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News and Features about Organized Crime, Mafia and La Cosa Nostra taken from National and Local News Sources. In an attempt to get you this type of coverage in a timely manner we can not be responsible for the content of the following material. |
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5-19-00 10 indicted in drug and gaming case tied to mob. Friday, May 19, 2000
By DAVID VOREACOS A reputed Genovese crime family associate whose brother died in a gangland slaying was charged Thursday with running a bookmaking, loan-sharking, and marijuana-dealing crew from an Englewood Cliffs gas station. A federal racketeering indictment unsealed Thursday names Joseph "Joe Black" DeSimone of Fort Lee; his son, Ralph, of Mahwah; and eight other men, including Joseph Cariddi, a former Fort Lee fire chief who is the elder DeSimone's son-in-law. Joseph DeSimone, 70, had been running a crew since 1993 from the Sylvan Avenue Mobil station co-owned by his son, 43, federal prosecutors allege. According to the indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Newark, the crew used violence and threats to collect money from bettors who placed their wagers by phone to a wire room in Manhattan. The defendants also dealt marijuana after receiving it by overnight mail from California, the indictment alleges. DeSimone and his son appeared Thursday in federal court in Newark. U.S. Magistrate Judge Stanley R. Chesler released each of them on $300,000 bonds. Defense attorney John D. Arseneault, who represented both DeSimones, said prosecutors told him they have 800 conversations recorded by wiretap. He said Joseph DeSimone has known about the case since his initial arrest by the FBI and the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office in June 1998. "Mr. DeSimone has been very aware of what the allegations are," Arseneault said. "I can't even figure out why it's in federal court." Joseph DeSimone's brother, Ralph "Cousin" DeSimone Jr., was found shot to death and hog-tied in the trunk of his car at La Guardia Airport in Queens in June 1991. Federal authorities said that DeSimone, an admitted heroin dealer and longtime Genovese associate, was slain because mobsters suspected him of being an informant. In 1997, James "Little Jimmy" Ida, the third-ranking member of the Genovese family, was convicted of racketeering charges, including conspiring to murder Ralph DeSimone Jr. Thursday's indictment also alleges that Cariddi, 46, and his wife, JoAnn, 42, engaged in illegal bookmaking. Chesler released the couple on $50,000 bonds secured by their Fort Lee house. Cariddi has worked as a Fort Lee fire inspector since April 1990, and served as chief of the borough's volunteer Fire Department in 1997. Cariddi, who earns a salary of $46,108, took a personal day Thursday, said Borough Administrator Peggy Thomas. "We will review his job status in the next couple of days," she said. The indictment also charges Albert "Albie" Pierro Jr., 35, of Fort Lee; his brother, Louis B. Pierro, 39, of Clifton; and Mason Getto, 45, of Englewood Cliffs, with racketeering. Getto was released on a $250,000 bond. Prosecutors allege that Albert Pierro ran the day-to-day bookmaking operations, while his brother oversaw gambling and marijuana sales. Both work at Albert Pierro's business, Albie's Produce, at the Hunt's Point Market in the Bronx, their attorneys said. Chesler released them on $200,000 bonds. The indictment also charged Nicholas Masesso, 32, of Englewood Cliffs; Richard Portela, 40, of Cedar Grove; and Thomas Nick Vergis, 38, of Mundelin, Ill. Staff Writers Alex Nussbaum and Christopher Mumma contributed to this article.
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