Mob Takedown Targets NYC Gambling Parlors, Corrupt Cop, Feds Say

NEW YORK CITY — Mobsters with colorful names such as "Joe Fish" and "Sal the Shoemaker" ran a web of backroom illegal gambling parlors littered across Queens and Long Island with the help of a corrupt cop, prosecutors said.

A sweeping mafia takedown unveiled Tuesday brought federal illegal gambling and racketeering charges against nine accused Genovese and Bonanno crime family members and associates.

Two indictments unsealed that day reveal accusations straight out of "The Sopranos." For instance, one accused Genovese captain — Carmelo Polito, 63, of Whitestone — is accused of threatening to "break" a debtor's face, according to the documents.

"Tell him I’m going to put him under the f------g bridge," Polito said, according to the documents.

The cases against the mob-linked men largely hinge around a network of underground gambling parlors in, among other places, a soccer club, a shoe repair shop and a coffee bar.

La Nazionale Soccer Club and Glendale Sports Club along Myrtle Avenue in Queens were just two illegal gambling spots identified in the indictments.

Other gambling locations were in Long Island, where prosecutors said Hector Rosario, 49, of Mineola — a Nassau County Police Department detective — accepted Bonanno money to arrange law enforcement raids on rival parlors.

The case shows that organized crime is alive and well, said Anne T. Donnelly, the district attorney for Nassau County.

“These violent criminal organizations operated secret underground gambling parlors in local commercial establishments, generating substantial amounts of money in back rooms while families unknowingly shopped and ate mere feet away," she said in a statement. "These Mafia figures were assisted by a sworn member of law enforcement, who helped these gambling dens to thrive by offering police raids on competing clubs."

Authorities arrested Polito and Rosario on Tuesday, in addition to six other men:

• Mark Feuer, 59, of Oceanside
• Agostino Gabriele, 35, of Glendale
• Joseph Macario (also known as “Joe Fish”), 68, of West Islip
• Anthony Pipitone (also known as “Little Anthony”), 49, of Deer Park
• Vito Pipitone, 40, of Wellington, Florida
• Salvatore Rubino (also known as “Sal the Shoemaker”), 58, of Bethpage

A ninth man — Joseph "Joe Box" Rutigliano, 63, of Commack — remains on the loose, authorities said.