Feds arrest alleged mafia gambling activities masquerading as shoe repair, coffee shop

Sal’s Shoe Repair in Merrick, New York, did more than repair heels and worn soles.

The Genovese organized crime family operated an illegal gambling operation from the store, generating “significant income,” which was then laundered through money transfers, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said.

Nine alleged members and associates of the Genovese and Bonanno organized crime families were charged Tuesday with racketeering and illegal gambling offenses for running gambling parlors from other legitimate-looking establishments in Queens and on Long Island, including a coffee shop and La Nazionale Soccer Club.

Salvatore Rubino, 58, known as “Sal the Shoemaker,” was among those arrested, prosecutors said.

A Nassau County Police Department detective, Hector Rosario, is also among the suspects. According to the indictment, he allegedly took money from the Bonanno family in exchange for offering police raids on competing gambling venues. He is charged with obstructing a grand jury investigation and lying to the FBI.

“The current members of the five families show every day that they are not against working together to further their illegal schemes, using the same weary methods of extorting money from their victims. Enlisting alleged help from a member of the law enforcement is also proving that they are willing to do anything to hide their illegal behavior,” FBI deputy director Michael Driscoll said in a statement.

As of May 2012, the Genovese and Bonanno families jointly operated a lucrative illegal gambling operation in Lynbrook, New York, called the Gran Caffe. The profits earned through these and other gambling venues generated substantial revenue, which was then laundered through cash transfers to the suspects and “kicks” to the leaders of the crime families, the indictment said.

“Today’s arrests of members of two crime families in La Cosa Nostra show that the mafia continues to pollute our communities with illegal gambling, extortion and violence, while using our financial system in the service of their criminal schemes,” the US attorney for law said. the Eastern District of New York. York Breon Peace said in a statement.

Among the accused are Anthony “Little Anthony” Pipitone, a captain and soldier in the Bonanno family, and Carmelo “Carmine” Polito, acting captain in the Genovese family, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors describe a phone call Polito made in October 2019 to an employee requesting that he pass a message to a debtor: “Tell him I’m going to put him under the f——-bridge.”