Friends of Ours

Nine Gambino Mobsters Sentenced

Nine reputed Gambino mobsters were sentenced on Wednesday and Thursday to light prison terms ranging from 18 months to 100 months after variously pleading guilty to the usual mob rackets such as sex trafficking, drug distribution, and gambling, loansharking and extortion as reported by Courthouse News Service.  The nine defendants were among the fourteen indicted in April 2010.  The other five defendants, including reputed boss Dan Marino, previously have been sentenced.  Marino was sentenced last January to five years in prison after pleading guilty to green lighting a 1998 hit on his Bonanno associate nephew Frank Hydell whom mobsters feared was cooperating with the feds.  If these boys were a black crew from the Crips or Bloods would the sentences have been as lenient?

FBI Press Release

Related:  Mafia Exploitation Of Kids:  Really A New Low?

Two Defendants In Gambino Case Plead Guilty

Reputed Gambino soldier Thomas Orefice and his alleged top dog Dominick Difiore pleaded guilty this afternoon as reported by Bruce Golding for the New York Post:  Orefice pleaded guilty to a racketeering conspiracy charge involving extortion, loansharking and gambling, and Difiore pleaded guilty to extortion conspiracy and drug trafficking charges.  Orefice and Difiore were among the fourteen defendants indicted on various charges last April, and they were the last two to reach plea deals.

Read More:  Department of Justice Press Release

Meanwhile, federal prosecutors have declined to bring charges against Orefice's defense lawyer Seth Ginsburg after a bag of marijuana was discovered in his brief case last October while entering the Metropolitan Correctional Center to visit his client as reported by Scott Shifrel for the Daily News:  "Ginsberg blamed it all on his brother, who he told authorities had borrowed the bag - and left the narcotics in it."

A Wacky Weed Story

A bag of marijuana was discovered in the brief case of criminal defense lawyer Seth Ginsberg as he tried to enter the Metropolitan Correctional Center in NYC to visit reputed Gambino soldier Thomas Orefice, and the legal eagle now has been barred from the federal lockup as investigators "probe whether he was trying to smuggle the pot inside" as reported by Alison Gendar for the Daily News. Orefice was indicted last April on allegations that he ran a teen prostitution ring for the Gambino crime family which included girls as young as fifteen years old.

Mafia Exploitation Of Kids: Really A New Low?

Accused Mobsters Complain Jail Bad For Health

Several defendants variously indicted last April for their alleged roles in suspected Gambino crime family rackets, including a teen prostitution ring which involved girls as young as 15, have been "whining to the court about their weak hearts, bad backs and other aches and pains" in their bids for bail as reported by Alison Gendar for the Daily News:  "The chief complainer: reputed boss Daniel Marino who insists his bum ticker should be his ticket out of prison. Marino's lawyers argued last week that the 69-year-old needs to be released on bail - or else he risks a stroke." Of course, if any of these guys have a real aversion to an extended jail stay, the feds may be willing to srike a deal with them if they happen to have any dirt on others.

 

Mafia Exploitation Of Kids: Really A New Low?

Suspected Gambino Pimp Surrenders

Steven "Stevie" Maiurro, wanted for allegedly participating in a Gambino crew that ran a teenage prostitution ring which included girls as young as 15, turned himself in to FBI agents last night at a fast food restaurant on Staten Island as reported by Alison Gendar for the Daily News:

Maiurro was driving the girls to their various "appointments," and a witness plans to testify that it was Maiurro who rented a Staten Island apartment for the 15-year-old girl his crew was selling, according to court documents. Gambino soldier Thomas Orefice is credited with coming up with the idea of recruiting girls from strip clubs to work as hookers and personally approved the 15-year-old runaway to work, prosecutors charged.

Lawyer: Modica Won't Cooperate With Feds

Onofrio "Noel" Modica, a reputed Gambino soldier picked up by the FBI in yesterday's raid targeting the crime family, isn't willing to flip as reported by Bruce Golding for the New York Post:

Longtime soldier Onofrio "Noel" Modica, 46, who the feds claim tried to tamper with the jury during John "Dapper Don" Gotti's 1992 Brooklyn trial, was approached by two federal agents last week as he was walking to his physical therapist, his lawyer said today. "This is preposterous," said Modica's lawyer Matthew Mari outside Manhattan federal court. "Modica is not in the mob. He knows a lot people in the mob." Mari said the agents asked for his cooperation if he didn't want to spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Although Modica may not want to play for Team America, Golding reports "the feds said they have three cooperating witnesses -- who were not identified by name -- and nearly 200 hours of taped conversations that were obtained when members wore wires."

The feds also accuse Modica of the 1987 double murder of James DiGuglielmo and Richard Sbarra which resulted from an alleged drug related dispute between Modica and DiGuglielmo.  According to the feds "Modica drove his motorcycle with a shooter riding on the back to a crowded parking lot where the shooter opened fire" killing both DiGiglielmo and Sbarra who was an innocent bystander.

The Associated Press has a perp walk photo gallery of several of the suspected mobsters who were arrested yesterday.  Eight of the 14 charged defendants are from Staten Island as reported by Jeff Harrell for the Staten Island Advance.