6 Long Islanders Charged In Mafia Racketeering, Gambling Ring Sting: Feds

NEW YORK — Six Long Islanders — including a Nassau County police detective — were among nine people in New York and Florida indicted Tuesday in Brooklyn federal court on racketeering and other illegal gambling charges, including members of the Genovese and Bonanno organized crime families.

The two families ran illegal gambling hubs at La Nazionale Soccer Club Glendale, the Glendale Sports Club, the Gran Caffe in Lynbrook, the Soccer Club in Valley Stream, Sal’s Shoe Repair in Merrick and Centro Calcio Italian Club in West Babylon, federal prosecutors said.

Those charged on Long Island included: Joseph “Joe Fish” Macario, 68, of West Islip; Salvatore “Sal the Shoemaker” Rubino, 58, of Bethpage; Joseph “Joe Box” Rutigliano, 63, of Commack; Mark Feuer, 59, of Oceanside; Anthony “Little Anthony” Pipitone, 49, of Deer Park; and Hector Rosario, 49, of Mineola.

Rosario is a detective in the Nassau County Police Department.

Those charged from Queens included Carmelo “Carmine Polito” Polito, 68, of Whitestone and Agostino Grabriele, 35, of Glendale.

Vito Pipitone, 40, hailed from Florida.

Along with racketeering and illegal gambling charges, the men face additional counts of money laundering, conspiracy, obstruction of justice, false statements and state and federal-level extortion, prosecutors said in a news release.

“Today’s arrests of members from two La Cosa Nostra crime families demonstrate that the Mafia continues to pollute our communities with illegal gambling, extortion, and violence while using our financial system in service to their criminal schemes,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement.

“The defendants tried to hide their criminal activity by operating from behind the cover of a coffee bar, a soccer club and a shoe repair shop, but our Office and our law enforcement partners exposed their illegal operations," Peace said. "Even more disturbing is the shameful conduct of a detective who betrayed his oath of office and the honest men and women of the Nassau County Police Department when he allegedly aligned himself with criminals.”

Rosario, the detective, worked with the crime family, according to a joint criminal investigation between the FBI and the Nassau County Police Department’s DA Squad. He took money from the Bonanno crime family in exchange for offering to arrange police raids of competing gambling locations, prosecutors said, and is now charged with obstructing a grand jury investigation and lying to the FBI.

In May 2012, members of the Genovese and Bonanno organized crime families jointly operated several illegal gambling operations, prosecutors said. That includes a lucrative illegal gambling operation in Lynbrook called the Gran Caffe, located at 31 Hempstead Ave. The profits earned through this and other gambling locations generated substantial revenue, which was laundered through cash transfers to the defendants and through “kicking up” to the crime families’ leaders, according to court documents.

Rutigliano and Rubino collected the proceeds for the Genovese crime family and distributed them up to higher-ranking members, including Polito and Macario and at times, Gabriele collected the proceeds for the Bonanno crime family and distributed them up to higher-ranking members of that family, including Anthony Pipitone and Vito Pipitone, according to indictments.

In addition to the Gran Caffe, the Genovese crime family — through Polito, Macario, Rutigliano, Rubino and others — operated illegal gambling parlors at establishments called Sal’s Shoe Repair, which is located at 41 Merrick Avenue, and the Centro Calcio Italiano Club located at 1007 Little East Neck Road, as reported in court filings.

The Bonanno crime family — through Anthony Pipitone, Vito Pipitone, Gabriele and others —operated illegal gambling parlors at establishments called the Soccer Club located at 129 Rockaway Avenue, La Nazionale Soccer Club at 80-13 Myrtle Avenue and Glendale Sports Club, which is at 74-03 Myrtle Avenue, as noted in the court documents.

Polito, an alleged acting captain in the Genovese crime family, is also charged with operating an illegal online gambling scheme in which bets were placed on sporting events through a website called “PGWLines” and in connection with that he is also charged with attempting to extort an individual who lost several thousand dollars in bets he placed through the website, according to an indictment.

In 2019, a delinquent debtor whose “face” Polito had previously threatened to “break,” the suspect also instructed another individual to relay a new message to the debtor: “Tell him I’m going to put him under the f—g bridge,” said a call that was wiretapped by the FBI.

“Current members of the five families demonstrate every day they are not adverse to working together to further their illicit schemes, using the same tired methods to squeeze money from their victims,” FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Michael Driscoll. “Enlisting alleged assistance from a member of law enforcement also proves they are willing to do all they can to hide their illegal behavior.

Our active investigations show the mafia refuses to learn from history, and accept that at some point they will face justice for their crimes.”

Eight of the suspects were arrested Tuesday morning. Seven were scheduled to appear in court Tuesday.