This Week In Gang Land
Feds Sill Pursuing Carmine Pizza And A Money-Making, Violence Prone Cohort
Carmelo (Carmine Pizza) Polito has copped a plea deal to resolve a two-year-old racketeering indictment, but the feds are far from done with him, Gang Land has learned. And that goes double for one of the acting Genovese capo's associates who already has racked up more than $800,000 in thefts on his violence-filled mob resume.
Polito's prolific associate is a gangster named Anthony Costa who has been spotted in frequent meetings with Carmine Pizza. The duo, sources say, remain the target of an investigation by the FBI and Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's office into alleged gambling and loansharking activity. In February, the feds seized two of Polito's cell phones as well as one belonging to Costa.
Still, it's so far, so good for Polito whose attorney says the federal inquiry is "much ado about nothing." But sources tell Gang Land that a federal grand jury in Brooklyn has subpoenaed a Costa colleague to testify before the panel, and that FBI agents recently used a court authorized search warrant to hunt for evidence at an undisclosed location.
Judge Set To Uphold The One Punch Extortion Conviction Of Aging Genovese Wiseguy
Brooklyn Federal Judge Eric Komitee has a few questions as to why prosecutors failed to turn over evidence to the defense that a key government witness in the one-punch extortion case against an aging Genovese mobster was affiliated with the Albanian Mafia. But whatever the answers, he's indicated that he doesn't think their failure to do so mandates a reversal of the two convictions in the case.
Carmine Pizza Says He Wants To Work Construction Before He Goes To Prison; No He Doesn't, Say The Feds; He Should Stay Home
He says he needs to work 600 hours before he goes to prison in order to earn health coverage for his wife of 42 years who suffers from heart disease. But prosecutors say the only work Carmelo (Carmine Pizza) Polito's done since his arrest has been for the Genovese crime family and now that he's pleaded guilty, he should stay home until it's time to do his time for the crime.