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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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7-20-00 Essex man charged with running mob gambling operation. Thursday, July 20, 2000 The Associated Press NEWARK -- An Essex County man led a loan-sharking and gambling operation for the New York-based Bonanno crime family, state authorities charged Wednesday. Joseph A. Taormina was arrested and accused of being a "capo," or mob captain, and charged with racketeering, conspiracy, promoting gambling, bookmaking, and money laundering. He was also charged with receiving stolen property by purchasing for resale about $200,000 from an undercover investigator with the state Division of Criminal Justice. Taormina, 53, of Fairfield, faces up to 70 years in prison if convicted on all seven counts. Four other New Jersey men were charged and accused of being members or associates of the Bonanno crime family. They included Paul Mancuso, 33, of Fair Lawn, Anthony Stropoli, 37, of Old Bridgein Middlesex County, and John Balsamo, 51, of River Edge. The fourth man, Louis Ricco, is serving a 46-month federal prison term imposed last year after he pleaded guilty to loan-sharking charges stemming from the case against John A. "Junior" Gotti, the reputed leader of the Gambino mob in the absence of his father, imprisoned boss John J. Gotti. Ricco, 71, formerly of Lodi, is reputed to be a capo in the Gambino crime family but is accused of participating in illegal gambling and money laundering with the Bonannos, the state said. Officers searched Taormina's residence as well as his house in the Chadwick Beach section of Dover Township, Ocean County, and his 1997 Mercedes-Benz. They also raided a warehouse and office building in Eatontown, Monmouth County. Nothing of note was recovered, said Emily J. Hornaday, a spokeswoman for the Criminal Justice Division, part of the Attorney General's Office.
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