort might be better spent.  Law Enforcement wastes an enormous amount of taxpayer money on something that really does not affect the rest of the citizens, only willing participants who seek out a loan and have connections.  The indictment says they loaned out cash to customers at outrageous weekly interest rates. Here it is again.  I can guarantee you that not one person who was loaned money was forced to take out a loan. They know the terms before they take the cash and they have to know somebody in the life to get it.  It’s not like they do a credit check.  I understand that it is against the law and that they use the cash to fund other enterprises, but how about all of the those people killed in shootings in high crime areas?  If less time, energy and money was spent chasing after loan sharks, maybe more time could be spent in high crime areas bringing down violent crime rates.

Well enough of me on my soapbox.

Anyway, they took down 13 people in the bust of 4Spades.org which is a Genovese family operation.  The man behind it is Salvatore “Sallie” DeMeo a made Genovese guy.  DeMeo has a long history of high profile criminal acts including bank robbery.  He was the head of a bank robbery crew in the late 1990’s.  He helped plan out a robbery in Manalapan N.J. where my buddy Andrew DiDonato jumped over the counter and they made off with over 400,000 dollars in cash.  Sallie received a full share of that robbery even though he was not one of the upfront guys because he was an integral part.  He is the real deal and very well respected by everyone in the life.  The crew also took down an armoured car in Manhattan.  He would later be charged by the FBI, but when they went to arrest him he had already gone on the lam.

In the old days his capo was Rosario “Ross” Gangi, another well respected Genovese guy.

They were not only charged with the bookmaking operation, but with loan sharking and selling bootleg cigarettes.

They did sell more than thirty thousand thousand untaxed cigarettes in the New York area.

They smuggled the cigarettes into the state and then used fake tax stamps so they could move them in bulk.

This is a pretty typical mafia operation which shows that the mafia is still alive and well in the country.

In other mafia news, New Jersey DeCavalcante Cape Charles Stango admitted to offering two undercover FBI agents fifty thousand dollars to murder a person he thought disrespected another family member.

He was on parole for another crime and living in Henderson Nevada at the time.

He will be doing a few years.

Take Down 46

Another week in the life, and this week the FBI took down 46 guys from a number of families for various racketeering charges.  The names you will recognize, because these guys just never seem to learn.  

Jimmy Caci, who was the street boss of the Los Angeles family, told me a few months before he passed away that the life was not what it was supposed to be. It had gotten out of control and there was no honor or loyalty anymore. This was after my first book Breakshot had come out.  

So here we were, sitting at a diner and he is speaking to me.  I felt sorry for him because he was a relic from the past and his time had passed.  Jimmy was originally from Buffalo, New York and he knew the long time boss Stephan Maggadino.  He was on good terms with all the guys in the family when it was at it’s peak.  Jimmy grew up in a different time.  A time when Italians were looked down upon. Boxers used Irish names to get fights, and most policemen were Irish.  The mafia served a purpose then, but now it may be one more thing, like Sears, we do not need.

You can read more about Jimmy in Breakshot, which has been re-released.

Joey Merlino was the one time boss of the Philadelphia family.  He may still be boss, but he is in custody again. Merlino has spent more than half his life locked up. He is the son of former underboss Sal Merlino and is also nephew to soldier Lawrence Merlino, both of whom are now dead.  

Merlino has gotten away with murder but he just cannot seem to go straight.  Some guys just never get it.  

In better times Joey Merlino was out in Los Angeles with Johnny Fratto getting chased by TMZ. Merlino was out to speak about selling his life rights to a well known movie producer.  Maybe this story will go into the new Johnny Fratto book that Randazzo is working on.

The new indictment charges many of the guys with bookmaking.  They again used offshore websites, but did business here in the US under the name Costa Rican International Sportsbook. One of those charged was Daniel Marino Jr., a friend of Colombo Craig Marino and son of a Gambino heavy weight.  Many years ago Daniel was hiding out at Joe Dente's home in Los Angeles.

This time the indictment has a couple of crimes we have not witnessed in an indictment in a few years.  Healthcare fraud: where they had doctors prescribing an expensive compound and charging insurance companies.  They were also smuggling untaxed cigarettes into the New York area, where they were worth three million dollars.

They had a casino style gambling spot in Yonkers where they hosted poker and other card games.

John Lembo, a name that was well known to those around back in the stock fraud days, was busted for setting up credit card skimmers.  Lembo was a friend of Eddie Garofalo and Craig Marino.  

The FBI had an undercover agent deep inside that worked with Genovese guys and Joey Merlino.  They also had a cooperator wired up the whole time.  How many more will flip is still to be seen.  The majority of those arrested face up to 20 years, but this indictment seems to be missing the normal murders and other violence.  They are charged with assaulting a homeless man who was bothering patrons of a restaurant on Arthur Ave.  They did threaten to choke a guy out, but it does not read as bad as the others I have read.  I bet everyone pleads out for a lot less time.

One guy arrested is Ralph Balsamo, a Genovese guy.  Why he does not just run his family's funeral homes I have no idea.  I bet Balsamo has some more problems that are going to come up soon.  Stay tuned.