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.

Sonny Franzese still a threat at 98 years old

The name Sonny Franzese was much better known on the street to those who were in the life, than the name John Gotti.  Sonny was very respected and feared by everyone, including the government. This distinction has caused him many years of grief.

Sonny has now earned the title of the oldest inmate in the federal prison system, and, if he lives to his release date, he will be released just after his 100th birthday in 2017.  Sonny has spent the last 40 years in and out of prison, much of the time a result of his bank robbery conviction in 1970 for which he was given 50 years.  The case was a obviously a set up by the prosecutors because they had Sonny working with a crew of junkie bank robbers who didn't even know him.

Sonny has been released many times by the parole board, only to be violated for associating with known felons. He would be out for enough time to be given his position of capo in the Colombo family back, and then he would be sent back.

When Colombo family underboss Jackie Deross went away for life, the family upped Sonny to underboss.  The position was short lived because the government already had its sources in place.  Sonny finally caught a new case after a guy wearing a wire caught him on tape.  The case was backed up by his son John Franzese.  Sonny was sentenced to 8 years in 2011 for the new case, and that should by all means be the end of his story.

The government is now going after the wheelchair-bound incarcerated man's prison commissary account.  It would be funny if it were not true.  

The same government who let the wife of con man Bernie Madoff keep $2.5 million of their stolen cash.  Unlike Ruth’s stolen loot, the money in Sonny’s account was given to him by relatives for his use to live.

They want to seize his $10,089 in the account that he uses to buy cup-o-noodles and hygiene items like soap, shampoo and shower shoes.  He buys ice cream every once in awhile and the rest he uses for phone calls.  The US wants to seize the cash to pay on his judgement that was part of his sentencing.  They claim that neither Sonny nor his co defendant Joseph DiGorga have paid a dime of what they owe. I would like to point out that Sonny is locked up in federal prison, so it would be pretty hard for him to earn money to pay anything and this is why inmates have accounts. They want to take his money and leave him with $250 to last the next two years.  Joseph DiGorga was release in 2014 and I am sure he is on parole.  He would have to pay back something every month even if it was 25 dollars a month.

How is it that the federal government has the resources and time to go after Sonny, when our southern border is open with millions of people crossing illegally every year.  It is a federal crime to come into the United States without going through immigration.  Everyone of these people costs us far more every year than a Sonny Franzese.

When I was still on the street, Teddy Persico Jr. had a guy in his crew that worked at the Hustler Club in Manhattan that Sonny was convicted of shaking down.  Teddy had to go to a couple of sitdowns over two brothers that others wanted to kill because of the club.  The brothers were sons of Gambino family guy who was in Las Vegas for many years. The brothers lived but the Feds never did much about that whole deal.  

If they just released Sonny now, what harm would it do? He can’t walk. he can't see well and he cannot hear.  The glory days are behind him.  They should let him go home for his final days to die.

A note on last week's story.  Mr New Orleans:

The traditional Second Line parade in celebration of Frenchy Brouillette's life will take place beginning at 4PM on SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13th in the French Quarter outside of Felix's Oyster Bar off Bourbon and Iberville. Attendees are invited to start collecting around 3:50.

Led by MR. NEW ORLEANS author Matthew Randazzo, the parade will be joined by the Storyville Stompers brass band and Pastor Ray Cannata, who will say a benediction as we begin. The parade will travel to some historic places in Frenchy's life before ending with a memorial toast at Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop. In addition to Frenchy's friends and fans, all Mardi Gras Indians, baby dolls, Saints fans in full costume, rolling Elvi, and other manifestations of New Orleans are invited to come out and honor Mr. New Orleans with the wildest, most flamboyant second line in French Quarter memory.

It sounds like a great send off!